Leonid Andrussow

Leonid Andrussow was a German chemical engineer. He developed the process for the production of hydrogen cyanide based on the oxidation of ammonia and methane, which is named after him Andrussow oxidation.

Leonid Andrussow was born in Riga, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire . His father Woldemar Georg, who earned his law degree at the University of St. Petersburg, was general counsel for the Russian Railroads in Riga. He was of Swedish and Baltic German ancestry, the original family name being Andersohn. Andrussow was graduated in chemical engineering from the University of Riga. During the Russian Revolution, he served as a White cavalry officer, and in 1920 was captured by the Bolsheviks in Turkestan. He was imprisoned on an island near Baku, and then transferred to the infamous Cheka prison, Lubianka in Moscow. He was released after three months when it became apparent that he had contracted malaria. He moved to Berlin, where he attended the Friedrich Wilhelms University, earning his doctorate in chemistry in 1926 under Walther Nernst. His thesis title was ber die katalytische Ammoniakoxydation. In 1926, he married Irmgard Von Bredow, with whom he had six children. In 1927, he be

Source: Wikipedia