Mikhail Aleksandrovich Porai-Koshits (1917-1994)

On April 20, 1994, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Porai-Koshits, a leading Russian scientist, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a winner of the Academy's Chugaev Award, passed away at the age of 77. Porai-Koshits was a pioneer in the development of of X-ray analysis in the application of basic and applied problems of physics and chemistry in Russia. He is the auther of monographs and textbooks used by several generations of Russian crystal chemists. The scope of scientific interests of Porai-Koshits was highly extensive, including the structure of coordination and inorganic compounds of various classes and of virtually all the transition metals and rare-earth elements. In the last few years of his life, Porai-Koshits published several fundamental works on crystal chemistry of transition-metal complexes with tetraminous ligands. He conducted extensive organization of scientific activities. He headed the Crystal Chemistry Section of the Scientific Council on Kinetics and Structure of the Russian Academy of Sciences. was a member of the editorial boards of several Russian scientific journals [Koordinatsionnaya Khimiya (Coordination Chemistry), Kristallografiya (Crystallography Reporrs), Zhurnal Neorganicheskoi Khimii (J. of Inorganic Chemistry), and Zhurnal Strukturnoi Khimii (J. of Structural Chemistry)], and was Editor-in-Chief of annual Problemy Kristallokhimii (Problems of Crystal Chemistry). He initiated and organized numerous international, national. and local conferences on various fields of crystal chemistry. The memory of Porai-Koshits. an enthusiast of science and a congenial and highly cultured person, will remain forever in the hearts of all who knew him and were fortunate enough to work with him.