History of Academician Alexander Braunstein’s Nomination for the Nobel Prize: Materials from the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences
УДК 94(47) + 06.05
DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2019-2-408-416
Tatiana A. Kursanova
S. I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
History of Academician Alexander Braunstein’s Nomination for the Nobel Prize: Materials from the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Abstract
The article reviews the history of nomination for the Nobel Prize of the Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Alexander E. Braunstein (1902-1986), biochemist and molecular biologist. The author has studied documents of the Brownstein fond from the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences and materials from the Archive of the Nobel Committee, as well as literary sources on the topic. Having studied the historiography, the author concludes that the interpretation of the issue in the national scholarship is inaccurate. The task is complicated by the fact that, according to the rules of the Nobel Committee, the names of nominees are not publicly announced, nominees are not informed of their nomination, promulgation of names of nominees is allowed only fifty years after the nomination. It was the study of archival materials that has allowed to supplement and clarify the history of the Russian scientist’s nomination for the Nobel Prize. 1950s saw many works on molecular biology that laid foundation for the subsequent research and received recognition of the Nobel Committee. The study refutes the tendency to underestimate the impact of Soviet science by showing the foreign scholars’ attitude to Alexander Braunstein’s discoveries. The chronological framework of the study is determined by submissions for nomination stored in the fond and dated 1952-1985. The article examines four nominations of Braunstein to the Nobel Committee for his work on processes and enzymes of nitrogen metabolism. Braunstein was one of Russian biochemists who could have been awarded the Nobel Prize, but never has. And yet his repeated nomination for the award shows high evaluation of his work by scientists of global renown.
Keywords
Archival documents, sources, Alexander Braunstein, molecular biology, Russian biochemists, transamination, documents for nomination, Nobel Committee, worldwide approval.
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References
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About author
Kursanova Tatiana Аndreevna, PhD in biology, senior researcher, S. I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation, +7-916-904-36-24, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Submitted 5.07.2018, published (for citation):
KURSANOVA, T. A. Istoriya nominirovaniya na Nobelevskuyu premiyu akademika Aleksandra Braunshteina. Po materialam Arkhiva Rossiiskoi akademii nauk [History of Academician Alexander Braunstein’s Nomination for the Nobel Prize: Materials from the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In Russ.]. IN: Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an Archivist, 2019, no. 2, pp. 408-416. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2019-2-408-416