Born: 4 April 1891, Latvia
Died: 4 September 1985
Country most active: Russia
Also known as: Лидия Карловна Лепинь
The following was written by Nina Baker and is excerpted from the book From Alchemy to Transport Phenomena: A Global History of Women in Chemical Engineering.
One of the first women to receive a doctorate in chemistry in the USSR (DSc 1937), Lidija Liepiņa (1891-1985) was born in Latvia but studied chemistry (and music) at the Moscow Higher Courses for Women (which became part of the Moscow State University of Fine Chemical Technologies), graduating in 1917. In 1915 she assisted Professor Shylov in a military field laboratory on the Western Front, where they developed Russia’s first effective gas masks. She then researched and taught in various Soviet and German universities until joining the Military Academy for Chemical Protection, to work on colloid chemistry. In WW2, at the Moscow State University, she invented an industrial method for the production of active silica gel for the purification of oils and organic solvents. After the war she continued to work on corrosion and colloidal coatings.