THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHEMICAL SCIENCE AND CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY IN CROATIA

Abstract

The beginnings of modern chemical science were connected in Croatia with the reorganization of the University of Zabreb and foundation of the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Philosophy in the second half of the 19th century, while the teaching of chemical technology started only after the foundation of the Technical High School (1919), which in 1926 became the Faculty of Technology at the University of Zagreb. Together with specialized lectures in chemical technology scientific research has started in various areas of pure chemistry, and organic and inorganic analysis has undergone a great development at the Faculty of Technology. Special advance has been made in organic chemistry due to the activity of Professor dr. Vladimir Prelog (Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1975) who worked there for seven years until 194 and whose students later took important professorships in organic chemistry at the University of Zagreb. The 1920s and 1930s. have seen a great development of chemical industry in Croatia like in other parts of Yugoslavia.