Igor Vladimirovich Torgov (February 15 (O.S. February 2), 1912, Kazan

Kazan

Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...

 - 2007) was a Soviet chemist

Chemist

A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...

 and a corresponding member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1972).

Ivan Torgov graduated from Kazan Institute of Chemical Engineering in 1937 and then worked at a factory lab until 1939. In 1939-1959, he was employed at the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In 1959, Ivan Torgov was appointed head of steroid

Steroid

A steroid is a type of organic compound that contains a characteristic arrangement of four cycloalkane rings that are joined to each other. Examples of steroids include the dietary fat cholesterol, the sex hormones estradiol and testosterone, and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone.The core...

 chemistry lab at the Institute of Natural Compounds Chemistry of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (today's Shemyakin Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry). Ivan Torgov's principal works are dedicated to the chemistry of natural compounds, mainly steroids. The Torgov reaction opened an original pathway for the total chemical synthesis of steroid hormones.

Ivan Torgov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and numerous medals.