Jānis Stradiņš

[1933–2019]

A chemist and historian of science, Prof. Stradiņš served as Chairman of the Senate of the Latvian Academy of Sciences since 2004 and was President of the Academy from 1998 to 2004. He also chaired the Letonika and National Identity State Research Programme from 2004 to 2014.

A staff member of the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis since its founding in 1957, he has served as a lead researcher and was the organiser and long-term head of the Laboratory of Physical Organic Chemistry. Since 1990, he has also been a lead researcher at the Institute of Latvian History at the University of Latvia (UL).

A professor, Dr. habil. chem. (1968/1991), Dr. h.c. hist. (1990), and an academician of the Latvian Academy of Sciences (1973), Prof. Stradiņš is a full member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (1994) and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (1991), where he also serves as an Honorary Senator and Head of the Latvian Delegation (since 1998). Additionally, he is a foreign member of the Lithuanian, Estonian, Georgian, and Saxon Academies of Sciences.

Prof. Stradiņš is the author of numerous publications, including works in international journals, as well as monographs on molecular electrochemistry and physical organic chemistry. He was involved in the development of original nitrofuran-based medical drugs, among which Furamag and Furasol are still produced by Olpha (formerly Olainfarm). Together with R. Gavars and L. Baumanis, he developed a method for the electrochemical generation and simultaneous detection of free radicals using the EPR method.

Prof. Stradiņš was awarded the Latvian SSR State Prize (1980) and several Mendeleev Prizes. He is also an honorary member of the Pharmacists’ Society of Latvia.

Prof. Jānis Stradiņš systematically studied the history of Baltic science as a unified process from the Middle Ages to the present day and has published numerous books and articles on this subject both in Latvia and abroad. He was awarded the Baltic Assembly Award (2010) and the Cabinet of Ministers Award (2001) and served as President of the Baltic Association of History and Philosophy of Science.

He also researched and published the scientific legacy of Pauls Stradiņš and was a laureate of the Pauls Stradiņš Award (1983). Prof. Stradiņš was an Honorary Doctor of Rīga Stradiņš University, the University of Latvia, and the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (formerly the Latvia University of Agriculture), as well as an Honorary Member of Riga Technical University.