Estonia (Russia / USSR, Estonian SSR) Bronze Medal 1972(?) - In memory of Mikhail Semyonovich Tsvet (1872-1919)

113.86g. 70mm. UNC/UNC. 

Tallinn Artistic Products Combinate “ARS”, Metal Leafing Studio. 

The medal did not undergo the full technological cycle and was not patinated. 

Mikhail Semyonovich Tsvet (1872-1919) was a Russian botanist, biochemist, and plant physiologist, best known as the founder of chromatography, one of the most important analytical methods in modern science. Born in Asti, Italy, and educated in Geneva, Tsvet combined rigorous training in chemistry, physics, and biology, which later enabled his groundbreaking interdisciplinary work.  

While studying plant pigments, Tsvet developed the chromatographic method (1903), using adsorption to separate complex mixtures into their individual components. Through this technique, he isolated and studied chlorophylls a, b, and c, as well as xanthophyll isomers, fundamentally advancing the understanding of photosynthesis and plant physiology. Although his discovery was initially overlooked, it gained wide international recognition in the 1930s, becoming the foundation for gas, liquid, and thin-layer chromatography, indispensable across chemistry, biology, medicine, and industry. 

Tsvet held academic posts in Saint Petersburg, Warsaw, Moscow, Yuryev (Tartu), and Voronezh, and was appointed Professor and Head of Plant Physiology at Yuryev University in 1917. Despite early nomination for the Nobel Prize, his life was cut short in 1919. 

Today, Mikhail Tsvet is recognized as a pioneer whose invention revolutionized analytical science, enabling the separation and identification of countless organic and inorganic compounds and shaping entire branches of modern chemistry and biochemistry.