Ivan Kondakov

As a professor of pharmacology of University of Tartu, he studied polymerisation and invented synthetic rubber in 1901.

In 1886, Kondakov was appointed as a laboratory assistant at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warsaw.

In December 1894, he defended his master's thesis in chemistry "О синтезе под вливнем хлористого цинка в раядь жировых содухания" at St. Petersburg University.

In 1899, Kondakov discovered the catalytic polymerization of dimethylbutadiene into a synthetic rubber-like substance.

His research laid the foundation for the production of synthetic rubber in Germany during the First World War.