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Former research institute in Greece From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kanellopoulos Institute of Chemistry and Agriculture (Greek: Ινστιτούτο Χημείας και Γεωργίας "Ν. Κανελλόπουλος", Katharevousa: Ἰνστιτοῦτον Χημείας καὶ Γεωργίας "Ν. Κανελλόπουλος") is a former research institute in Drapetsona, Athens, Greece, which operated between 1938 and 1984 in affiliation with the Drapetsona-based Greek Company of Chemical Products and Fertilisers (Greek abbrev.: ΑΕΕΧΠΛ, romanized: AEEChPL).[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Established | 1938 (ceased operation in 1984) |
---|---|
Research type | Basic, industrial and agricultural |
Field of research | Analytical chemistry Physical chemistry Agrochemistry Edaphology |
Address | G. Lambraki & N. Kazantzaki, Drapetsona, Athens |
Location | Piraeus,
Athens, Attica, Greece 37°56′42″N 23°37′16″E |
GR 186 48 | |
Affiliations | Greek Company of Chemical Products and Fertilisers (AEEChPL) |
Map | |
The Kanellopoulos Institute was a sui generis institution in Greece. It was the first of its kind to combine high-profile basic research, research with applications in the chemical industry, and dissemination of agrochemical advances to the Greek populace.[1][4][9][10]
The idea for the creation of the Institute belonged to its nameshake, industrialist Nikolaos Kanellopoulos (1864–1936), one of the founders of AEEChPL.[1][3][4][6] Construction commenced in 1936, as per the request and with the monetary sum Kanellopoulos bequeathed to the future Institute in his will.[2][4] The institute was inaugurated in 1938, situated at the east side of the AEEChPL industrial complex in Drapetsona.[5][7][10]
The institute's activities quickly attracted attention within Greece as well as abroad, with distinguished researchers such as Georg-Maria Schwab publishing in international chemical journals on the physico-chemical and analytical work conducted in the chemical laboratories at Kanellopoulos.[9][10] At the same time, the edaphological investigations in the Institute helped modernise agriculture in Greece in the following 3 decades with the introduction of appropriate fertilisers and mapping-characterisation of the soils in major agricultural areas.[1][4]
The Institute building was one among the severely damaged during WWII after the 1943 bombing of the industrial complex.[2] Following repairs and the resumption of operation after the war, research in Kanellopoulos focused more on agrochemical over other chemical topics for the next years.[10] The institute also published a periodical with relevant material called Agricultural Messenger (Greek: Ἀγροτικὸς Ταχυδρόμος).[1][6][11][12]
In the early 1980s there was intense interest in the institute on assessing the environmental damage caused by the fertiliser plant and suggesting measures for the area's remediation.[2][4] From 1984, the whole industrial complex faced economic difficulties and research in the Kanellopoulos Institute stopped; by 1993 AEEChPL was liquidated and the Drapetsona site abandoned.[2][3][5][6][13] Since then the Institute building has been unused and fallen into grave disrepair.[3][5][6][8][14]
The institute was organised into three departments:[1][4][10]
Independently from the departments also operated the Laboratory of Metallurgy and the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, which were respectively used for ore analysis and physico-chemical basic research.[1][9][15]
The Kanellopoulos Institute was also famed for its library, at the time of its creation in 1938 perhaps the most complete collection of chemical literature in Greece.[1][4]
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