Cheltsov, Ivan

Chel’tsov, Ivan Mikhailovich 

Born 1848 in Egorevsk, in what is now Moscow Oblast; died 1904 in St. Petersburg. Russian chemist.

Chel’tsov graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1876 and began teaching at the Mine Officers’ Class in 1880. He was a staff member of the Scientific and Technical Laboratory of the Naval Ministry, where, under the direction of D. I. Mendeleev, a new type of smokeless gunpowder known as pyroxylin powder was obtained and methods for its production were developed. In collaboration with the Russian inventor L. G. Fedotov, Chel’tsov designed the first pyroxylin factory in Russia.

Chel’tsov’s principal works dealt with explosives and the process of explosion. Chel’tsov was the author of the textbook Explosives (2nd ed., 1880–83), which was highly regarded by Mendeleev.