Two Outstanding Research Centers of the University of Oviedo in the First Half of the 20th Century

Abstract

The Institutes of Coal and Applied Chemistry of the University of Oviedo were two research centers created respectively in 1927 and 1932, the second being an expansion of the first. This article aims to highlight the outstanding scientific level achieved by both centers, whose researchers frequently published in international media. The variety of work carried out in the field of coal means that we can speak of the existence of a comprehensive activity around this fossil fuel, with the results obtained in the hydrogenation of coal in colloidal dispersion being especially notable. On the other hand, theoretical studies were carried out on the structure of inorganic compounds and experimental studies were carried out on the development of volumetric analysis methods with potentiometric indication of the end point, taking advantage of the exaltation of the redox properties of certain reagents in an alkaline medium. The center's facilities were severely affected in October 1934 and especially during the Spanish Civil War. Although in 1943 the center was integrated into the “Juan de la Cierva” Board of Trustees of the CSIC, it did not manage to survive, its activity disappearing in the mid-40s of the last century.