cracking in the presence of aluminum chloride and aluminum bromide; the implementation of this method on an industrial scale played an important role in providing gasoline to the Soviet state. Zelinsky improved the reaction of catalytic conversion of acetylene into benzene by suggesting the use of activated carbon as a catalyst. Zelinsky and his students also studied the dehydrogenation of paraffins and olefins in the presence of oxide catalysts. Being a supporter of the theory of the organic origin of oil, Zelinsky conducted a series of studies to connect its genesis with sapropels, oil shale and other natural and synthetic organic substances. Zelinsky and his students proved the intermediate formation of methylene radicals in many heterogeneous catalytic reactions: in the decomposition of cyclohexane, in the synthesis of hydrocarbons from carbon monoxide and hydrogen on a cobalt catalyst, in the reactions of hydrocondensation of olefins with carbon monoxide and hydropolymerization of olefins in the presence of small amounts of oxide carbon which were discovered by him. The works of Zelinsky and his scientific team on the adsorption of gases on activated carbons were important for the country's defense ability, the creation of a coal gas mask in cooperation with Kumant (1915) and its adoption during the First World War in the Russian and allied armies were significant for the country's defense ability. Pedagogical activity Zelinsky created a large scientific school and its scientists made fundamental contributions to various fields of chemistry. Among his students werw Academicians of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR A. A. Balandin, L. F. Vereshchagin, B. A. Kazansky, K. A. Kocheshkov, S. S. Nametkin, A. N. Nesmeyanov; Corresponding Members of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR N. A. Izgaryshev, K. P. Lavrovsky, Yu. G. Mamedaliev, B. M. Mikhailov, A. V. Rakovsky, V. V. Chelintsev, N. I. Shuikin; professors V. V. Longinov, A. E. Uspensky, L. A. Chugaev, N. A. Shilov, V. A. Nekrasova-Popova and others. N. D. Zelinsky - one of the organizers of the All-Union Chemical Society named after D. I. Mendeleev; since 1941 he was its honorary member. Since 1921 - an honorary member of the Moscow Society of Naturalists, since 1935 he was its president. Personal life the first wife - Raisa (died in 1906) - their marriage lasted 25 years. the second wife - Evgenia Kuzmina-Karavaeva, pianist - their marriage lasted 25 years. daughter Raisa Zelinskaya-Plate (1910-2001). the third wife -