“ESSAYS ON THE HISTORY OF HYDROCHEMISTRY IN UKRAINE” (2020) – THE FIRST MONOGRAPH ON THE HISTORY OF HYDROCHEMICAL STUDIES IN UKRAINE

The article analyzes the monograph Essays on the History of Hydrochemistry in Ukraine (author Valentyn Khilchevskyi – professor at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv), published in 2020.This is the first such monographic study. The monograph is devoted to the history of hydrochemical studies of surface waters in Ukraine. In the introductory part, an excursion on this issue was carried out in the XVIII-XIX centuries. The first part of the book is devoted to a review of hydrochemical studies of surface waters and their quality, which were carried out by Ukrainian scientists of the institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, industry institutions and institutions of higher education (1920-2020). As the author of the monograph notes, today scientific hydrochemical schools have been preserved at the Institute of Hydrobiology of the NAS of Ukraine (Kyiv), the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and the NAS of Ukraine (Kyiv). They are engaged in hydrochemistry at the Ukrainian Institute of Environmental Problems (Kharkov). Among the higher educational institutions, it is worth noting the scientific hydrochemical school of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, which has a prominent place in the development of the educational and methodological base, the creation of the first basic textbooks on hydrochemistry in Ukraine. They deal with individual issues of hydrochemistry at Odessa State Ecological University, Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Yuriy Fedkovich Chernivtsi National University, Lesya Ukrainka Eastern European National University (Lutsk), National University of Water Management and Nature Management (Rivne). The second part describes the formation and history of the scientific hydrochemical school of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (1970-2020), to which the author himself belongs. The information and facts presented in the monograph will be of extreme value from the standpoint of studying the history of hydrochemistry by young scientists, since today there is a reform in science and education, new concepts and terms are being introduced. For example, the nomenclature of the names of specialties is changing. So, the recruitment of graduate students of hydrologists-hydrochemists since 2016 is already carried out in specialty 103 “Earth Sciences” to the educational and scientific program “Hydrology”. And from 2021, it is planned to completely switch to a new form of defense of dissertations (in particular, the degree of candidate of sciences will be replaced by the degree of Doctor of Philosophy). The book will be useful to scientists and practitioners dealing with issues of hydrochemistry and water quality, teachers and students studying hydrochemical and hydroecological disciplines.