On May 1 of this year, Professor Romualdas Baltrušis, a distinguished scientist and habilitated doctor, celebrates his 100th birthday. For most of this long period, Prof. R. Baltrušis devoted his work to the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute and its successor, Kaunas University of Technology.
Romualdas Baltrušis was born on May 1, 1926, in Ukmergė. After graduating from Antanas Smetona Gymnasium in Ukmergė in 1945, he studied chemistry at Kaunas University and, having graduated with honours, began his scientific career in 1950 as a postgraduate (aspirant) at the D. Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology in Moscow under Prof., Academician V. Radionov. From 1952, he continued his work at the Department of Organic Chemistry of the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute (KPI), where, under the guidance of Academician Antanas Purėnas, he investigated the synthesis of β-amino acids and their derivatives. As early as 1954, he defended his Candidate of Sciences (Chemistry) dissertation, “Synthesis and transformations of N-aryl β-amino acids,” and sixteen years later, in 1970, he defended his doctoral dissertation devoted to the synthesis of N-aryl, N-pyridyl, and N-quinolyl β-alanines and their transformations into pyrimidine derivatives. In 1973, he was awarded the academic title of Professor.
R. Baltrušis served as a professor for eight years. In 1980, he was elected Head of the Department of Organic Chemistry and led the department until 1990. Thereafter, until his retirement (1994), he worked as a professor in the department. Prof. R. Baltrušis was greatly appreciated by students and undoubtedly with good reason: in 1986 he won the Best Lecturer competition and delivered lecture courses in a range of subjects, including organic chemistry, bioorganic chemistry, polymer physics and chemistry, polymer chemistry, and the chemistry of wood and cellulose.
Prof. R. Baltrušis has written three textbooks, both independently and in collaboration with co-authors.: “Fundamentals of the chemistry of macromolecular compounds” (1966) and “Organic chemistry”, Parts I and II (1969/1971). For these organic chemistry textbooks, Prof. R. Baltrušis and co-authors were awarded a republican prize (1975). In 1999, Prof. R. Baltrušis prepared and published the monograph “Synthesis, transformations, and properties of N-aryl (heterocyclyl) β-alanines”. Together with co-authors, he translated V. Radionov’s “Practical works in organic chemistry, and edited Russian-to-Lithuanian translations of the books “Organic macromolecular compounds” and “Physical chemistry of polymers”. In 1986, Professor Romualdas Baltrušis was awarded the honorary title of Distinguished Scientist of Lithuania.
More than 130 scientific articles published with co-authors, 49 author’s certificates, nearly 40 popular-science articles, participation in 38 scientific conferences, and the supervision of 9 doctoral and 2 habilitation theses, whose graduates continue research in the synthesis of the compounds, testify to the exceptionally successful activity of this talented scientist and educator. We congratulate Professor Romualdas Baltrušis on this honourable jubilee and wish him strong health and continued success in his diverse and fruitful endeavours.
