The department was founded in 1929 concurrently with foundation of the Department of Chemistry and developed from the Laboratory of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry which is headed by Professor I.A. Kablukov. The department was part of MSU Research Institute of Chemistry. ... During the years of the Great Patriotic War the Moscow part of the department was headed by Assistant Professor A.V. Komandin (1941-1942) and the evacuated staff during the same period was headed by Professor Y.I.Gerasimov. ...