May 25 — Chemist's Day: history and traditions of the holiday, congratulations to chemists

Chemist's Day in Russia is celebrated annually on the last Sunday of May. This holiday is a professional one for workers in the chemical and petrochemical industries. In 2025, chemists and petrochemists will celebrate it on May 25. Read about the history of the holiday and its traditions in the Izvestia article.

Chemist's Day — the history of the holiday

The official celebration of Chemist's Day was approved on October 1, 1980 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The professional holiday of the chemical and petrochemical industry in Russia will be celebrated on May 25 for the 44th time in history.

At the same time, another Chemist's Day is traditionally celebrated, which is not associated with an official professional holiday. His idea appeared before 1981. The celebration was initiated by students of Moscow State University (MSU) back during the academic season of 1965/66.

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According to the idea of the chemistry students, every year this holiday should be dedicated to one of the elements of the periodic table. The first Chemist's Day at Moscow State University was held on May 14, 1966, and this holiday was also called Hydrogen Day. In 2025, students of the Moscow State University Faculty of Chemistry celebrated their holiday on May 17, and it was the Day of neodymium, the 60th element of the table.

Traditions of celebrating Chemist's Day

Traditionally, Chemist's Day is celebrated by workers in this industry, as well as students, graduate students and teachers. The Russian Union of Chemists (RSH) is responsible for organizing the celebrations. Usually, the celebration is accompanied by a concert, awarding the best workers in the industry, as well as sporting events.

As part of the celebration of Chemist's Day, the annual Himfest Chemistry and Sports festival is being held in Moscow. In 2024, it was held for the sixth time. Within its framework, a spartakiad of chemical industry organizations was held, including a mass race of chemists for 1 km. In honor of the holiday, the following awards are also presented to the workers of the chemical industry of the Russian Agricultural Academy and the Russian Chemical Industry Union: the Order of Merit for the Chemical Industry of Russia, 1st and 2nd degrees, the badge "L.A. Kostandov Prize Laureate", the Order "Badge of Honor", the badge "Veteran of the Chemical Industry of Russia".

Chemist's Day – 2025: who and how to congratulate

The field of chemistry has a huge variety of professions, which is not limited only to the chemical and petrochemical industries. At the Faculty of Chemistry, you can study various specialties, be it an agrochemist, an astrochemist, a biochemist, an environmental chemist, a hydrochemist, a geochemist. You can become a specialist in nuclear and radiation chemistry, nanochemistry, food chemistry, pharmaceutical, and metallurgical industries. You can also study to become a forensic chemist or a forensic chemist. Knowledge of chemistry is applicable in many fields of production, science and life.

Congratulations on Chemist's Day are not complete without references to science itself, to compounds, chemical reactions, and so on. Here are some ways to congratulate chemists.:

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"Happy Chemist's Day! I wish that there would always be only positive reactions in life, and troubles would dissolve like salt in warm water!"

"May your dreams come true as easily as acid reacts with alkali, and happiness is multiplied by two!"

"I wish to never fall into a precipitate. I wish you to actively react with the elements of luck and love. I wish you to experiment boldly and confidently achieve success in your difficult, but so interesting activity! And may you have dreams a hundred times cooler than Mendeleev's."

Earlier, Izvestia reported on the history and traditions of celebrating World Metrology Day.