Zinin was born in Shusha where his father served as diplomatic employee. Nicolay became orphan after cholera pandemic when his parents and sister died. He studied at the
University of Kazan where he graduated in mathematics but he started teaching chemistry in 1835. To improve his skills he was asked to study in Europe for some time, which he did between 1838 and 1841. He studied with
Justus Liebig in Giessen, where he finished his research on the
benzoin condensation, which was discovered by Liebig several years before. He presented his research results at the
University of Saint Petersburg, where he received his Ph.D. He became Professor for Chemistry in the same year at the University of Kazan and left for the
University of Saint Petersburg in 1847 where he also became a member of the
St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and first president of the
Russian Physical and Chemical Society (1868–1877). In St. Petersburg, professor Zinin was a private teacher of chemistry to the young
Alfred Nobel. ==Work==