Glazunov’s electrography—the first electrochemical imaging and the first solid-state electroanalysis

Aleksandr Il’ich Glazunov developed the first electrochemical technique to image the surface of conducting solids giving the technique the name electrography. The electrographic images can mirror the distribution of elements on the surface of solid materials and also the electrochemical activity, caused by variations of “dissolution tension”. Thus, he has established for the first time a kind of spatially resolved electrochemistry. Electrography is also the first direct electroanalytical technique for solid materials. The present paper gives an account of his turbulent life in Russia, Czechoslovakia and Chile, and a discussion of his main scientific achievement, the development of electrography.