Detchko Pavlov, arguably the leading academic researcher of lead of his generation, was presented with a lifetime award for his services to the Indian lead acid battery industry on November 15 at Battery Power 2016, the annual conference of ILZDA.

This is the second lifetime award to Pavlov, who received a similar honour at the NAATBatt conference in Palm Springs this February.

John Devitt, the key figure behind the thinking for the VRLA battery — and no intellectual slouch himself — once described the encyclopaedic Pavlov as probably having forgotten more about lead chemistry than he [Devitt] had ever known.

Pavlov, however, is more than just a well-known expert in the field of lead-acid chemistry.

It has been said that whenever the lead-acid manufacturing industry has faced a problem that requires scientific interpretation, it calls on the ‘Bulgarian School of Pavlov’ to conduct the necessary investigation. Pavlov is a Full Member (Academician) of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

He is one of the two founders of the Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems (former CLEPS), where he has headed its Lead Acid Batteries Department for more than 40 years.

His major scientific contributions are related to elucidating the mechanism of the processes involved in the technology of lead-acid battery manufacture and operation, as well as of the oxygen cycle reactions in valve-regulated lead-acid batteries.

Pavlov is also the founder of the highly successful LABAT conference series, held every three years in Bulgaria and widely regarded as essential attendance for the highbrow elite of the lead battery world.

He is the author or co-author of more than 250 scientific publications and the author of the seminal book “Lead-Acid Battery: Science and Technology”, the second edition of which will published later this year.

The value of Pavlov’s contribution has been acknowledged through a series of awards and honours: 1976, The Cyril and Methodius Medal; 1980, an award from the federal government of Australia; 1984, The Research Award of the Electrochemical Society; 1986, The National Dimitrov Award for Science; 1994, The Gaston Planté Medal; 1995, The International Cultural Diploma of Honor; 2006, The Marin Drinov Medal with Ribbon – the highest award of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; and in 2011, the ILA Lifetime Award.