Similar processes were already known in the 19th century. Wilhelm Ostwald gave a detailed account in 1899 and 1900, describing the oscillations of Chrome in Hydrochloric acid and of iron in Nitric acid. Boris Pavlovich Belousov accidentally discovered the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction in the 1950s. Ilya Prigogine was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977. His research focused on systems which were far away from an equilibrium state, the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction was included. Beloussow was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1980, after his death. The Lenin prize was the highest distinction for scientific achievement in the Soviet Union.