Portraits in the Main Building
Names of many teachers and students of Polytechnic Institute will stay in the history of national and world science. They were path-breakers in new scientific dimensions and successfully implemented scientific discoveries in technical and production achievements. They founded tens of major research institutes and laboratories. This text will only briefly tell you about the scholars whose portraits decorate the gallery of the Main Building of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and what associated them with Polytechnic Institute. (The order of names follows the Russian alphabet.)
ALEXANDROV Anatoly Petrovich
Academician (1953) AS USSR; President of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1975—1986)
A Russian physicist, Director of Kurchatov Institute, he was one of the founders of the nuclear power production in the USSR. In 1931 – 1941, he taught at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute: Assistant Professor at the Chair of General Physics, Head of the Laboratory of Optics; Associate Professor at the Chair of Experimental Physics and Chemical Physics of the Engineering and Physics (Physics and Mechanics) Department. He was recipient of numerous awards for his scientific achievements: by the end of his life, he had become the third most decorated man in the USSR.
ALEXANDROV Georgy Nikolaevich
Corr. Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1991)
He graduated with honors from the Electromechanical Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1953). His entire career was entwined with Polytechnic Institute. A prominent specialist in the sphere of corona discharge under alternating voltage and studies on the characteristics of non-conducting structures of electricity transmission, he was the Head of the Chair of Electric and Electronic Apparatus at LPI. In 1977-1982, he was the LPI Vice rector for scientific affairs.
Alikhanov Abram Isaakovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1943)
In 1931, he graduated from Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. Since 1945, he had been engaged in the nuclear project and appointed the head of a special laboratory focused on the reactor engineering on the basis of neutron moderation by heavy water. He was one of the creators of the first country’s reactor with a heavy-water moderator (1949).
Antonov Oleg Konstantinovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1981)
A graduate of the Shipbuilding Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, he became the principal designer of tens of types of airplanes, including the biggest world cargo planes An-22 – “Antey,” AN-124 – “Ruslan,” and An-225 – “Mria.” The latter still belongs to the top ten world’s large-body planes and has the biggest carrying capacity in the world. Altogether, he authored 52 gliders and 22 types of planes.
Baykov Alexander Alexandrovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1932); Vice President of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1942— 1945)
A metallurgist and chemist, he served as an extra-ordinary professor at the Chair of Metallurgy at Polytechnic Institute. Since 1925, he was the Dean of the Chemistry Department; in 1925-1928, he was the Rector of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. He was the founder of the scientific school of metal physicists at LPI. His major works were dedicated to studies of transformations in metals and the theory of metallurgic processes. The Institute of Metallurgy of the USSR Academy of Sciences was named after him. He also developed a theory of cement hardening.
Belov Nikolay Vasilyevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953)
A graduate of the Chemistry Department of the First Petrograd Polytechnic Institute, he was a prominent crystallographer and geochemist, founder of the national school of structural crystallography.
BLAGONRAVOV Anatoly Arkadyevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1943)
In 1916, he completed 4 years of the Shipbuilding Department of Petrograd Polytechnic Institute, an expedited course of the Mikhailovskiy Artillery College. He continued his education at the Higher Artillery School for Commanders (1924) and the Military Technical Academy (1929). Artillery Lieutenant General and a prominent specialist in the sphere of mechanics, rifle and airborne armament, he was the Academician-Secretary of the Department of Technical Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1957-1963.
BOKLEVSKY Konstantin Petrovich
A shipbuilding engineer, scholar, and teacher, in 1902, he was appointed the dean of the Shipbuilding Department and head of the Chair of Shipbuilding Architecture at Polytechnic Institute. He had been serving in this position up until 1923. In 1909, he organized aeronautic courses at the Shipbuilding Department. He also was the founder of an aerodynamics laboratory with a wind tunnel; a laboratory of aeronautic engines; an upper-air laboratory; and a museum of aeronautics.
VEKSHINSKY Sergey Arkadyevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953)
He graduated from the Electromechanical Department of the First Petrograd Polytechnic Institute. A physicist and specialist in vacuum electronic devices and physics engineering, he took part in the construction of vacuum chambers reproducing the cosmic conditions, creation of sensors for measurements in the space, and the design of the unit for transportation of the moon soil samples to the Earth. The R&D Institute of Vacuum Engineering and the Experimental Plant of the R&D of Electronic Engineering were named after him.
VERNOV Sergey Nikolaevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1968)
In 1931, he graduated from the Physics and Mechanics Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. A physicist and expert in the cosmic-ray physics and cosmic physics, he was one of the founders of the cosmic materials science and engineering.
VINOGRADOV Ivan Matveyevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1929)
A mathematician, he had been professor at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in 1920-1934, before he moved to Moscow, appointed to the famous Steklov Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He had served as the institute’s director in 1934-1941 and 1944-1983. He was one of the creators of the modern analytic number theory.
DANILEVICH Yanush Bronislavovich
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1997)
Graduated with honors from the Electromechanical Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute majoring in “Electric Machines and Devices” (1955). A specialist in the field of electrical engineering, electric power, power engineering, he had worked at Polytechnic University in 1988-2011. He was Director of the Department (Institute) of Electric Power RAS (since 1992).
DEVYATKOV Nikolay Dmitrievich
Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1968)
He graduated from the Electromechanical Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1931). A specialist in high-frequency engineering, he worked at the Ioffe Physics and Technical Institute (1931-1942) and several other R&D institutions. Since 1975, he had been the Chair of the Scientific Council of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the RAS on “Physical Electronics.”
Dollezhal Nikolai Antonovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1962)
He was the Head of the Chair of Chemical Engineering at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1933-1939). A specialist in nuclear power engineering, he was director of the Moscow R&D institute of Chemical Engineering and was engaged in the Soviet nuclear project in the part of design of the first industrial nuclear reactors for the production of the arms-grade plutonium.
IOFFE Abram Fedorovich
Academician of the Academy of the Russian Sciences (1920)
Ioffe defended his PhD dissertation in Munich, at Roentgen’s laboratory (1905) and his Master’s degree thesis and doctoral dissertation in physics at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute (1913 and 1915). He worked at Polytechnic Institute (1906-1946) and founded here the Physics and Mechanics Department (1919). He was the organizer of the Leningrad Physics and Technical Institute (now Ioffe Institute RAS). A teacher of many outstanding scholars and founder of several academic institutions in addition to his own exceptional achievements in physics, he is often referred to as the father of Soviet physics.
KALYAEV Anatoly Vasilyevich
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2000)
A student of the Electrotechnical Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, he enlisted to the Red Army after the outbreak of the war and graduated with honors already after the World War II. He was a specialist in computer engineering; his major areas of expertise were computers and data processing, architecture of super computers, and multiprocessor computer systems. In 1972-1993, he was director of the R&D Institute of Homogeneous Microelectronic Computing Structures. He authored more than 380 scholarly papers, 14 monographs, and patented 80 inventions.
Kapitsa Peter Leonidovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939)
A famous physicist, Nobel Prize Winner in Physics (1978), he graduated from the Electromechanical Department of the First Petrograd Polytechnic Institute (1919). Since 1919, he had been teaching at Petrograd Polytechnic Institute. He was one of the founders of the Physics and Mechanics Department at PPI and deputy to its first dean A.F. Ioffe. He was elected member of many foreign academies and scientific societies; in particular, the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He also was Honorary Doctor of many top universities abroad.
KARNAUKHOV Mikhail Mikhailovich
Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953)
He graduated from Emperor Peter the Great Petrograd Polytechnic Institute in 1914 with qualification of engineer-metallurgist. He had worked at several major metallurgy enterprises prior to his work at the institute. A prominent specialist in metallurgy, he had taught at and was the head of the Chair of Steel Metallurgy at the First Petrograd Polytechnic Institute (later on, LPI).
KIKOIN Isaac Konstantinovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953)
He graduated from the Physics and Mechanics Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1930). In 1927 – 1936, he worked at the Leningrad Physics and Technical Institute and taught at LPI (1930 – 1936). Experimenter physicist, he was one of the founders of the Kurchatov Atomic Energy Institute, which developed the first Soviet nuclear reactor in 1946. This was the lead-in to the Soviet atomic bomb project with the first atomic bomb test taking place in 1949.
KIRPICHEV Mikhail Viktorovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939)
A prominent specialist in the sphere of thermal devices, he had worked at St. Petersburg (Petrograd) Polytechnic Institute in 1907-1933 teaching lectures on thermodynamics and science of machines, professor. He took an active part in the work of several research institutions, the Ioffe Institute and Krzhizhanovsky Institute of thermal Engineering among them, and in the establishment of a number of laboratories and the I.I. Polzunov Central Boiler-and-Turbine Institute.
KISTYAKOVSKY Vladimir Alexandrovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1929)
Professor of St. Petersburg (Leningrad) Polytechnic Institute (1903 —1934); he taught lectures on physical chemistry and theoretical electric chemistry. He founded a new scientific field: colloidal electrochemistry. He founded a colloidal electrochemical laboratory, later on transformed to a research institute in this field, moved to Moscow. He had directed the institute and worked in it. Later on, he was the director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry.
KOBEKO Pavel Pavlovich
Corr. Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1943)
He was a prominent specialist in the fields of physics of dielectrics, ferroelectricity, physics and physical chemistry of amorphous bodies. In 1930 – 1937 and 1943 – 1954, he worked at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, was one of those who had been restoring functioning of the Physics and Mechanics Department at LPI in the post-war times (dean since 1944); he was one of the founders of the Radio-Technical Department at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute.
KOBZAREV Yury Borisovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1970)
An expert in radio physics, he was the founder of the scientific school on radio location, developer of a number of radio location systems for the national air-defense forces. In 1928-1940, he taught at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute.
Kovalev Nikolay Nikolayevich
Corr. Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953)
A specialist in the field of turbine construction, he had worked at the Leningrad Metal Plant as the designer, Deputy Chief Designer, Chief Designer of hydro turbines; since 1959, he headed the hydro turbine department at the I.I. Polzunov Central Boiler-and-Turbine Institute. For many years, he had taught at the Chair of Hydraulic Machinery Construction of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute.
KONSTANTINOV Boris Pavlovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1960); Vice President of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1966—1969)
He studied at the Physics and Mechanics Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1926-1929). He was an outstanding specialist in acoustics, physical chemistry, isotope physics, plasma physics and problems of controlled thermonuclear fusion, astrophysics, and holography. At the Ioffe Institute, he founded an astrophysical laboratory and a nuclear physics branch (later on, St. Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics). He also organized the Department of Experimental Nuclear Physics at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1947) and chaired it till 1951; served as dean of the Physics and Mechanics Department.
KOSTENKO Mikhail Vladimirovich
Corr. Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1962)
In 1938, he graduated with honors from the Electromechanical Department of Leningrad Industrial Institute majoring in the high voltage technique. After demobilization from the army in 1945, he had been working at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute at the Chair of High voltage technique for the rest of his life; he was the organizer of the experimental base of the department. He created the theory of wave processes in systems with lumped and distributed parameters, including frequency-dependent and nonlinear ones.
KOSTENKO Mikhail Polievktovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953)
He graduated from Peter the Great Petrograd Polytechnic Institute in 1918. A major specialist in the field of electrical engineering and electric machine industry, he had been the Head of the Chair of Electric Machinery up until 1961. He was one of the first chair’s teachers who started collaborating with the Electrosila Plant where he established the all-factory research bureau which laid foundation to the scientific and research studies at the Electrosila Corporation.
KRYLOV Alexey Nikolaevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1916)
A major institutor of science, mechanician, mathematician, and shipbuilder, he took an active part in the establishment of St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute and its shipbuilding department. He taught at the institute in 1906 – 1914 and made major contributions to the institution of a sovereign Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute. He was an outstanding scholar, capable of solving diverse and complex problems, and was encyclopedias in his academic interests: from the theory and structural design of ships, theory of magnet and gyro compasses, to mathematics, mechanics, physics, optics, astronomy, instrument engineering and artillery.
Kuznetsov Viktor Ivanovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1968)
He graduated from the Engineering Physics Department of Leningrad Industrial Institute (1938). A prominent specialist in instrument engineering, in 1966-1989, he led the development of onboard equipment for control systems for missiles, spacecraft and orbital stations, including those for booster vehicles of the “Soyuz,” “Energy,” “Luna,” “Mars,” “Progress,” “Progress-M” spaceships.
KURNAKOV Nikolay Semenovich
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1913
In 1902, he was appointed Professor of General Chemistry at St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. He was the first head of the Chair of General and Non-Organic Chemistry, founder of the physical and chemical analysis and the academic school in the field of general and non-organic chemistry.
KURCHATOV Igor Vasilyevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1943)
He studied at the First Petrograd Polytechnic Institute in 1923-24. Since 1925, he worked at the Physics and Technical Institute in Leningrad as head of its Physics Department; in parallel, he had been working at Polytechnic Institute (1927 – 1933). A famous physicist and institutor of fundamental science and technical studies, he was the head of the USSR nuclear project.
LEVINSON-LESSING Frants Yulevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1925)
Geologist, mineralogist, specialist in theoretical petrography, professor of St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute (1902-1930). In 1909 – 1913, he was the dean of the Metallurgy Department of Polytechnic Institute. In 1919, he was elected Rector of Polytechnic Institute; he took part in the establishment of the Physics and Mechanics Department and the Chemical Department of the Institute (1919). In 1919-1920, he was acting dean of the Chemical Department, and in 1921-1922, deputy dean of the Physics and Mechanics Department.
LUKIRSKY Peter Ivanovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1946)
Professor, Head of the Chair of Technical Electronics at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1945-1954), he was one of the initiators of renaissance of LPI in the post-war period and the system of physics and engineering education as a whole. He played an important role in the organization, establishment, and development of the Radio-Technical Department at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in 1952.
LURIE Anatoly Isakovich
Corr. Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1961)
A major specialist in the field of mechanics and theory of elasticity, he graduated from the Physics and Mechanics Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1925). In 1925-1941 and 1945- 1980, he worked at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. Professor since 1935; he was the Head of the Chair of Theoretical Mechanics and, later on, the Head of the Chair of Dynamics and Strength of Machines at the Physics and Mechanics Department. He authored numerous monographs and textbooks in the field of mechanics of solids, broadly used for research and education.
Malyshev Nikolai Aleksandrovich
Corr. Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1976)
Graduated from Leningrad Industrial Institute (1934) as a hydraulic engineer. A major specialist in the hydraulic power industry, water management and the design of hydro technical structures, he took part in the construction and reconstruction of the most capacious hydro power stations.
MELENTYEV Lev Aleksandrovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1966)
He graduated from the Electromechanical Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1930). He was a major specialist in the energy field. He had worked at several prominent research organizations. In 1960 – 1973, he was the Director of the Siberian Energy Institute, and in 960-1965, Chair of the Presidium of the Eastern-Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Later on he had been the Director of the Institute of Energy Studies in Moscow.
MENSHUTKIN Nikolay Aleksandrovich
One of the founders of chemical kinetics
Professor of Polytechnic Institute (1902-1907), he founded several chemical laboratories at St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. He was the developer of the chemical curricula and education programs of teaching chemical sciences at Polytechnic Institute and one of the founders of the Russian Chemical Society.
MESHCHERSKIY Ivan Vsevolodovich
He remolded the system of teaching theoretical mechanics, bringing it much closer to the problems of applied mechanics. He was the Head of the Department of Theoretical Mechanics (1902) and Director of St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute (1907-1908). He was the author of fundamental works which made a major contribution to the development of mathematical astronomy, theoretical framework and techniques of reactive propulsion. He was the author of the famous Collection of Problems in Theoretical Mechanics, which has outlived 37 re-publications.
MITKEVICH Vladimir Fedorovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1929)
A physicist, expert in electrotechnics, he started teaching at St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute in 1904 and had worked there for 35 years. His teaching courses laid foundation to the theoretical bases in electrotechnics. Dean of the Electromechanically Department in 1912-1916. During World War II years, he had been directing the Group for Technical Physics at the USSR AS and the Department of Theoretical Electric Engineering at the Krzhizhanovsky Energy Institute. He was the head of the Telecommunication Section at the Department of Engineering Sciences of the USSR AS.
Nazarenko Vladimir Andreevich
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2006)
He graduated with honors from the Physics and Mechanics Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1958). He had worked at the Ioffe Institute Branch in Gatchina and Leningrad Institute of Nuclear Physics as its Deputy Director (1976-1992) and Director (since 1992). He was one of the leading nationwide specialists in the field of physics of weak interactions of elementary particles and neutron physics.
Neyman Leonid Robertovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1970)
He graduated from the Electromechanical Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1930) and had taught there through his entire career. A specialist in radio techniques, he authored several works on the distribution of electromagnetic waves in a nonlinear media, modeling and studies of electromagnetic processes. Since 1946, he had been working at the Institute of Energy, USSR AS.
PAVLOV Mikhail Alexandrovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1932)
A prominent specialist in metallurgy, he worked at St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute (1904-1921): Deputy Director of the Institute, Director of the institute, Dean of the Metallurgy Department, Vice Rector for Education. He worked at many industrial and research institutions, specializing in blast furnaces. In 1921, he was sent to Moscow to establish education in metallurgy at the Moscow Mining Academy and Institute of Steel. His books were a must for every blast-furnace engineer.
PAVLOVSKY Nikolay Nikolaevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1932)
He was a specialist in water resource and hydraulic engineering and the theory of ground water seepage; founder of the society hydraulic school. For many years, he had been dealing with irrigation of lands in various regions of the country. He had been teaching hydraulics at the Civil Engineering Department of St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute since 1913 and had been the Head of the Chair of Hydraulics of Polytechnic Institute (1921-1937), dean of the Department of Water Engineering (1929-1930). He was one of the founders of VNIIG (Research Institute of Hydraulic Engineering).
PAPKOVICH Pyotr Fyodorovich
Corr. Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1933)
A specialist in the structural design of ships, he graduated from Emperor Peter the Great Polytechnic Institute (1911, marine engineer), served in the navy and worked at shipbuilding facilities of surface and submarine force (1911-1922). In 1916-1920, he had been teaching applied naval architecture and, later on, theoretical mechanics and structural design of ships at Petrograd Polytechnic Institute. Most of his life, he had been teaching at the Naval Academy and Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute.
Pozdunin Valentin Lvovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939)
He graduated from the Shipbuilding Department of St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute (1908). A specialist in mechanics and shipbuilding, theory of ship design, theory and calculation of ship units and systems, high-speed propellers, ship architecture and ship hydromechanics, he had taught at St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute since 1910 (Shipbuilding Department) and was its dean in 1923-1929. He transferred to the Shipbuilding Institute after it broke away from LPI (1930).
POSNIKOV Alexander Sergeyevich
Director of Polytechnic Institute in 1907-1911
In 1900 (at the age of 65), he was assigned to the Special Building Commission for the construction of buildings of St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute in St. Petersburg. He had worked at Polytechnic Institute in 1902-1922. Director of St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute in 1907-1911; professor at Petrograd Polytechnic Institute in 1918-1922; after resignation in 1922, he was granted a perma-title of Petrograd Polytechnic Institute professor and life-long professorial residence and remuneration.
RADZIG Alexander Alexandrovich
Corr. Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1935)
A prominent specialist in the field of power engineering, thermodynamics, founder and creator of the Russian school of power engineering and turbine building in St. Petersburg, he had been working at St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute since 1909: professor, Dean of the Mechanical Department (190901919, 1925-1930); Director of the Institute (1917-1918); Professor at the Chair o Thermal Machines (1918-1930); Head of the Chair of Steam Turbines (since 1930). He was one of the founders of the Power Engineering Department (1934) and author of numerous books in thermodynamic, thermal engineering, and applied mechanics.
RAZIN Nikolay Vasilyevich
Corr. Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1968)
A graduate of the Civil Engineering Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1929), he was a specialist in the field of hydro power production and water engineering, and author of many essential proposals on the improvement of hydraulic structures and construction technology. He had been Director of the Institute for Physics of the Earth AS USSR for more than 30 years and one of the founders of the Institute of Geosphere Dynamics.
Semenov Nikolay Nikolaevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1932), Vice President AS USSR (1963-1971)
Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry; physicist and physicochemist. In the 1920, he took charge of the electron phenomena laboratory of the Leningrad Physics and Technical Institute. He lectured at Polytechnic Institute and was appointed Professor in 1928. In 1931, he became Director of the Institute of Chemical Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (which had moved to Moscow in 1943); from 1944 he had been a Professor at Moscow State University.
SKOBELTSIN Dmitry Vladimirovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1946)
He studied at Emperor Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute in 1910-1911 and worked at Polytechnic Institute for more than twenty years (1916-1937). A specialist in the physics of atomic nuclei, he was the first physicist to put a Wilson cloud chamber in the magnetic field and to show that cosmic rays are high energy particles. In the late 1920s, for the first time ever, he observed the multiple particle generation by a cosmic particle. He initiated the cosmic ray research in Leningrad and Moscow and has brought up a galaxy of distinguished cosmic ray physicists. He is the acknowledged founder of the Soviet and Russian cosmic ray studies.
SMIRNOV Vasily Sergeevich
Corr. Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1960)
Since 1949 and till the end of his life he had been working at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. Since 1950, he was the Head of the Chair of Plastic Working of Metals. He was LPI Deputy Director on the Research Affairs (1954-1956) and Rector of LPI in 1956-1973. Under his command, Leningrad Polytechnic Institute had significantly expanded its educational and research programs and its funds.
SOKOLOV Taras Nikolaevich
Chief Structural Engineer of the Impulse Special Design Bureau
He graduated from Leningrad Industrial Institute in 1935 and had worked at LPI for over forty years (1935-1979). He founded the Special Design Bureau at LPI and played an outstanding role in the creation and industrial introduction of modern automated control systems for complex objects. He designed automatic digital information machines Quarts and Temp for the definition of space orbital parameters of trajectories and data transfer by communication channels: the latter were successfully used for the launching of space satellites and the first manned spaceflight of Yu.A. Gagarin.
STRUMILIN Stanislav Gustavovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1931)
He graduated from the Economics Department of Emperor Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute (1914). A prominent Soviet economist, statistician, historian, and sociologist, he authored more than 700 papers in economics, statistics, industrial management, political economy, sociology, philosophy and the national economy planning.
STYRIKOVICH Mikhail Adolfovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1964)
In 1930-1941, he had been teaching at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, though his principal job was at the I.I. Polzunov Central Boiler-and-Turbine Institute (1928-1946). In 1964 – 1980, he was Academician-Secretary at the Department of Physical and Technical Problems in the Energy Industry of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
TIKHODEYEV Nikolay Nikolaevich
Academician RAS (1992)
He graduated with honors from the Electromechanical Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute majoring in high-voltage engineering. A specialist in the field of power production, high-voltage engineering, and electric energy transmission, he had worked at Polytechnic Institute in 1970-2008. He made major contributions to the studies related to the broad industrial implementation of the first world’s HVTLs 500 kW and HVTLs 1150 kW and the first European HVTLs 750 kW.
Tuchkevich Vladimir Maksimovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1970)
A physicist and researcher in the field of semiconductor physics and engineering, he was the director of the Ioffe Institute in 1967-1986. He had been teaching at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in 1935 – 1960 and in1984 – 1997 at the Chair of Experimental Physics and was the head of the latter. In 1983, he established and took charge of the Chair of Physics of Semiconductors at LPI.
FILIMONOV Nikolai Aleksandrovich
A civil engineer by training, he graduated from the First Petrograd Polytechnic Institute in1921. A professor and chairholder at LPI (since 1959), he made major contributions to power engineering; he was the initiator of introduction of progressive constructions and workflow to hydraulic power development and took an active part in the design of many HPSs, including the Ust-Kamenogorsk, Verkhnetursk, Matkozhnensk, Narva, Ond, Palaeozersk, Kegum HPSs and the Nivskiy Cascade.
Flerov Georgy Nikolaevich
Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1968)
He graduated from the Engineering and Physics Department of Leningrad Industrial Institute (1938). He is known for the discovery of spontaneous fission and his contribution to the physics of thermal reactions. He is also known for his letter directed to Joseph Stalin, during the midst of World War II, to start the atomic bomb project in the Soviet Union. In this project, he worked in close cooperation with I.V. Kurchatov. In 2012, the periodical element #114, discovered at the research laboratory at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research bearing his name, was named flerovium.
Khariton Yuli Borisovich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953)
He graduated from the Physics and Mechanics Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in 1925. He enrolled to the institute to study mechanical engineering but, later on, chose to study physics as a “more fascinating” science. A specialist in the physics of explosion, he was one of the creators of the Soviet nuclear weapons and founder of the research nuclear center in Arzamas-16 of which he had been the director for more than 40 years. In 1939-1941, together with Ya.B. Zeldovich, he made calculations for the theoretical process behind the nuclear fission chain reactions.
CHERNYSHEV Alexander Alekseevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1932)
He graduated from the Electromechanical Department of St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute (1907) and had worked at Polytechnic Institute in 1908-1940: he was the Dean of the Electromechanical Department (1921-1922); professor and Head of the Chair of Radio Engineering (1919-1929); the Head of the Chair of High Voltage and professor of the Chair of Radio Engineering of the Physics and Mechanics Department (1929-1934); professor of the Chair of High-Voltage Engineering and Director of the Special Electromechanical Sector (1934-1940) at LPI.
SHATELEN Mikhail Andreevich
Corr. Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1931)
He was one of the founders of St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute (1901) and professor of this institute in 1901—1957. He was the Head of the Chair of Electrical Engineering, Dean of the Electromechanical Department, and Rector of the Institute (1918 – 1919). He had established a whole series of laboratories for electrical engineering and was one of the designers of the GOERLO Plan (the first plan of electrification of the Soviet Russia, 1922).
Shchukin Alexandr Nikolaevich
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953)
He enrolled to the Electromechanical Department of the First Petrograd Polytechnic Institute in 1921, but was transferred to Petrograd Electrotechnical Institute in 1924. In 1929-1935, he had been Associate Professor at the Chair of Radio Engineering at the Physics and Mechanics Department of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. Lieutenant General-Engineer, he was a prominent specialist in the field of radio engineering and radio physics.