Vologdin Valentin Petrovich (March 10 [22], 1881, the settlement of Kuva, Perm Governorate — April 23, 1953, Leningrad) was a Russian and Soviet scientist in the field of high-frequency engineering and one of the founders of the Nizhny Novgorod Radio Laboratory. He was a Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939), Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the RSFSR (1942), and a two-time winner of the Stalin Prize. He was associated with Nizhny Novgorod during the period 1918–1923, when he worked at the Nizhny Novgorod Radio Laboratory and taught at Nizhny Novgorod University.[1]

Early years and education

Valentin Vologdin was born into the family of a mining overseer, a former serf of the Stroganov industrialists of the Urals.[1] At the age of 11 he was sent to the Perm Realschule (a secondary school with a science and technology focus), where he showed an aptitude for physics and invention. In 1900 he entered the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, following his older brother Sergey; among his instructors were the locomotive designer Nikolay Shchukin and the electrical engineering specialist Aleksandr Voronov.[3] He graduated from the institute in 1907 and took a job at the electromechanical plant of the company "N. N. Glebov and Co.," while simultaneously doing postgraduate study in the Department of Strength of Materials. In 1909 he was sent on assignment to Germany and Sweden to study the manufacture of high-frequency electrical machines.[2]

The Nizhny Novgorod period (1918–1923)

After the establishment of Soviet Power in Nizhny Novgorod, a radio engineering laboratory was created that needed qualified specialists: having withdrawn from the First World War, Russia had lost its direct link with its Western European allies and urgently needed its own production of amplifier tubes, which had previously been imported from abroad. In 1918 Vologdin accepted an invitation and arrived in the city.[3] The Nizhny Novgorod Radio Laboratory was headed by Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bonch-Bruevich; Vologdin was given a separate workspace, and by 1921 a power plant had been built for his work.[3]

In 1919, at the laboratory, Vologdin created the world's first high-voltage mercury rectifier with a liquid cathode in a glass design.[1] In 1921–1922 he built a powerful electric motor (50 kW) to rotate the generator shaft; in 1922 the machine was installed in Moscow at the Khodynka radio station and provided communication both within the country and with the states of Europe and the USA — the transmitter operated until 1938.[3] At the same time, from 1921 Vologdin held the post of dean of the electrical engineering (electromechanical) faculty of Nizhny Novgorod University.[1][2]

Work in Leningrad

In 1923, Vologdin moved to Petrograd/Leningrad, where he became director for radio of the State Trust of Low-Current Plants, and from 1924 he was a professor at the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute (LETI), teaching the courses "Power Supply of Radio Devices" and "High-Frequency Machines."[2] He became one of the founders of the Central Radio Laboratory and headed its laboratory of high-frequency machines and rectifiers (1924–1935). In 1929, a 150-kW telegraph machine of his design entered regular operation at the Oktyabrskaya (formerly Khodynskaya) radio station.[2]

In 1930, Vologdin created powerful metal-enclosed mercury rectifiers and developed their theory and connection circuits.[2] In 1935, he organized the laboratory of high-frequency electrothermy of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1936, the USSR People's Commissar of Heavy Industry issued an order "On the Surface Hardening of Products by High-Frequency Currents According to the Method of Professor V. P. Vologdin."[2] During the Great Patriotic War, Vologdin organized a laboratory and a high-frequency hardening shop at a tank plant in Chelyabinsk, which was put into operation in August 1942.[2] From 1947, he headed the Research Institute for the Industrial Application of High-Frequency Currents and simultaneously headed the Department of High-Frequency Engineering at LETI until his death in 1953.[1]

Scientific Legacy and Recognition

Vologdin was the author of over 120–180 scientific works (sources differ) and more than 80 author's certificates for inventions.[1][2] His books include "Rectifiers" (1932, 1936), "High-Frequency Generators" (1935, co-authored), and "Surface Induction Hardening" (1947).[5] He was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1943 for developing and introducing the method of high-frequency surface hardening of steel products, and again in 1952 for developing a new type of forge shop for a machine-building plant.[1] In 1948, he became the first recipient of the A. S. Popov Gold Medal of the USSR Academy of Sciences.[2] He was awarded the Order of Lenin (1944).[1] He is buried at the Literatorskiye Mostki (Writers' Walkways) of the Volkovo Cemetery in Leningrad.[1]

Commemoration in Nizhny Novgorod

A street in the Prioksky District of Nizhny Novgorod bears Vologdin's name. A memorial plaque has been installed on the house where he lived (Nizhegorodsky District, Minin Street, 10a).[1]

Sources

  1. encspb.ru — Encyclopedia of Saint Petersburg (archive)
  2. names52.ru — Vologdin Valentin Petrovich (archive)
  3. etu.ru — Vologdin Valentin Petrovich (archive)
  4. sut.ru — 140 Years Since the Birth of V.P. Vologdin — A Resource for Employees
  5. nezvmuseum.ucoz.ru
  6. retrabbit.ru — Vologdin Valentin Petrovich, Creator of the World's First High-Voltage Mercury Rectifiers. Developed High-Frequency Current Technology — USSR — World Firsts — Articles — Famous Names (archive)