Valeria Alekseyevna Golubtsova (May 2 [15], 1901, Nizhny Novgorod — October 1, 1987, Moscow) was a Soviet electrical engineer, Doctor of Technical Sciences, and director of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute from 1943 to 1952; a native of Nizhny Novgorod and the wife of the statesman Georgy Malenkov.
Origins and early years
She was born into the family of a literature teacher. In Nizhny Novgorod she completed gymnasium (secondary school) and library courses. During the Civil War she worked as a librarian on the agitation train of a cavalry brigade, then as an instructor in the Political Directorate of the Turkestan Front in Tashkent — in the same service as her future husband, G. M. Malenkov. From 1921 to 1928 she worked in the Organizational Department of the Party's Central Committee in Moscow.
Engineering career
From 1928 to 1930 she was a work-rate setter at the Moscow Metal Lamp Plant. In 1934 she graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute. After graduating, she worked until 1936 as an engineer at the Dynamo Plant in Moscow.
In 1941–1942, during the evacuation, she was in Kuybyshev with her family, where she held the post of instructor of the Kuybyshev Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), responsible for the aviation and electrical engineering industries. In 1942 she returned to Moscow.
From 1943 to 1952 she headed the V. M. Molotov Moscow Power Engineering Institute. In 1955 she defended her dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences on the history and prospects for the development of electrical insulating materials for electrical machines, apparatus, wires, and cables. In 1956 she was awarded the title of professor. From 1953 to 1957 she was deputy director of the Institute for the History of Natural Science and Technology in Moscow.
Later years
After her husband G. M. Malenkov was removed from all Party and government posts in 1957, she followed him into exile — first to Ust-Kamenogorsk, then to Ekibastuz in the Kazakh SSR. In the 1960s she returned to Moscow. She is buried at the Kuntsevo Cemetery.
She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (January 21, 1944) and the Order of the Red Star (1945).
Sources
- names52.ru — Golubtsova Valeria Alekseyevna
- search.rsl.ru — Golubtsova, Valeria Alekseyevna.