Kuznetsov, Vasilii Vasilevich

Born Apr. 2, 1866, in St. Petersburg; died Mar. 6, 1938, in Leningrad. Soviet meteorologist and hydrologist; organizer of aerological research in Russia. He studied first at the University of St. Petersburg and then at Moscow University, where he did his initial scientific work under the supervision of N. E. Zhukovskii. He worked at the Main Physics Observatory (1894–1919 and 1924–27) and then at the State Hydrological Institute (1929–38). He organized Russia’s first kite station in 1902 in Pavlovsk; it was reorganized in 1912 as the Aerological Observatory, which he headed until 1919. He developed methods for determining the height of clouds and for sounding the atmosphere, and he designed a number of aerological and hydrological instruments.

Born Jan. 31 (Feb. 13), 1901, in the village of Sofilovka, Kostroma Province. Soviet statesman, public figure, and diplomat. Hero of Socialist Labor (1971). Member of the CPSU since 1927.

The son of a peasant, Kuznetsov began working at the age of 15. He graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in 1926 and from 1927 to 1931 was an engineer at the Makeevka Metallurgical Plant. Between 1931 and 1933, Kuznetsov studied metallurgy abroad, and from 1933 to 1937 he was assistant shop superintendent and head of the laboratory at the Elektrostal’ Plant in Noginsk. Between 1937 and 1940 he was engineer and later chief engineer at GlavspetsstaP (Central Board for the Production of Quality Steel). From 1940 to 1943, Kuznetsov was deputy chairman of Gosplan (State Planning Commission) of the USSR. During the Great Patriotic War he was a deputy member of the State Committee for Defense in charge of metallurgical questions. In 1943–44, Kuznetsov was chairman of the Central Committee of the Trade Union of Ferrous Metallurgy Workers of the Central Zone. From 1944 to 1953 he was chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. In 1945 he joined the General Council of the Executive Committee of the World Federation of Trade Unions and became the organization’s deputy chairman. He headed a number of Soviet trade union delegations to international congresses and conferences. Between 1953 and 1955 he was deputy minister of foreign affairs and extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the USSR to the People’s Republic of China. In 1955 he became the first deputy minister of foreign affairs of the USSR.

Kuznetsov was a delegate to the Nineteenth through Twenty-fourth Party Congresses. In 1952 he became a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and in 1952–53 he was a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee. He was a deputy to the second through ninth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. From 1950 to 1953 he was a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Kuznetsov was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1941. He has been awarded five Orders of Lenin, three other orders, and a number of medals.