Petrov, Aleksandr Petrovich

Born Aug. 19 (Sept. 1), 1910, in Moscow. Soviet scientist in the field of railroad transport. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953); Hero of Socialist Labor (1966). Member of the CPSU since 1945.

Petrov graduated from the Moscow Institute of Railroad Transportation Engineering in 1934. He began teaching at the institute in 1936 and became a subdepartment head in 1938. In 1941 he worked as head of departments of the central traffic-control board of the Ministry of Railroad Transport. From 1946 to 1949 he was at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, working in the section for the scientific study of transport problems. Petrov became a professor and deputy director of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Railroad Transport in 1950. He became head of the institute in 1959.

Petrov developed a method of calculating optimum plans for making up trains and a theory for plotting curves of train traffic. Under his supervision, a number of important problems in railroad operation have been solved. These include traffic control, the creation of a unified network of computer centers, and the introduction of automatic control systems. Petrov has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, three other orders, and various medals.