Vadim Vasilevich Sokolovskii

Born Oct. 4 (17), 1912, in Kharkov. Soviet scientist in the field of mechanics. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1946). Member of the CPSU since 1956.

Sokolovskii graduated from the Moscow Construction Engineering Institute in 1933. From 1936 to 1939 he worked at the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and from 1939 to 1965, at the academy’s Institute of Mechanics. From 1947 to 1971 he was head of a subdepartment at the Moscow Physicotechnical Institute. In 1971 he began working at the Institute of Problems of Mechanics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Sokolovskii has been a professor since 1940.

Sokolovskii’s research has centered on the theory of plasticity, the statics of free-flowing mediums, and the theory of shells. Sokolovskii has proposed solutions for the two-dimensional plastic deformed state (compression of plastics, pressing of dies, drawing of plastic bands). He has formulated a theory for the two-dimensional plastic stressed state and proposed new methods for solving problems concerning plasticity in analytical form. He has also developed a general method for solving fundamental problems of the two-dimensional limit equilibrium of free-flowing media (supporting power of the base, shape of the stable declivities, pressure on retaining walls).

Sokolovskii is a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1959). A recipient of the state Prize of the USSR in 1943 and 1952, he has been awarded five orders and several medals.