Blagonravov, Anatolii Arkadevich

Born May 20 (June 1), 1894, in the village of An’kovo, Vladimir Province. Soviet scientist in the field of mechanics (ballistics). Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1943), Lieutenant general of artillery, Hero of Socialist Labor (1964), Honored Scientist and Engineer of the RSFSR (1940). Member of the Communist Party since 1937.

In 1916, Blagonravov graduated from the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute and in the same year, from the Mikhailov Artillery College; in 1924 he graduated from the Higher Artillery School and in 1929, from the Military Engineering Academy. Between 1929 and 1946 he taught at the Dzerzhinskii Artillery Academy in Moscow (professor from 1938). In 1946 he became deputy minister of higher education in the USSR. From 1946 to 1950 he was president of the Academy of Artillery Science. In 1953 he became director of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering. Between 1957 and 1963 he was academician-secretary of the Engineering Science Division of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He has been a member of the editorial board for the second edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. His principal work has been devoted to problems in mechanics and armaments. He has been carrying on important scientific and organizational work as chairman of the Commission for the Study and Utilization of Cosmic Space of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR since 1963. Since 1959 he has been vice president of the Committee for Cosmic Studies of the International Council of Scientific Unions. He is an acting member of the International Astronautic Academy. He received the State Prize of the USSR (1941) and the Leningrad Prize (1960). He has been retired since 1953. He was awarded four Orders of Lenin, four other orders, and various medals.