Evgenii Chudakov

Born Aug. 20 (Sept. 1), 1890, in the village of Sergievskoe, in what is now Tula Oblast; died Sept. 19,1953, in Moscow. Soviet scientist, specialist in machine science and automotive engineering. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1939; corresponding member, 1933).

Chudakov graduated from the Moscow Higher Technical School in 1916. Between 1918 and 1928, he taught at the school. From 1936 until his death, he was the head of the automotive subdepartment at the school. In 1918, Chudakov organized an automotive scientific laboratory. From 1921 to 1930, he was the director of the Scientific Motor Vehicle Institute, which was founed on the basis of the laboratory. Between 1930 and 1940, he was the deputy director of the Tractor Scientific Research Institute and then the head of a section of the institute. From 1939 to 1950, Chudakov was the director of the Institute of Machine Science of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He was a vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR from 1939 to 1942, becoming a member of the academy’s Presidium of 1942. From 1949 to 1953, he was a member of the Chief Editorial Board of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

Chudakov’s main works dealt with the development of automotive theory. In 1928, Chudakov published A Dynamic and Economic Study of Motor Vehicles, in which he demonstrated the relationship between the design features of a motor vehicle and the vehicle’s road and overall economic performance. He studied the stability of motor vehicles and the strength and wear of automotive parts.

For a number of years, Chudakov was the chairman of the All-Union Council of Scientific and Engineering Societies and a member of the Presidium of the Society for the Dissemination of Political and Scientific Knowledge. He received the State Prize of the USSR in 1943 and 1951 and was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.