Bykov, Nikolai
Bykov, Nikolai Alekseevich
Born Dec. 6 (18), 1862; died Apr. 23, 1939, in Leningrad. Soviet thermal engineer and internal-combustion engine specialist. In 1881, Bykov was admitted to the University of Kazan, but he was expelled in 1882 for participation in student riots. In 1888 he graduated from the medical school of the University of Kazan and then practiced medicine. In 1896 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Technological Institute. In 1899 he began teaching at the Technological and Electrotechnical institutes in St. Petersburg (he became a professor in 1910); after the October Revolution, he was a professor at the Naval Academy. In 1902, Bykov began the first course of lectures in Russia on internal-combustion engines and on steam turbines. From 1900 to 1930 he participated in almost all the tests on new heat engines. His fundamental work, Thermodynamics, was published in 1928.