VETCHINKIN

RUSSIA (see also List of Individuals)

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29.6.1888 Kutno/PL - 6.3.1950 Moscow/RU

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Vladimir Petrovich Vetchinkin was born in today's Poland, formerly a province of Imperial Russia. He graduated in 1915 from Moscow Higher Technical School MVTU and was a student collaborating with Nikolai E. Zhukovsky (1847-1921). Vetchinkin was appointed professor of aerodynamics in 1927 at MVTU. In parallel, he was one of the founders of the Central Aero-hydrodynamic Institute TsAGI, Leningrad. He there carried out scientific and educational work for years both at MVTU and at TsAGI. He was awarded a Honored Scientist and Engineer of the Soviet Union in 1946.

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Vetchinkin is known for his theory and computation of propellers, the dynamics of flight, the durability of airplanes, the use of wind energy, and the design and construction of wind-powered electrical stations. Simple windmills were known in Russia from centuries. The theoretical works of Zhukovsky, Vetchinkin and Georgy Fedorovich Proskura (1876-1958) created the theoretical bases for the design and manufacturing of improved wind-engines. The first experiments were made at the Kochino test site close to Moscow in 1920. First prototype schemes were then investigated at TsAGI from 1931 to 1941. The first wind power station D-30 had a capacity of 100 kW, with a diameter of the wind mill rotor of 30 m. By that time, this design was the most powerful throughout the world. The construction of a second similar scheme began at the salt works of Kara-Bogaz-Gol near the Caspian Sea, yet this installation was destroyed during World War II. Vetchinkin published more than 150 papers and some books. Vetchinkin was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1943 and was decorated with three orders. He was a great scientist in aerodynamics, aircraft design and wind engineering.

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_{Anonymous (1974). Vetchinkin, Vladimir Petrovich. Great Soviet encyclopedia 4: 631.}

_{MacMillan: New York.}

_{Anonymous (1976). TsAGI 1918-1968. Mazhinostroeine: Moscow (in Russian). P}

_{Betyaev, S.K. (2003). On the history of fluid dynamics: Russian scientific schools in the 20th century. Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk 46(4): 405-432. P}

_{Golubev, V.V. (1957). Trudy po aerodinamike. Moscow.}

_{Kolesnikov, K.S., ed. (1995). 165 years of MVTU. MVTU Baumana: Moscow (in Russian). P}

_{Sokolova, S.A. (1972). Pionery raketnoi tekhniki: Vetchinkin, Glushko, Korelev, Tikhonravov.}

_{Nauka: Moskva.}

_{Vetchinkin, V.P. (1956). Izbrannye trudy. Izd-vo Akademii Nauk SSSR: Moscow.}