Tikhonravov Mikhail Klavdievich - an outstanding Soviet scientist. He was a student of Tsiolkovsky and an associate of Korolev, was involved in the creation of the first Soviet missile. It has many awards. He brought up many worthy successors of his work.
Childhood
What was Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov and how was he? His biography began in Vladimir on July 29, 1900, but soon his parents moved to St. Petersburg. The future scientist was born in an intelligent family. His father, Claudius Mikhailovich, was a lawyer, and his mother, Alexandra Nikolaevna, was a teacher.
In the seventeenth year, the family began to live very tightly in St. Petersburg, captured by revolutionary events, and a decision was made to move the mother and younger children to the town of Pereslavl-Zalessky. And the elder Misha, along with his father, remained until the end of Tikhonravov Jr. Grammar School. The family reunited a year later.
Young years
In a new place, Klavdiy Mikhailovich got a job as a judge, and his son delivered courier mail and copied documents. In his free time he was fond of drawing.
In Pereslavl-Zalessky Tikhonravov Mikhail Klavdievich was one of the first to receive a Komsomol ticket and took up active Komsomol work, organizing cells and circling surrounding villages with propaganda speeches . In March 1919, he was even elected chairman of the city committee of the RKSM.
In the same year, 1919, the year Tikhonravov volunteered for the Red Army, and then worked in the propaganda department of the local military registration and enlistment office.
In 1920, Mikhail moved to Moscow and became a student of the Air Force Engineering Academy of the Red Army Zhukovsky, which he graduates after 5 years.
Debut career steps
Having received a diploma, engineer Tikhonravov Mikhail Klavdievich works at several enterprises of the aviation industry. Back in his studies, the young man designed a series of gliders that possessed fairly high characteristics. He continued this activity in the second half of the 20s, and it was in the glider section that an acquaintance took place that cardinally affected Tikhonravov’s life and the fate of Soviet rocket science.
The first Soviet rocket
The new acquaintance of Mikhail Klavdievich was called Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Friendship was established between scientists, which grew into close cooperation. Korolev co-sponsored Tikhonravov to create ballistic missiles, and in 1932 he already led the brigade developing the first Soviet two-stage missile.
Tikhonravov and other participants in this historic event recalled that the work was progressing very tightly. The missile did not want to start for a long time, and it was taken to the landfill in public transport, wrapped in some rags.
The efforts of engineers were successful in 1933. The missile finally managed to launch, and it rose 400 meters above the ground. This was a huge event for the whole country.
In 1934, Tikhonravov Mikhail Klavdievich took over the leadership of the Jet Institute department, and starting in 1938 he conducted research on liquid-propellant rocket engines; developed devices that would allow the study of the upper atmospheric layers, etc.
Work during the war
During the Great Patriotic War, space exploration was temporarily suspended. More relevant tasks have become more relevant. It was necessary to stop the Nazis at all costs, and the creation of the legendary Katyusha anti-aircraft complex was a truly saving decision. It was the development of shells for her that Tikhonravov Mikhail Klavdievich was engaged in in the early forties.
Opal and revenge
After the war, Tikhonravov, at the base of the Jet Research Institute, where he was the deputy chief, designed high-altitude rockets, worked on the creation of the first artificial satellites, pilot-controlled space ships, and automatic vehicles designed for interplanetary flights.
In the fifty-first year, he came up with the initiative to create multi-stage ballistic missiles, but was not understood and even ridiculed. Management found the ideas put forward as fantastic. Tikhonravov Mikhail Klavdievich, whose photo of those times betrays a tired and depressed person, was demoted and removed from important projects.
However, in 1953, the authorities realized their mistake and showed increased interest in the topic voiced by Tikhonravov. The scientist, who, despite everything, continued to work on his brainchild, was removed from oblivion and returned to vigorous activity.
The engineer devoted the rest of his life to the field of space exploration. Particularly notable were his projects, developed as the head of the artificial satellite design department at OKB-1. It was thanks to Tikhonravov that the first launch of the satellite was carried out, on board of which there was a living creature, and for this the scientist received the Lenin Prize. And later became the Hero of Socialist Labor.
In addition to scientific activity, Mikhail Klavdievich was also engaged in teaching. Among the students of his lectures was, for example, Yuri Gagarin.
On March 4, 1974, black news spread around the country that the prominent scientist, academician and teacher Mikhail Klavdievich died on the 73rd year of his life. His wife, Olga Konstantinovna Parovina (also a design engineer), survived her husband for nineteen years. The couple had a daughter, Natalya, granddaughter Olga and great-grandson Rostislav.