Zhiritsky, George Sergeevich

Georgy Sergeyevich Zhiritsky was born on September 26 ( October 8 ), 1893 in the city of Krapivna (now the village of the Shchekinsky district of the Tula region ), in the family of the forester S. N. Zhiritsky. His parents soon parted; George was raised by his mother, who worked as an accountant in the Kiev Treasury, and then in the Kiev city government. Already from the age of 14, George made his own money, giving lessons ^{[2] [3] [4]} .

Kiev period

In 1911, George Zhiritsky graduated from the First Kiev Gymnasium with a gold medal and in the same year entered the mechanical faculty of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute , which he graduated in 1915. The graduation project developed by Zhiritsky was recognized as the best and was awarded a cash prize; a year later, the publication of his first scientific article ^{[2] [5]} followed.

Since 1915 he worked at the Naval plant in Nikolaev . In 1918, G. S. Zhiritsky was elected by competition as a teacher of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute; he moved to Kiev and began work at the department of Steam Boilers, which was then led by Professor . Combining the work of an engineer at the Fiziokhimik plant with pedagogical activities at the institute, he teaches technical drawing , practical mechanics , steam engines and steam turbines , and heat engines . In 1925, the People's Commissariat of Ukraine approved the 32-year-old Zhiritsky as a professor of steam engines, and the next year he was appointed dean of the Faculty of Mechanics and head of the Department of Steam Engines. In 1926 and 1927, Zhiritsky, during scientific trips to Germany, got acquainted with the practice of German turbine construction ^{[6] [7]} .

Moscow period

In 1929, G. S. Zhiritsky participated in the competition for the post of head of the Department of Steam Turbines of the Moscow Higher Technical School (MVTU). After the election, he moved to Moscow and worked in this position in the 1929/1930 academic year, reading a course of steam turbines for those students who specialized in this subject, and a course in heat engines for all students of the Faculty of Mechanics of the MVTU. Professor V. Zhiritsky's assistants were then V.V. Uvarov and A.V. Shcheglyaev . At the same time, G. S. Zhiritsky headed the department of steam engines at the Moscow Mechanical and Electrotechnical Institute named after MV Lomonosov , and at the Institute of National Economy named after G. V. Plekhanov (INH) he taught courses on steam engines and steam turbines ^[8] .

In the summer of 1930, during the campaign to disaggregate Moscow universities, MVTU was divided into five independent schools, and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering was allocated to the Higher Energy School. The G.V. Plekhanov Institute of Economics also underwent the same disaggregation, on the basis of the faculty of electrical engineering of which an independent branch institute with electrical engineering specialties was created. Since the fall of 1930, both branch energy universities have been merged into a single Moscow Energy Institute (MPEI). Since the Higher Mechanics and Engineering School, which became the successor to the “old” MVTU, the specialty “steam turbines” was closed, G. S. Zhiritsky went to work at MPEI, where the training of engineers in this specialty was provided ^{[9] [10]} .

In the newly formed MPEI G.S. Zhiritsky became the first head (1930-1937) of the Department of Steam Turbine Installations, organized under his leadership. In 1931, he created a steam turbine laboratory at this department. The department became a forge of turbine specialists in the USSR ^{[3] [11] [12]} .

In the same 1930, the OGPU fabricated the case of the "Industrial Party" ; according to the investigation, it was about creating an anti-Soviet underground organization, whose members were engaged in wrecking in industry and transport and espionage on instructions from the French General Staff. The director of the All-Union Heat Engineering Institute, Professor L. K. Ramzin , was declared the head of the "Industrial Party" ^[13] . In total, several hundred people were arrested in this case. The arrests affected many specialists in heat engineering: Ramzin headed the Bureau of Heat Engineering Congresses, which was preparing for all-Union heat engineering congresses and recognized as a "wrecking" organization. However, G. S. Zhiritsky (despite the testimony of some “industrial party members” about his membership in the counter-revolutionary organization) managed to avoid arrest ^[14] .

In 1932, all the heat engineering specialties at MPEI were merged into the Heat Engineering Faculty (TTF). The first dean of the TTF was appointed G. S. Zhiritsky, who remained in this post until 1936 and put a lot of work into the organization of academic and scientific work at the faculty. In 1933, the newly organized Higher Attestation Commission confirmed Zhiritsky in the academic rank of professor, and in 1937 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences without defending a dissertation on the basis of previously published scientific papers (his books on steam engines and steam turbines have long been for students of power engineering and thermal engineering specialties with basic textbooks) ^{[9] [15]} .

The scientific, pedagogical and organizational activities of G. S. Zhiritsky at MPEI ended in 1937 - after his unjustified arrest. In just a few years of this work, he laid a reliable foundation for the further development of the Department of Steam Turbine Installations and formed a workable creative team, headed later (in 1938-1970) by his student A. V. Shcheglyaev . The department was transferred from TTF to the newly formed Faculty of Power Engineering (EnMF) in 1943 and was renamed the Department of Heat Engines (since 1950 the Department of Steam and Gas Turbines, PGT) ^{[12] [16] [17]} .

Until 1939, while the investigation was underway, G. S. Zhiritsky was kept in a Rostov prison, in the same cell with criminals. He was saved from reprisal by a good knowledge of fiction: he daily retold from his fellow inmates the memory of adventure novels by Fenimore Cooper , Mine Read , Jack London and other writers ^[7] .

In 1939 he was transferred to Moscow, where, while serving his sentence, he worked in the design group of the 4th Special Department of the NKVD (the so-called " sharashka ") at the Tushino Aircraft Engine Plant No. 82 of the NKAP , which, under the direction of A. D. Charomsky, was engaged in the construction of aviation engines . In the Tushino sharashka, Zhiritsky found himself in the same room as Professor B. S. Stechkin , the deputy of Charomsky, and gradually made friends with him. Stechkin carried away Zhiritsky with the design of a driven for a multi-shaft aircraft diesel engine , and Zhiritsky, who had previously had nothing to do with diesels, quickly became an excellent specialist in gas processes; This retraining was promoted by his high level of mathematical training and outstanding design skills ^[18] . In the Tushino period of his imprisonment, G.S. Zhiritsky also worked closely with V.P. Glushko , who initially developed the GG-3 gas generator to drive the engine of a high-speed planing sea ​​torpedo , and then the project of the auxiliary rocket engine designed to force a twin-engine aircraft by maneuver fighter "S-100" ^{[19] [20]} .

Kazan period

In the fall of 1940, the Glushko group was transferred to Kazan Aviation Engine-Building Plant No. 16 , where it continued to develop auxiliary aircraft rocket engines with pumped fuel supply ^{[20] [21]} . The group was located in the territory of plant No. 16, but did not report to the director of the plant, but to the head of the special design bureau of the NKVD , state security captain V. A. Beketov, who had a diploma in metallurgical engineering ^{[19] [22]} . In the fall of 1941, the rest of the workers of the Tushino sharashka, including G. S. Zhiritsky, were relocated to Kazan. Initially, he continued to work in the Charomsky group on the creation of a turbocharger, but in February 1942, Charomsky with part of the staff transferred the leadership of the 4th Special Department of the NKVD to Moscow, and Zhiritsky, along with other prisoners and civilian employees who had previously worked with Charomsky, joined the Glushko group ^{[19 ] [23]} .

Since the fall of 1941, the Kazan special prison received the official name "Design Bureau of the 4th Special Department of the NKVD of the USSR at Plant No. 16 of the NKAP" ( OKB-16 ); Beketov became the head of the design bureau. Formally, this special prison-type design bureau was approved by order of the USSR People's Commissariat for Aviation Industry only in January 1942. Then, in the OKB-16 structure, design bureaus were created for each thematic project with the staff assigned to each of them: KB-1 (chief designer B. S. Stechkin) and KB-2 (chief designer V. P. Glushko; the last received the post of chief designer back in late 1941 in connection with the deployment of work on the aircraft RD-1 ^{[24] [25]} ). The KB-2 staffing table included two deputy chief designers: a deputy for design work (G. S. Zhiritsky) and a deputy for experimental work ( D. D. Sevruk ) ^{[19] [26]} .

The KB-2 structure included highly qualified scientists, designers, experimenters, technologists, metallurgists, chemists. In addition to the previously mentioned, professors K. I. Strakhovich, A. I. Gavrilov, V. V. Pazukhin, engineers V. A. Vitka, G. N. List, N. L. Umansky, N. S. Shnyakin, worked here. A. A. Meerov, A. S. Nazarov, N. A. Zheltukhin ^{[20] [27]} . In November 1942, S.P. Korolev was transferred to the Kazan Sharashka, who was also enrolled in KB-2 (in 1943-1944 he was the head of the "group No. 5 for developing a rocket launcher", which occupied the relatively autonomous OKB-16 structure position) ^{[28] [29]} . The experience and knowledge that KB-2 employees brought from different fields of science and technology allowed the team to successfully develop and introduce original designs of aviation rocket engines ^{[20] [27]} .

The work on the creation of RD-1 of the GKO of the USSR was recognized as successful, and the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs L.P. Beria addressed a letter to the chairman of the GKO , I.V. Stalin , on July 16, 1944, proposing to release 35 specially distinguished prisoners OKB-16 with a criminal record ( the list was attached to the letter). Stalin gave his consent, and on July 27, 1944, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decided on early release with the removal of the conviction of prisoners from the list; They included 9 leading KB-2 employees: V. A. Vitka, V. P. Glushko, G. S. Zhiritsky, S. P. Korolev, G. N. List, V. L. Przetslavsky, D. D. Sevruk, N. L. Umansky, N. S. Shnyakin. On August 9, they announced their early release, and after 3-4 days they issued passports ^[28] .

In the same August 1944, the former KB-2 by order of the NKAP was transformed into the Experimental Design Bureau of Jet Engines - OKB-RD, also known under the open name OKB-SD (special engines); they enlisted civilian and newly released KB-2 employees, and also seconded some of the prisoners who were part of the special contingent of the 4th Special Department of the NKVD. Glushko remained the chief designer, Zhiritsky and Sevruk - his deputies; sending to the NKAP a request for the approval of his deputies and the establishment of personal salaries, V.P. Glushko pointed out that G.S. Zhiritsky had gained great experience in designing pumps for jet engines and was the designer of a number of the main components of the RD-1 engine, which successfully passed tests. In the fall of 1944, S.P. Korolev ^{[28] [30] [31]} was approved as another deputy chief designer.

In the fall of 1944, Professor G. S. Zhiritsky returned to teaching: simultaneously with the OKB-RD work on promising jet engine models, he taught at the Kazan Aviation Institute (KAI) ^{[23] [32]} . Other leading OKB-RD workers at this time also devote time to training engineering personnel for jet engines: by the order of the NKAP of May 1, 1945, the first rocket engine department in the Soviet Union, headed by V. P. Glushko, was organized in KAI ^{[33] [ 34]} . In accordance with the approved order of the director of KAI G.V. Kamenkov on July 14, 1945, the staffing of the new department, G.S. Zhiritsky took the position of professor, and S.P. Korolev, G.N. List, D.D. Sevruk and D. Ya. Bragin - positions of senior teachers ^{[28] [32]} .

The hard work of OKB-RD workers during the years of World War II was marked by a state award. In September 1945, according to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “For the exemplary fulfillment of government assignments in the field of designing and creating new equipment”, a large group of aviation industry designers was awarded, including OKB-RD workers: Glushko and Sevruk received orders of the Red Banner of Labor , and Vitka , Zhiritsky, Korolev, Liszt, Umansky and Shnyakin - orders of the Badge of Honor ^[28] .

However, many of them did not have to seriously engage in teaching then. In July - September 1945, most of them were sent to Germany to study the design of German A-4 ballistic missile launchers ( V-2 ) ^[35] . G. S. Zhiritsky and D. D. Sevruk, who was also originally included in Glushko’s list of OKB-RD employees who were to be sent to Germany, did not go there in 1945: they decided not to leave OKB-RD without management ^[36] .

On July 3, 1946, an order was issued by Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR MV Khrunichev to relocate the OKB-RD from Kazan to Khimki , Moscow Region, where Aviation Plant No. 456 was located; the plant was subject to re-engineering for the production of rocket engines for ballistic missiles and aircraft, and OKB-RD switched to designing powerful rocket engines and was renamed OKB-456 ^[35] . In November 1946, most of the employees of the former OKB-RD moved with their family members to Khimki. G. S. Zhiritsky remained in Kazan, having decided to completely concentrate on his work at the KAI in training engine engineers ^{[37] [38]} . In 1947, he created the Department of Turbomachines at the KAI (since 2006 - the Department of Gas Turbine, Steam Turbine Installations and Engines, GPTUiD), which he headed for 18 years - until 1965. The department specialized in blade machines, and above all, on turbomachines of aircraft-rocket engines ^{[39] [40]} .

Through the efforts of the Zhiritsky department, a year after its founding, it found its face and began a normal educational process: research work began, mainly focusing on the study of cooling systems for the working blades of aviation gas turbines, course design was organized in the disciplines of the department. G.S. Zhiritsky proceeded from the fact that it was in the organization and design setting that the foundations for the high quality training of an engineer in aircraft engines were laid, and did not get tired of repeating: “Without a serious, highly demanding design, there can be no aviation engineer” ^[40] . In 1957, a problem laboratory was opened at the KAI Turbomachine Department, which opened up new opportunities for the intensification of scientific research and the improvement of the educational process ^[23] .

For a long time G. S. Zhiritsky was the editor-in-chief of the journal “Aviation Equipment” ^[23] .

In 1965 G.S. Zhiritsky was seriously ill: as a result of a stroke , his speech was lost and his right arm was paralyzed. However, he learned to write with his left hand and shortly before his death, he practically finished work on the manuscript of his last book ^[41] .

Georgy Sergeyevich Zhiritsky died in Kazan on June 4, 1966 ^[42] .

After the death of G. S. Zhiritsky, the Department of Turbomachines in KAI was headed by his student V. I. Lokai, and in 1991 - L. V. Goryunov, one of the last post-graduate students of Zhiritsky ^[40] .

The main scientific works of G. S. Zhiritsky relate to heat engineering , turbine construction, and rocket propulsion ; they are devoted to the theory and design of steam engines , steam and gas turbines , jet engines ^{[5] [42] [43]} .

In 1925, the monograph by G. S. Zhiritsky “Steam engines” ^[44] , which has withstood six editions, goes out of print. In 1927, he published the first textbook on steam turbines in the USSR ^[45] with a systematic presentation of the theory and designs of such turbines ^[2] . In 1948, G.S. Zhiritsky’s monograph “Gas Turbines” ^[46] was published, where he was able for the first time to comprehensively set out a design course for high-temperature gas turbines, including thermal and gas-dynamic calculation methods, engineering methods for calculating strength and description of blade design, disks and other parts of turbines. Of particular importance for the further development of transport and aviation gas turbine construction were sections of the monograph related to the design methodology and calculation of gas turbine cooling systems ^{[40] [42]} .

Together with V. A. Strunkin, he wrote the book “Designs and Strength Analysis of Steam Turbine Parts” (3rd edition ^[47] published in 1968), outlining the engineering methods for calculating the strength and description of the construction details of powerful steam turbines. In 1971, the 2nd edition ^[48] of the manual “Gas Turbines of Aircraft Engines” was published, written by G. S. Zhiritsky together with students V. I. Lokay, M. K. Maksutova and V. A. Strunkin; in this manual, its authors, relying on the enormous pedagogical and design experience of G. S. Zhiritsky, were able to combine the theory of the thermal process and gas dynamics with strength calculations and design issues for the cooled structural elements of gas turbines ^[42] .

Professor G. S. Zhiritsky not only created the foundations of fundamental engineering education in the field of heat power engineering and heat engineering , but also prepared a significant number of engineers and scientists (only in KAI there are 16 candidates of technical sciences, three of which later defended doctoral dissertations ^[41] ). He made a significant contribution to the formation of scientific work and the educational process at the Kazan Aviation Institute (where he became the founder of the gas turbine engineering school ^[43] ) and at the Heat Engineering Department of MPEI ^{[9] [37] [49]} .

The USSR Academy of Sciences Commission on the name of the formations on the far side of the moon named G.S. Zhiritsky crater with a diameter of 33.36 km; In 1970, the name was approved by the International Astronomical Union . Zhiritskiy Crater is located in the southern hemisphere of the Moon , south-southwest of the larger Fermi Crater ^{[5] [42] [50]} .

In 1983, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the birth of G. S. Zhiritsky, the Council of Ministers of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic adopted a resolution on placing a memorial plaque on the main building of the KAI in honor of an outstanding scientist ^[41] .

• Order of Lenin ( 1961 ) ^[41]
• Order of the Badge of Honor ( 1945 ) ^[28]
• Honorary title "Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the TASSR" ( 1953 ) ^[42]
• Honorary title " Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the RSFSR " ( 1963 ) ^[5]

• Zhiritsky G.S. Steam engines. - Kiev: Publishing House of the Executive Bureau of the Proletstud KPI, 1925. - 434 p.
• Zhiritsky G.S. Steam turbines. - Kiev: Publishing house of the Executive Committee of the KPI, 1927. - 387 p.
• Zhiritsky G.S. Gas Turbines. - M .: Gosenergoizdat , 1948 .-- 504 p.
• Zhiritsky G. S. Aviation gas turbines. - M .: Oborongiz, 1950 .-- 512 p.
• Zhiritsky G.S., Strunkin V.A. Design and strength analysis of parts of steam and gas turbines. 3rd ed. - M .: Mechanical Engineering, 1968 .-- 520 p.
• Zhiritsky G.S., Lokai V.I., Maksutova M.K., Strunkin V.A. Gas turbines of aircraft engines. 2nd ed. - M .: Mechanical Engineering, 1971. - 620 p.

• Abrukov N.R., Konyakhina V.I., Tarasevich S.E. George S. Zhiritsky in the memoirs of contemporaries and photographs. - Kazan: Kazan State Publishing House. tech. University, 2012 .-- 108 p. - (The life of wonderful people of KAI). - ISBN 978-5-7579-1710-8 .
• Glushko V.P. Development of rocket science and astronautics in the USSR. 3rd ed. - M .: Mechanical Engineering, 1987. - 304 p.
• Golovanov Y. K. Korolev: facts and myths. - M .: Nauka , 1994 .-- 798 p. - ISBN 5-02-000822-2 .
• Gribin V.G. About George Sergeyevich Zhiritsky // MPEI: history, people, years. Collection of memories. T. 1 / Ed. S.V. Serebryannikova . - M .: Publishing House MPEI, 2010 .-- 544 p. - (Prominent figures MPEI). - ISBN 978-5-383-00576-7 . - S. 420-430.
• Cosmonautics: Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. V.P. Glushko . - M .: Sov. Encyclopedia , 1985 .-- 528 p.
• Simonenkov V. I. The Fates of Scientists in Stalin's Special Prisons. - M .: Author's book, 2014 .-- 464 p. - ISBN 978-5-91945-520-2 .
• Energomash is 60 years old. - M .: Publishing House of MPEI, 2003 .-- 240 p.
• Yanberdina Yu. A. Georgy Sergeevich Zhiritsky: personality and activity // XXII Tupolev readings (school of young scientists): Intern. youth scientific Conf., October 19-21, 2015: Materials of Conf. Sat reports. T. 5. - Kazan: Tome, 2015 .-- 732 p. - ISBN 978-5-905576-52-2 . - S. 510-513.