Aleksander Ivanovich
Tselikov
1904-1984
Aleksander Ivanovich Tselikov was a scientist in the field of metallurgical engineering, the director and General Director of the All–Union Research and Design Institute of Metallurgical Engineering, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, twice Hero of Socialist Labor. He was born in Moscow. He finished high school in Moscow in 1921. In the same year he entered, and in 1928 graduated from Moscow Higher Technical School named after Bauman (then – Bauman Moscow Mechanical Engineering Institute, now – Bauman Moscow State Technical University) with a degree in mechanical engineer for rolling mills. He started working during his studies at Moscow State Technical University: since June 1925, he was a designer at the Bureau of Metallurgical and Thermal Engineering Structures at the Supreme Council of the National Economy (later renamed Stalproekt Institute), where he also worked after graduating from Moscow State Technical University, designing metallurgical furnaces, rolling shops and rolling mills. He already proved to be a talented specialist during his studies, so in 1927 he was seconded to the Moscow Metallurgical Plant “Sickle and Hammer” to participate in its reconstruction. In 1930 he was on a business trip to Germany for several months – he studied the technology of rolling special steels at Krupp plants. Since November 1932 he was the head of the design team at the Izhevsk Metallurgical Plant, where he led the design and construction of the rolling mill, and since 1934 – installation and commissioning of one of the first Soviet blumings, the fifth largest in the USSR. Since 1935, he was involved in teaching and researching: he was an associate professor and the head of the Department of Rolling and Drawing at Bauman Moscow Mechanical Engineering Institute (then called MVTU), since 1938 he was the Head of the Department “Rolling and Drawing” at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, since 1940 – the Head of the Department of the Moscow Evening Metallurgical Institute. He was the author of the fundamental textbook for universities “Calculation and design of rolling machines-tools” (1938), “The influence of external friction and tension on the pressure of metal on rolls during rolling” (1939, in which he first outlined the basics of the modern theory of calculating forces during rolling – now known “theory of A.I. Tselikov”), “Rolling mills”, “Mechanisms of rolling mills” (1941-1943). In years of the Great Patriotic War, he carried out government tasks on the development of accelerated methods for the manufacture and processing of artillery barrels, and introduced his proposals into production at a number of factories. Since 1943, he worked part-time at the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering Technology (TSNIITMASH), where he headed the design group of automated rolling mills. Since May 1945 he was the Director of the Central Design Bureau of Metallurgical Engineering organized on his initiative. It was then that the heyday of Tselikov’s design creativity began, based on rich production experience and the deepest theoretical knowledge. Since 1959 he was the Director (since 1969 – the General Director) of the All-Union Research and Design Institute of Metallurgical Engineering, also founded on his initiative (since 1970 – Scientific and Production Association “VNIIMETMASH”, since 1994 – Joint-Stock Holding Company – State Scientific Centre “VNIIMETMASH” named after Academician A.I. Tselikova). Under his leadership, the first Soviet pipe rolling units for the Georgian and Azerbaijani SSR, continuous sheet and strip mills, pipe rolling and pipe welding units were created, pipe rolling workshops were designed at Pervouralsky Novotrubny and Nikopol Yuzhnotrubny plants, new equipment for almost all metallurgical plants of the USSR. In 1976 the largest hydraulic press in Western Europe with a force of 65 thousand tons, designed in the USSR by order of France under the leadership of A.I. Tselikov, was put into operation in Issoir (France). For outstanding achievements in the field of creation and development of production of new metallurgical equipment and in connection with the sixtieth anniversary of his birth, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated April 18, 1964, Academician Aleksander Ivanovich Tselikov was awarded the title of the Hero of Socialist Labor with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
Address: Moscow, Usievicha str., 8
