 | | Mechanics of Solids
A Journal of Russian Academy of Sciences | | Founded
in January 1966
Issued 6 times a year
Print ISSN 0025-6544
Online ISSN 1934-7936 |
Archive of Issues
| Total articles in the database: | | 12804 |
| In Russian (Èçâ. ÐÀÍ. ÌÒÒ): | | 8044
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| In English (Mech. Solids): | | 4760 |
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| E. A. Il'yushina, "A. A. Il'yushin: Biographical essay," Mech. Solids. 36 (1), 1-2 (2001) |
| Year |
2001 |
Volume |
36 |
Number |
1 |
Pages |
1-2 |
| Title |
A. A. Il'yushin: Biographical essay |
| Author(s) |
E. A. Il'yushina |
| Abstract |
Aleksei Antonovich Il'yushin was born on the 20th of January, 1911 in Kazan.
His father, Anton Nikanorovich, at the age of 12 was sent for service to
Moscow from the village of Konoplenka of the Yelnya district of Smolensk
province. He served for a well-known merchant Shevtsov who traded in tea.
In 1911, he took an office of the manager of the Kazan Department of Trade
House. The mother of Aleksei Antonovich, born Savost'yanova, came from the
village of Seleshnya of the same district. The Il'yushins had eight
children.
In 1928, A. A. Il'yushin finished school No. 2 in Kazan, which was one of
the best schools in the city. During several years of famine in Povolzhie
(an area along the Volga river), he lived in the village of Konoplenka in
the house of his uncle Semen Nikanorovich and studied at the village
school. To get the right to study at a university he had to work for one
year at a ship-repairing yard as a wood lathe operator. In 1929, he entered
Kazan University and in 1930 was transferred to the Department of Mechanics
and Mathematics of the Moscow State University. At that time he took deep
interest in engineering. He passed an exam for a steam locomotive assistant
operator, attempted to enter a pilot school, and in 1932 started working as
a senior technician in the sector of flight tests at the Central Institute
of Aerohydrodynamics (TsAGI).
In 1933, Aleksei Antonovich defended with distinction his diploma project
"Some cases of vibration of rods and rod systems" and became a graduate
student of the Institute of Mechanics of the Moscow University.
Simultaneously, he became an assistant lecturer at the Chair of Elasticity
of the Department of Mechanics and Mathematics. In 1935, he started
lecturing with the course of applied elasticity. At that time, Aleksei
Antonovich began his intensive studies in the field of elastoplastic
deformations. In his autobiography he wrote that this happened "under the
influence of famous H. Hencky who was a consultant of Materials Testing
Laboratory at the Moscow University during 1934-1935." In 1936,
A. A. Il'yushin invented a high-speed pneumatic drop hammer that surpassed
the then existed drop hammers in versatility and power, with the speed of
materials deformation reaching 10−4-10−5 s. This drop hammer was
constructed in the Laboratory in 1937. There had been a large number of
tests performed on this machine that had a great value for both the
development of the theory of plasticity and the solution of design tasks.
In 1935, Aleksei Antonovich became a consultant at a number of research
institutions of Peoples Commissariat (Ministry) of Ammunition, and in 1936
a senior researcher at the Institute of Mechanics of the Moscow University.
In 1937, he defended his Candidate of Science dissertation "On the
viscoplastic flow of materials" and became an associate professor of the
Chair of Elasticity of the Moscow University. In 1938, he received a Doctor
of Sciences degree for his dissertation "Deformation of a viscoplastic
body" and the title of professor at the Chair of Elasticity. Professor
L. S. Leibenzon wrote about that young scientist that "He happily combines
in himself a theorist of genius, a brilliant designer, and a sophisticated
experimenter able to penetrate deeply into the essence of engineering
problems to be solved. He masters the art of representing phenomena of
nature in terms of mathematical symbols."
During World War II, Aleksei Antonovich created a theory of small
elastoplastic deformations. Among the first applications of this theory was
the strength analysis of artillery barrels and shells. In his
autobiographical article "Dynamics" [Vestnik MGU (Bulletin of Moscow
State University), Ser. 1. Matematika i Mekhanika, No. 3,
pp. 79-87, 1994], A. A. Il'yushin described in detail the role
played by these studies in the change of the technology of manufacturing
shells. In 1943, he was elected a Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy
of Sciences and in 1948 a Full Member of the Artillery Academy. The cycle
of works on the theory of plastic deformations, completed by the monograph
"Plasticity," was awarded in 1948 the State Prize of First Degree (that
time this prize was called the Stalin Prize). The same year, NASA issued a
full translation of works by Il'yushin. In 1947, he was invited to the
missile center NII-88 that had been just organized, and soon he was
appointed a deputy chief of this institute in science. At that time
A. A. Il'yushin returned to research in aerodynamics and formulated and
proved the "law of plane sections." This law was utilized already in 1948
in NII-88 and then in TsAGI to calculate the parameters of supersonic
aerodynamic flows around bodies.
In spring of 1950, A. A. Il'yushin was appointed the Head of the Leningrad
State University. The previous head of the university, Aleksandr
Alekseevich Voznesenskii, had become a victim of the repressive regime of
that time. A. A. Il'yushin went down in the history of the Leningrad
University not only as a scientist who initiated the creation of the
Leningrad scientific school in mechanics at the Chairs of Elasticity and
Computational Solid Mechanics but also as an administrator who succeeded in
dismissing the infamous "gangster from science" I. I. Present. "It is
difficult to overestimate his heroic effort to minimize the losses suffered
by the Leningrad scientific schools of genetics and philosophy," wrote
later L. A. Verbitskaya, the Head of the St. Petersburg University.
In 1952, A. A. Il'yushin was unexpectedly "appointed" an assistant of
Yu. B. Khariton in Arzamas-16 and appeared "behind the barbed wire."
Perhaps, that was a result of conflict of interests of, on the one hand,
T. D. Lysenko who wanted to remove the non-compliant Head of the
University, and, on the other hand, B. L. Vannikov who tried to avert a
threat from the valuable expert of the defense industry.
After successful tests of a nuclear bomb in 1953, Aleksei Antonovich found
the circumstance to be favorable for quitting the "atomic project." He
met N. S. Khrushchev and convinced him that this step was
reasonable. In the same year, A. A. Il'yushin became the Director of the
Institute of Mechanics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which he headed
until 1960. Since 1942 till 1998 he had permanently headed the Chair of
Elasticity at the Moscow State University.
The works by Il'yushin in solid mechanics, his numerous pupils, and
personal support stimulated the appearance and development of scientific
schools in mechanics in various regions of the country. He had been the
Chairman of the Scientific Council on Strength and Plasticity from its
foundation. His contribution to the development of science and technology
was marked by government awards. He was awarded ten orders and numerous
medals. Among these are the medal of P. L. Kapitsa, which is awarded to
outstanding inventors, and the Memorial Badge for the participation in the
creation of the MI-4 helicopter.
In 1989, A. A. Il'yushin was involved in the team of experts for
establishing the cause of destruction of steam generator headers at a
number of nuclear power plants. He established that the radioactive water
does not substantially influence the thermomechanical conditions and
formulated a concept of basic characteristics causing the failure of the
cold header. He suggested a plan of theoretical and experimental
investigations that was implemented in the Central Research Institute of
Machine Building (TsNIIMASh) under his supervision. These investigations
made it possible to establish the true cause of the destruction of the
collectors and give recommendations on the removal of defects in the
technological process of their manufacture. The appropriate changes were
introduced into the technological process, and failures of the collectors
ceased.
Until the last days of his life, Aleksei Antonovich meditated upon the
possibility of refining the basic relations of solid mechanics (asymmetry
of the strain tensor). He was convinced that modern science and technology
require new fundamental concepts and approaches.
Aleksei Antonovich died on May 31, 1998. |
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