Terpigorev, Aleksandr Mitrofanovich

Born Nov. 9 (21), 1873, in Tambov; died Nov. 8, 1959, in Moscow. Soviet scientist and specialist in mining. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1935).

After graduating from the St. Petersburg Institute of Mines in 1897, Terpigorev worked in the mines of the Sulin factory. In 1906 he became a professor in the subdepartment of mining engineering at both the Ekaterinoslav Higher Mining School and the Ekaterinoslav Institute of Mines. From 1922 to 1959 he was a professor at the Moscow Mining Institute, serving as director from 1933 to 1936, and from 1938 to 1959 he was a department head at the Mining Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Terpigorev was a member of the Gosplan (State Planning Commission) of the USSR in the years 1922–29.

Terpigorev’s studies dealt with the problems encountered in underground mining, the mechanization and automation of mining operations, and the design of mining machinery. He also concerned himself with labor efficiency in mining operations, hydro-mechanization and underground gasification, the development of mining as a science, and the organization of mining engineering education. In the 1920’s he was the first to develop and introduce in mining institutes a course on the mechanization of mining operations, and in the 1930’s he organized the first subdepartment of mining machinery. Terpigorev was editor in chief of the 11-volume encyclopedic reference work Mining (1957–60). He received the State Prize of the USSR in 1943. He was also awarded three Orders of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.