Viktor Anatolevich Florin
Florin, Viktor Anatol’evich
Born Nov. 24 (Dec. 6), 1899, in Libava (Liepāja), Latvia; died May 12, 1960, in Leningrad. Soviet scientist in soil mechanics and the mechanics of foundations. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953).
After graduating from the Petrograd Institute of Railroad Engineers in 1922, Florin took part in the design and construction of the Volkhov, Svir’, and Farkhad hydroelectric power plants as well as a number of steam power plants. He became an instructor at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in 1930 and was promoted to professor in 1943. He was on the staff of the All-Union Research Institute of Hydraulic Engineering from 1942 to 1948 and joined the staff of the Institute of Mechanics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1950.
Florin’s main scientific works are summarized in the monographs Designs of the Foundations of Hydraulic Engineering Installations (1948), Theory of the Compaction of Earth Masses (1948), and Principles of Soil Mechanics (vols. 1–2, 1959–61).
Florin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.