Vadim Shevalin

Born Feb. 21 (Mar. 4), 1888, in Kazan; died July 30, 1941, in Leningrad. Soviet scientist in the field of electric traction.

Shevalin graduated from the St. Petersburg Polytechnical Institute in 1911. He taught at the institute, where he became a professor in 1925, until his death. In 1915 he was sent by the government to the United States; he returned to Russia in 1918. Beginning in 1920, Shevalin was involved in various railroad electrification projects, including preliminary work on the electrification of the Leningrad railroad terminal (1925–34). He was also involved in the creation of the Moscow subway and the electrification of Moscow’s suburban railroad lines. His research was primarily devoted to the development of the theory of the planning and design of electric railroads and to the technical and economic problems of electric traction.