Fedor Apollonovich Pirotskii
Pirotskii, Fedor Apollonovich
Born Feb. 17 (Mar. 1), 1845; died Feb. 28 (Mar. 12), 1898. Russian inventor in the field of electrical engineering.
Pirotskii graduated from the cadet class of the Mikhail Artillery School in 1866. In 1871 he began working at the Main Artillery Directorate in St. Petersburg. In 1874 he conducted experiments at Volkovo Field near St. Petersburg on power transmission over distances of up to 1 km. In 1880, on a branch of the Sestroretsk Railroad, Pirotskii became the first engineer in Russia to test an electric-powered railroad car. The rails along which the car moved were insulated from the ground and served as current conductors.