Gagarin, Andrei Grigorevich
Gagarin, Andrei Grigor’evich
Born Dec. 22, 1855 (Jan. 3, 1856); died Dec. 22, 1920. Prince; Russian scientist and engineer.
After graduating from the University of St. Petersburg in 1878 and subsequently from the Mikhail Artillery Academy, Gagarin served in the St. Petersburg Arsenal, where he was head of the mechanical laboratory. Between 1895 and 1900, while he was working at the St. Petersburg Armament Plant, Gagarin designed and built a press (the so-called Gagarin press) that is still considered one of the best machines for the mechanical testing of metals. From 1902 to 1907 he was the director of the St. Petersburg Polytechnical Institute. Gagarin was one of the organizers of the Russian Society for Materials Testing (1911) and designed a number of instruments, machine tools, and devices that were used in the production of building materials. During the last years of his life Gagarin worked in the Scientific Research Institute of Transportation (Moscow).