Vyacheslav Malyshev | |
|---|---|
Вячеслав Малышев | |
 Malyshev,c. 1938 | |
| People's Commissar for Heavy Machine Building | |
| In office 19 June 1939 – 17 April 1940 | |
| Preceded by | Post established |
| Succeeded by | Aleksandr Yefremov |
| Minister of Medium Machine Building | |
| In office 17 July 1953 – 28 February 1957 | |
| Preceded by | Post established |
| Succeeded by | Avraami Zavenyagin |
| Full member of the19thPresidium | |
| In office 16 October 1952 – 6 March 1953 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1902-12-03)December 3, 1902 Ust-Sysolsk, Russian Empire |
| Died | September 20, 1957(1957-09-20) (aged 54) |
| Cause of death | Acute radiation syndrome |
| Resting place | Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow |
| Citizenship | Soviet |
| Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1926–1957) |
| Alma mater | Bauman School |
| Occupation | Engineer, politician |
| Known for | Soviet program of nuclear weapon |
| Awards |  Order of Lenin(1952) Stalin Prize(1949, 1951) Hero of Socialist Labor(1944) |
Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Malyshev (Russian:Вячеслав Александрович Малышев; 3 December 1902 — 20 February 1957) was aSoviet politician and an engineer who was one of the senior program managers in theSoviet program of nuclear weapons during the 1940s and 1950s.[1][2]
He was instrumental in militarizing theSoviet space program while he also played a crucial role in Russian development of the nuclear submarines for the formerSoviet Navy.[1][2] Malyshev died in1957, aged 54.[1]
Malyshev was born on 16 December 1902 inUst'-Sysol'sk,[3]Russian Empire, the son of teachers Alexander Nikolaevich Malyshev and Elena Konstantinovna Popova.[4][5][2] He has one brother, A. Aleksandrovich Malyshev.[6] The family moved toVelikiye Luki in 1904 after Malyshev's father accepted another teaching job.[4][5]
Between 1918 and 1920, he worked as a secretary for Velikiye Luki'sPeople's Court.[5][2] In 1920, he began attending the Railway Technology School in town and working as a locksmith at a railway depot inPodmoskovye.[2][5] After graduating in 1924, he worked as a locksmith, mechanic, machinist, and steam locomotive driver.[3][2]
In 1926, he joined theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union and shortly afterwards was drafted into theRed Army, where he served for a year as the secretary for the base'sAll-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.[5][6][2] After his discharge from the Red Army in 1927, he worked as a driver at a depot nearMoscow[2]
He graduated fromBauman Moscow State Technical University in 1934 and began working at theKuybyshev Locomotive Factory, where he moved from designer to director in under five years.[2] Other jobs he held during this time were instructor and mechanic.[3][5]
In 1939, Malyshev was appointed to theMinistry of Heavy Machine Building but turned down the role, saying he was not yet ready.[7][3][2] Instead, he was assigned to thePeople's Commissariat of Medium Engineering, later identified by theAmerican intelligence as lead agency overseeing the Soviet program of nuclear weapons.[8][9][10][11] He took on the role of Deputy Chairman of theCouncil of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union in 1940 as well.[12]
In 1943, he was appointed to thePeople's Commissariat of the Tank Industry.[2][3] He had jokingly been called the "Prince of Tankograd" for a number of years because of the engineering progress he made.[13] In 1945, he was named a Colonel General of Engineering and Technical Services and headed the People's Commissariat of Transport Engineering, where he stayed until 1947.[2][14] From 1947 to early 1953, he headed theState Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers (NKVD) on new technology, and from late 1953 to 1956, he served as the Deputy President of the (NKVD).[2] In 1948, he became the Head of the NKVD and the Chariaman of the USSR State Engineering Committee.[2] By 1950, he was theMinister of the USSR Shipbuilding Industry.[2] Between October 1952 and March 1953, he was a member of the19thPresidium of theCentral Party.[2] Afterwards, he was briefly part of Transport and Heavy Engineering before moving back to Medium Engineering.[2][10]
He was a favorite ofStalin's and was called upon frequently for counsel.[2][5] After Stalin's death in 1953, Malyshev's job titles changed several times and was suspected to have become the Chief of theSoviet Atomic Energy Commission after for a period.[5] He did, at some point, head the nuclear program alongsideBoris Vannikov.[15] He was among the engineers that built the Soviet's firstnuclear submarine.[16]
In the mid-1950s, he headed a committee to investigate the explosion that destroyed theNovorossiysk, an Italian battleship the Soviets commandeered after World War II despite Malyshev's attempts to convince Stalin not to take it on in 1946.[17] This was used as an excuse to preventNikolai Kuznetsov, who opposedNikita Khrushchev's idea of a submarine-based navy, from commanding theRed Fleet and replace him withSergey Gorshkov, who was much more obedient to the premier's wishes.[18]
In 1957, he was again the Minister of Machine Building and the formerFirst Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union.[14]
There were reports in February 1957 of a "mystery patient" or "Patient X" who was treated by a German blood specialist; his identity as Malyshev was secret until his death within the month.[19]The New York Times reported his cause of death as leukemia[15][20] but he ultimately died ofacute radiation syndrome after inspecting a Soviet nuclear plant before it was safe to do so.[18] His ashes are buried at theKremlin Wall Necropolis.[3][2]
He was a Laureate of theUSSR State Prize for overseeing the first nuclear and hydrogen charges, the first nuclear power plant, the first nuclear ship, and the first satellite of the Earth.[5][3] He received theHero of Socialist Labour Award for his work on tanks in 1944.[21][3] He was awarded with theOrder of Lenin on 16 December 1952.[14] He received the State Stalin Prize twice.[2]
