O U T S T A N D I N G F I G U R E S IN S C I E N C E AND E N G I N E E R I N G IN T H E USSR

G E O R G I I K O N S T A N T I N O V I C H K L E I N

(ON T H E O C C A S I O N O F H I S 7 0 T H B I R T H D A Y A N N I V E R S A R Y )

UDC 624.136(092)

February" 21, 1979, was the 70th b i r thday a n n i v e r s a r y of Georgi i Konstantinovich Klein, Dr . Tech. Sci., P r o f e s s o r of the V. V. Kuibyshev Moscow Inst i tute of Civil Engineer ing (MISI), an o~stm-~ding exper t in the field of soi l mechan ics .

He commenced his working life in 1930 as t e a c h e r at the "Stroiuch ~ school when he was sti l l a student at the Moscow Civil Engineer ing College. Following this he worked at the All-Union Water -Supply Cons t ruc - tion Depa r tmen t (Soyuzvodstroi), where he pa r t i c ipa ted in the design of m a j o r r e in fo rced -conc re t e s t r uc tu r e s of the Magni togorsk Meta l lurg ica l Combine, the Gorki Automobile Plant , Lower Tagil , and other p ro j ec t s of the e a r l y f i v e - y e a r planso

In 1935 Georgi i Konstant inovich graduated f rom the Evening Civil Engineering Insti tute of the Moscow City Execut ive Commi t t ee (Mosgorispolkom) and was re ta ined as l e c t u r e r in the Facul ty of Construct ion Mechanics , at the s ame t ime continuing to work in the design organizat ion until 1941.

In 1939 G. K. Klein success fu l ly submit ted a thes i s for the M a s t e r ' s Degree , which was devoted to the development of a theory for the ana lys i s of underground pipelines, and s ince that t ime has occupied h imse l f main ly with scientif ic r e s e a r c h and lectur ing.

G. K. Klein en tered the ranks of the Soviet A r m y f rom the onset of the Grea t Pa t r io t i c War and, as an of f icer of the engineer ing fo rces , s e rved on the nor thwes te rn front where he was engaged in the construct ion of defensive l ines, m i l i t a r y roads and b r idges , and c a r r i e d out engineering reconna i s sance of the e n e m y ' s defenses . In the cou r se of designing s e v e r a l la rge br idges cons t ruc ted in 1944-1945 in the Latvian SSP~ G. K. Klein applied for the f i r s t t ime the theory of l imit ing equi l ibr ium in the design of pi led suppor ts , and developed a methodology of de ten~in ing the requi red re fusa l for p i les dr iven by diesel h a m m e r s . This enabled designs of pried suppor t s to be l ightened and br idge cons t ruc t ion to be acce le ra ted .

At the conclusion of the war , G. K. Klein re tu rned to scient i f ic and lec tur ing ac t iv i t ies , in the capaci ty of r e a d e r and, a f t e r success fu l ly defending his Doc to r ' s Degree thes i s , as P r o f e s s o r at the Moscow Inst i tute of Urban Cons t ruc t ion Engineers (MHGS) of Mosgor i spo lkom and MISI. The thes i s fo r the Doc to r ' s Degree p re sen ted by G. K. Klein was an outstanding scientif ic work in the field of analyt ical theory of st~-actures founded on a base which is nonhomogeneous with depth°

T r a n s l a t e d f rom Osnovaniya, Fundamenty i Mekhanika Gruntov, No. 3~ pp. 27-28, May-June , 1979.

0038-0741/79/1603- 0161 $07.50 ©1979 Plenum Publishing Corpora t ion 161

Over a per iod of 11 y e a r s Georg i i Konstant inovich was Dean of the Facul ty of Const ruct ion Mechanics; during this per iod 60 pos t -g radua te students success fu l ly submit ted theses for the M a s t e r ' s Degree . Over a per iod of 40 y e a r s s e r v i c e in h igher educational e s t ab l i shments G. K. Klein par t ic ipa ted in the t ra in ing of s e v e r a l thousand c ivi l eng ineers .

G. K. Klein is the author of m o r e than 120 published works , including textbooks, manuals , monographs , scientif ic pape r s , invest igat ions of the h i s t o ry of sc ience , sect ions of handbooks and in the Encyclopedia of Const ruct ion. Severa l of his works have been t r ans l a t ed into foreign languages. His monographs , "Design of UndergroundPipe l ines" and "Const ruc t ion Mechanics of Granu la r Soils ," have proved t h e m s e l v e s favor i tes among engineers and sc ien t i s t s , each having been extended to s e v e r a l edit ions.

G. K. Ke l in ' s sc ient i f ic a r t i c l e s have been devoted to va r ious p rob l ems in cons t ruc t ion mechan ics and soil mechan ics . As f a r back as 1937 he applied for the f i r s t t ime , in these a r t i c l es , the i tera t ion method in the design of space f r a m e s and in te rsec t ing beams . In 1940 he commenced to develop a method of designing beams and s labs on nonhomogeneous and l inea r ly deforming foundations. Commencing in 1936 he published a s e r i e s of solut ions of p rob l ems in the design of underground pipel ines; p roposed a method for designing grav i ty , ang le - sec t ion , and pi le wal ls , taking into account the compat ib i l i ty of t he i r d i sp lacements with those of the foundations and the fill ma te r ia l ; and applied the theory of l imi t ing equi l ibr ium to the design of va r ious s t r u c t u r e s and the i r foundations.

Many design and s c i e n t i f i c - r e s e a r c h inst i tutes seek a s s i s t ance f rom G. K. Klein as a consul tant , He is a m e m b e r of the State Expe r t i s e Council (Gos~{spert iz) of the Al l -Russ ian Cent ra l State Const ruct ion Office (Gosstroi) e f t he USSR, and pa r t i c ipa t e s in the examinat ion of design s tandards and the designs of all the mos t impor tan t cons t ruc t ion p ro j ec t s .

G. K. Kle in ' s published works have won internat ional recognit ion, which is indicated by his elect ion as a m e m b e r of the management of one of the sess ions at the Eighth Internat ional Congress of the Internat ional Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineer ing,

G. K. Klein is a ve t e r an of m i l i t a ry construct ion and a ve te ran inthe work of MISI; he has been awarded the Orde r of the Red Star~ nine meda l s and Diplomas of Honor f rom the P r e s i d i u m of the Supreme Council of the Latv ian SSR, the Min i s t ry of Higher Eductional Es tab l i shments (Minvuz) of the USSR, the Moscow Coun- cil, and MISI.

At the present time he is engaged in the development of a method of analysis of the supports required at bends of underground pipelines and the preparation of a new edition of "Manual of Practical Studies in

Construction Mechanics."

G. K. Klein is an active member of the editorial staff of this journal.

The editorial staff and office of the journal "Osnovaniya, Fundamenty i Mekhanika Grunter" warmly con- gratulates Georg-ii Konstantinovich on behalf of its numerous readers, on the occasion of his great anniver- sary, and wishes him many years of life, good health, and further constructive successes.

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