T H E 8 0 T H B I R T H D A Y O F N I K O L A I N I K O L A E V I C H K R A C H K O V S K I I

The prominent scientist, power specialist, and widely experienced engineer, Doctor of Technical Sciences Nikolai Nikolaevich Krachkovskii, recently celebrated his 80th birthday and the 55th anniversary of his scientific and engineering activities.

In 1916, N. N. Krachkovskii was graduated from the electromechanical department of the Saint Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. During the period 1915-1919, he worked at several imtitutions in Petrograd and afterwards, during the period 1919-1922, he worked in the city of Roslavl, Smolensk Region, where he taught at the Secondary Mechanical-Technical Railroad School while he directed the construction, and then the operation, of an urban power station.

From 1922 to 1942, Nikolai Nikolaevich worked at several institutions of Leningrad, where his duties included design and construction of electric plants: at the Main Administration for the Construction of the Volkhovsk Hydro- electric Plant (Volkhovstroi), the Main Administration for the Construction of the Dniepr Hydroelectric Plant (Dnepr- ostroi) (Leningrad Office), and a branch of the All-Union Trust for the Design and Planning of Hydroelectric Plants and Developments (Gidroenergoproekt), first as an engineer, and then as the manager of a branch and the chief of a sector. During the period 1986-1940, he participated in the preparation of the Kuibyshev-Moscow transmission line project. Simultaneously, during 1930 and 1931, he taught at the Polytechnic School of Ways of Communication, and during the period 1935-193q he directed the graduation designs at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute and con- ducted scientific work on matters pertaining to the creation of the Uralo-Kuznetskii group of enterprises. During 1987 and 1938, he headed a team commissioned by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR to study the problems re- lating to 100-cps current and to the selection of the type of current for electrified railways.

During the period 1942-1948, N. N. Krachkovskii headed engineering work relating to the electrification of the eastern regions of the country.

During the period 1944-1946, Nikolai Nikolaevich worked as the chief of the energy systems sector of the Len- ingrad branch of the Gidroenergoproekt, and from 1947 to 1956 he was engaged as a principal specialist at the Gidro- energoproekt in Moscow; from 1950 he worked simultaneously at the G. M. Krzhizhanovskii Power Institute, where he investigated the transmission of electric energy over long distances by using alternating and direct current.

In 1955, N. N. Krachkovskii worked on the problem of the voltage shift, from 400 to 500 kV, for the trans- mission line between the XXII CPSU Congress Volga Hydroelectric Plant and Moscow.

At the present time, with his characteristic enthusiasm, he is con- ducting studies to justify the wide adoption of high-voltage direct cur- rent in the energy systems of our country.

On his birthday, we wish N. N. Krachkovskii good health and fur- ther successes in his fruitful scientific activities.

Translated from Gidrotekhnicheskoe Stroitel'stvo, No. 3, pp. 5q-58, March, 1970.

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