The USSR was able to become one of the most powerful countries in the world thanks to the innovative inventions of Soviet scientists. Let's remember the main ones.
The world's first artificial heart model
In 1937, medical student Vladimir Petrovich Demikhov demonstrated the ability to maintain blood circulation in a dog's body using a plastic pump that was started by an electric motor. The dog lived with the first artificial heart in the history of medicine for two whole hours.
In the future, Vladimir Petrovich will become one of the pioneers of transplantation. So, in 1946, he first performed a heterotopic heart transplant into a canine chest cavity, as well as a simultaneous lung and heart transplant in a dog. Then the surgeon practices an isolated lung transplant.
3 facts about the inventor:
As a child, Demikhov tried to open the dog's chest to find out how its heart works;
While the inventor was studying to be a locksmith, his first detail was a copy of a human heart, made of steel;
Promotional video:
Once Demikhov sold a single suit just in order to buy silver plates, from which he could create a model of an artificial heart
The world's first nuclear power plant
In 1951, the Central Committee of the CPSU instructed the famous scientist and physicist Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov to create a nuclear power plant in Obninsk (Moscow region). The NPP became the world's first example of the rational use of atomic energy.
Three years later, on June 27, 1954, the first nuclear power plant produced industrial current for the first time. The reactor of the first nuclear power plant operated on fast neutrons, which is currently being used in certain types of nuclear submarines.
Since 2002, it was decided to shutdown the reactor at the Obninsk NPP. This was due to the fact that the maintenance of its safe functioning became more and more expensive every year, and the subsequent use had no scientific and technical feasibility.
3 facts about the invention and the inventor:
Now the building of the nuclear power plant houses a museum of nuclear energy;
The nuclear power plant was built exactly 10 years after the bombing of Hiroshima;
Kurchatov also created an atomic reactor for an icebreaker and a nuclear submarine.
The first spaceship
Soviet designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev worked on the creation of single-seat spaceships from 1958 to 1963. The Vostok spacecraft, created under his leadership, became the first project in the entire history, which allowed launching a man into outer space.
3 facts about the invention and the inventor:
On March 25, 1961, a test launch of the Vostok spacecraft took place with the dog Zvezdochka on board, as well as an astronaut's dummy, nicknamed Ivan Ivanovich. The tests were successful, the unit landed safely. After 3 weeks from this date, Yuri Gagarin flew into space. He did this on an identical copy of a previously tested ship, which was later given the name "Vostok-1".
Since 1994, the Ivan Ivanovich mannequin has been on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Art and Space.
All his life, in one of the pockets of his jacket, Korolyov carried 2 coins, which, in his opinion, brought him happiness.
The first artificial Earth satellite
In 1955, designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev appealed to the Central Committee of the CPSU with the initiative to launch an artificial Earth satellite into outer space. The satellite was launched into low-earth orbit on October 4, 1957.
The spacecraft, called the simplest satellite-1 (PS-1), looked like a ball, reaching 58 centimeters in diameter. Its weight was 83.6 kilograms.
The design was complemented by four antennas (2.9 and 2.4 meters), which were necessary for transmitting signals, their functioning was carried out from the transmitter batteries.
After 295 seconds from the moment of launch, the artificial Earth satellite, together with the main rocket unit, which weighed 7.5 tons, was in orbit, the height of which at perigee was 288 kilometers, and at apogee - 947 kilometers. At 315 seconds, the satellite separated from the rocket, and immediately the whole world could hear its call signs.
3 facts about the invention:
The satellite flew for 92 days, until January 4, 1958. He managed to complete 1440 revolutions around our planet.
The launch date is celebrated in the Russian Federation as the day of the Space Forces.
The United States managed to realize a successful launch of its own satellite only after a year and a half after a similar launch in the USSR.
The world's first hydrogen bomb
On August 12, 1953, the most powerful weapon in history, the hydrogen bomb, was tested in the steppe of Kazakhstan. The power indicator of the bomb, which was referred to as the "product of the RDS-6 s", was 400 kilotons, which is almost 20 times higher than the power of the first atomic bombs produced by domestic and foreign scientists.
3 facts about the invention and the inventor:
The environmental consequences of the bomb tests were dire, but at that time no one thought about ecology or radioactive contamination;
During the bomb test, the buildings made of bricks were destroyed within a radius of four kilometers, and the bridge with a hundred-ton spans was thrown 200 meters away.
The "father of the bomb" was a nuclear scientist, future human rights activist, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, who in 1975 will receive the Nobel Peace Prize for completely different achievements.
The world's first ballistic missile
On August 21, 1957, the first successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 (Sapwood, SS-6, in accordance with NATO classification) took place. The rocket was created by the team of the Special Design Bureau No. 1, working under the direction of the leading designer - Sergey Pavlovich Korolev.
The history of the R-7 rocket began at the turn of the 1940-1950s. In that time period, following the results of the development of the R-1 - R-5 missiles, it was decided that, in order to access the borders of a potential enemy on another continent, a multi-stage missile with greater power was needed.
3 facts about the invention:
The first ballistic missiles flew on fuel, 70% of which consisted of ethyl alcohol;
On the basis of the R-7, the first Sputnik space rocket was created;
The first ballistic missile was actually assembled on German soil from German missiles.