Pasternak, Petr

Pasternak, Petr Leont’evich 

Born Jan. 8 (20), 1885, in Odessa; died Sept. 21, 1963, in Moscow. Soviet scientist in reinforced-concrete structures and structural mechanics.

After graduating from the Technische Hochschule in Zürich in 1910, Pasternak worked as an assistant civil engineer and civil engineer in Zürich and then, from 1912 to 1914, in Geneva. Between 1914 and 1920 he was chief engineer of the Black Sea Civil Engineering Society in St. Petersburg. From 1920 to 1929 he was a docent at the Technische Hochschule in Zürich. Between 1929 and 1932 he worked in Moscow at the Training, Design, and Construction Combine of Promstroiproekt (a design institute attached to the State Planning Committee [Gosplan]). Starting in 1932 he taught at the Moscow Construction Engineering Institute, becoming a professor there in 1934.

Pasternak carried out a series of important studies on the structural mechanics of trusses and the theory of elasticity. He also did research on methods of obtaining practical design for reinforced-concrete structural members. Pasternak designed the roof of the Opera and Ballet Theater in Novosibirsk and the roof of the production shops of the Kama Paper Combine.

WORKS

Berechnung vielfachstatisch unbestummter biegefester Stab- und Flachentragwerke (1). Zürich, 1927.
In Russian translation:
Kompleksnye konstruktsii. Moscow, 1948.
Zhelezobetonnye konstruktsii. Moscow, 1961.