Rynin, Nikolai

Rynin, Nikolai Alekseevich 

Born Dec. 11 (23), 1877, in Moscow; died July 28, 1942, in Kazan. Soviet scientist in the fields of lighter-than-air aeronautics, aviation, astronautics, and descriptive geometry.

After graduation from the St. Petersburg Institute of Railroad Engineers in 1901, Rynin remained there to teach, becoming a professor in 1921. With his collaboration, one of the first aerodynamic laboratories in Russia was created at the institute (1909), and a faculty of air communications was organized (1920), in which he conducted a course in lighter-than-air aeronautics. From 1928 to 1932 he published Interplanetary Reports (vols. 1–9), which was the first encyclopedic work on the history and theory of jet propulsion and space flight. He was the author of textbooks on descriptive geometry. A crater on the far side of the moon has been named after Rynin.

WORKS

Teoriia aviatsii, 2nd ed., Petrograd, 1918.
Kinoperspektiva. Leningrad, 1936.
Proektirovanie vozdushnykh soobshchenii. Moscow-Leningrad, 1937.
Materialy k istorii nachertatel’noi geometrii. Leningrad, 1938. [Bibliography, biographies, historical accounts, facts, and chronology.]

G. A. NAZAROV