Soviet Optics - Early History
From the very beginning, the Government of the Soviet Union paid significant attention to the development of optical science and the production of optics. In 1918, the State Optical Institute (SOI) was established at the initiative of Dmitry Rozhdestvensky.
In 1921, the Government invested considerable funds in the purchase of optical devices and equipment abroad, and the purchasing committee worked abroad for two years. The devices were imported "in hundreds of boxes," as Dmitry Rozhdestvensky said.
By 1923, SOI reached the level of the top world's institutions with its state-of-the-art equipment and soon earned international acclaim. The institute was visited by the leading scientists of that time: Niels Bohr, Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie, Jean Baptiste Perrin, Max Planck, Chandrasekhara Raman, Paul Ehrenfest, et al. The group of scientists undertook a number of important studies in the SOI that contributed to the further development of Russian optical science.
In 1922, an optical club was established on the basis of the SOI, which in 1925 was reorganised into the Russian Optical Society. Its primary objective was to unite specialists working in the sphere of optics. In the following decade, the development of State Optical Institute continued. When SOI was just established, there were 24 scientists working at it, and by 1933 their number increased to 250. In 1936, the total number of the Institute's employees reached 600.
At the same time, the companies of the optical industry experienced structural changes. In 1922, the General Committee of the Supreme Council of National Economy introduced a resolution establishing the Fine Mechanics Trust that united the nationalized companies Geofizika (Th. Shvabe), Metron (E. S. Tryndin and Sons), Geopribor (Tauber and Tsvetkov and JSC), and Aviapribor (Reinin's Plant). The office of the Trust was located in the building of the former Th. Shvabe Company shop on Kuznetsky Most. The plants of the Trust produced geodesic, surveying, medical, optical devices, as well as chemical instruments, disinfecting chambers, patient care tools, and various types of clocks.
According to specialists' estimates, the production cost of optical glass produced in Russia in the mid-1920s exceeded the price of imported products by four times. In addition, experts believed that the country could provide itself with the production of optical devices only during peace time, and, in case of war, the shortage of optical products would be approximately 75 percent of the country's needs. In relation to the increase in production volumes in the country, there was an idea to unite the entire optical mechanics industry in one trust.
In 1930, the All-Union Association of the Optical Mechanics Industry (AUAOMI) was established. The structure of this organization can be considered a prototype of today's Shvabe Holding that includes the leading Russian optical companies. In 1930, AUAOMI included the Moscow plants Geofizika and Geodezia, Leningrad State Optical Mechanics Plant, Leningrad Optical Mechanics Plant, Leningrad Optical Glass Plant, SOI, Fine Mechanics Plant No. 19, and Izium Optical Plant. AUAOMI existed in this form until 1936, and in that year, the Association became part of the reorganized People's Commissariat for the Defense Industry (PCDI).
The dynamically developing optical industry required new highly qualified specialists, that was why the issue of training young Soviet optics specialists was urgent at the time. In 1930, the Leningrad Institute for Fine Mechanics and Optics opened in the cultural capital, and in Moscow, optics specialists were trained at the N.E.Bauman Moscow Higher Technical College and Moscow Institute of Engineers in Geodesy, Aerophotography, and Cartography (MIIGAiK).
Progressive reorganizational changes in the optical industry were accompanied by further development of optical science, and the first world-class scientists emerged in the USSR. One of them was Sergey Vavilov who in 1932 was appointed Academic Advisor of SOI. Vavilov's primary scientific interest was in the sphere of physical optics (luminescence, the study of light nature, photometry, etc.), but the scientist paid a lot of attention to applied science as well. His name is related to the beginning of mass production of electron microscopes.
In 1934, Sergey Vavilov and his graduate student Pavel Cherenkov discovered Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation. For this achievement Soviet scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for the first time in 1958. Pavel Cherenkov, Igor Tamm, and Ilya Frank were awarded a prestigious prize "For Discovery and Interpretation of Cherenkov Radiation." Igor Tamm made a speech at the celebration ceremony in which he underlined the substantial role of deceased Sergey Vavilov in that important scientific discovery: "In the Soviet Union, we call it Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation, and not just Cherenkov radiation."
Today, Vavilov and Cherenkov's discovery has found applications in experiments in the sphere of elementary particle and cosmic ray physics. Practically, every study in this sphere is performed with the use of Cherenkov counters.
In the 1930s, the optical industry in the USSR actively developed, existing facilities were modernized, and new plants were constructed. In 1937, the Fine Mechanics Plant was transferred from the People's Commissariat for the Defense Industry to the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (PCIA), renamed the PCIA Special Plant, and soon became one of the leading optical mechanics facilities of the country.
In September 1935, the construction of a mirror reflector plant started near Moscow. In 1939, it produced the first batch of 1.5 m diameter searchlight mirrors for anti-aircraft guns. In the same year, the Lytkarino Optical Glass Plant was established.
The Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant was called the child of the second five-year plan at the time. Its construction began in the memorable year of 1935, when a number of large facilities were commissioned, including the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Gorky Automobile Plant, and Stalingrad Tractor Factory. In April 1936, the Zagorsk plant manufactured its first products. These products were presented by the workers at a demonstration dedicated to May 1.
The decision to build the Kazan Optical Mechanics Plant was taken by the USSR Labor and Defense Council on October 11, 1936. It was to be a copy of Leningrad State Optical Mechanics Plant (SOMP).
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