ALEXANDER MINEEVICH ROZENBERG

Fifty years have passed since the birth of one of the prominent scientists of our institute, a major specialist in the field of metal cutting, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Alexander Mineevich Rozenberg. A product of our institute, Alexander Mineevich has devoted 25 years of his life to fruitful scientific, pedagogical, and public activity within its walls.

A. M. Rozenberg was born on March 14, 1902, in the city of Irkutsk, in the family of an engineer. After receiving his secondary education, in 1920 he went to Tomsk, where he entered the Mechanical Faculty of the Siberian Technological Institute. In 1926 he successfully graduated from the institute in the factory-plant specialty, received the title of mechanical engineer, and was retained as a postgraduate student at the Department of Mechanical Technology, then headed by Prof. T. I. Tikhonov.

During his years of postgraduate study Alexander Mineevich completed three scientific-research works, one of which—“Experimental Investigation of the Process of Chip Formation”—deserves special mention.

In this study A. M. Rozenberg significantly supplemented and developed the ideas then existing about the mechanism of chip formation. This work is a deepening of the investigations of Time, Zvorykin, and Usachev, and to the present day retains its scientific value.

In 1931, after returning from a scientific trip abroad, A. M. Rozenberg was appointed head of the Department of Mechanical Assembly Production, and then of the Department of Machine Tools and Metal Cutting that was separated from it. He heads this department to the present time. In 1932 he was awarded the academic title of docent. With his characteristic persistence, A. M. Rozenberg set about organizing a laboratory for metal cutting. The laboratory was supplied with equipment. Through the efforts of the staff, measuring instruments and apparatus were made, including a number of original instruments designed by the head of the department. On the basis of the laboratory being created, broad scientific-research work unfolded. During the course of his scientific activity A. M. Rozenberg completed 59 scientific works amounting to about 90 printed sheets. A series of these works was devoted to one of the little-studied questions of the theory of metal cutting—the question of milling dynamics. The results of the works on milling were subsequently formulated as a doctoral dissertation, which in 1940 was successfully defended before the Academic Council of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute.

In 1941 A. M. Rozenberg was confirmed in the academic rank of professor.

A. M. Rozenberg does not confine his scientific activity to the limits of the laboratory and the study; he is a true scientist of production. For more than 20 years he has maintained the closest connection with the factories of Tomsk and other cities of Siberia and the Urals. This connection is many-sided. Here too—

the power of industry by carrying out research work commissioned by factories, and the direct solution of production problems at various plants, as well as consultations and seminars for Stakhanovites and production innovators. From the first days of the speed-method movement that developed in our industry, A. M. Rozenberg conducted special seminars on high-speed metal cutting for Stakhanovite speed-workers, which, according to their reports, substantially helped to introduce high-speed metal cutting into production. In connection with the appearance of power cutting by the method of the turner Kolesov, he also conducted a special seminar. Of great importance for our industry was the work on the use of waste from high-speed steel and its substitutes for surfacing cutting tools, which the jubilarian carried out together with Prof. A. N. Dobrovidov.

The fruitful activity of this leading scientist-producer is known and highly valued by the broadest circles of scientific workers in our country. To confirm this, we shall cite only a small part of the testimonials received by the jubilee commission during the days of the jubilee. The collective of the department “Theory of Metal Cutting and Tool Production” of the Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School writes in its greeting:

“Your fundamental works in the field of investigating the process of chip formation, together with the works of the Russian scientist Usachev, laid the foundation for the modern theory of metal cutting. Your theoretical and experimental works in the field of milling are a model of the combination of comprehensive and profound scientific research with the practical tasks of Soviet machine building.” The greeting of the Academic Council of the Stalin Machine-Tool Institute states:

“You are one of the founders of the Soviet school of metal cutting and the creator of a number of fundamental works on which the younger generation of Soviet engineers and scientific workers is being educated.” The collective of the department “Metal Cutting, Machine Tools, and Tools” of the Ordzhonikidze Moscow Aviation Institute writes: “We can with full justification call you one of the founders of the Soviet school of metal cutting and of the science of metal cutting. A whole generation of Soviet scientific workers has grown up on your works.”

A. M. Rozenberg works a great deal on the training of scientific personnel. At the department he heads, 2 doctoral dissertations and 12 candidate dissertations have been completed. At present, under his supervision, 5 postgraduate students are working; at the department, students of the mechanical faculty are constantly conducting scientific-research work.

The pedagogical activity of A. M. Rozenberg began while he was still a postgraduate student. In the autumn of 1928, for the first time in the Soviet Union, a special course on metal cutting began to be taught simultaneously at two institutes: Professor Besprozvannyi at the Moscow Mechanical-Machine-Building Institute, and postgraduate student Rozenberg at the Tomsk Technological Institute (now TPI). After the organization of the department of mechanical-assembly production, Aleksandr Mineevich consistently mastered and taught all the special disciplines offered at the department. Even at that time his high pedagogical skill was noted. In 1939 Aleksandr Mineevich took first place in a competition for the best lecture held among lecturers of Tomsk higher educational institutions.

The lectures of A. M. Rozenberg are, by common acknowledgment, exemplary. Over the years of his leadership of the department, Aleksandr Mineevich has nurtured several generations of Soviet scientists and engineers. Among them are doctors and candidates of sciences, deans and heads of departments, directors and leading engineers of factories, heads of scientific institutions and factory laboratories. All of them remember their teacher with a feeling of deep respect.

A. M. Rozenberg is not only a scholar and lecturer; his activity is multifaceted. In 1940–42 he was dean of the Faculty of Mechanics; in 1941–42, a member of the Higher Attestation Commission. He has always carried on, and continues to carry on, extensive public work in trade-union and other organizations.

A. M. Rozenberg strives to master Marxist-Leninist theory deeply, and in this respect sets an example for all his colleagues.

In our country, which is building communism, the labor of a scholar and teacher is important and honorable labor. The Soviet government, city organizations, and the institute’s collective have highly valued, and continue to value, the merits of Alexander Mineevich Rozenberg, constantly encouraging him toward further successes.

He has twice been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the medal “For Labor Distinction,” the medal “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War,” has 12 certificates of honor from Party, Soviet, and trade-union organizations, two prizes and three commendations from the All-Union Committee for Higher Education, five prizes and twenty-eight commendations from the institute administration, and has repeatedly been entered on the city, institute, and faculty honor boards.

The collective of the S. M. Kirov Tomsk Polytechnic Institute wishes dear Alexander Mineevich many years of health and vigor for further fruitful activity for the good of our beloved Motherland.