List of Soviet achievements

Late 1910s

1917 Socialist realism

• A style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other socialist countries.

1918 Air ioniser

• By Alexander Chizhevsky

1918 Budenovka

• By Viktor Vasnetsov

1918 Ushanka

1918 Jet pack (not built)

1919 Film school

1919 Theremin

• By Léon Theremin

1919 Constructivism (art)

• An artistic and architectural philosophy which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes.

• 

  The later version of the Soviet Army ushanka.

• 

  Lydia Kavina playing theremin.

1920s

1920s Constructivist architecture

• A form of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly Communist social purpose.

1921 Aerial refueling

• By Alexander P. de Seversky

1923 Iconoscope

• By Vladimir Zworykin

1923 Palekh miniature

• Also Russian lacquer art, Kholuy miniature, Mstyora miniature

1924 Flying wing

• By Boris Cheranovsky

1924 Optophonic Piano

• By Vladimir Baranov-Rossine

1924 Stem cells

• By Alexander Maximow

1924 Primordial soup hypothesis

• By Aleksandr Oparin

1925 Interlaced video

• Interlaced video is a technique of doubling the perceived frame rate introduced with the composite video signal used with analog television without consuming extra bandwidth. It was first demonstrated by Léon Theremin in 1925.

1926 Graphical sound

• By Pavel Tager and Aleksandr Shorin

1927 Light-emitting diode

• by Oleg Losev

1927 Polikarpov Po-2 biplane

• The most produced biplane in the world.

1928 Gene pool

1928 Rabbage

• Rabbage or Raphanobrassica, was the first ever non-sterile hybrid obtained through the crossbreeding, which was an important step in biotechnology. It was produced by Georgii Karpechenko in 1928.

1929 Pobedit

• Pobedit is a specialized alloy that is close in hardness to diamond (85-90 on the Rockwell scale). It was created in the USSR in 1929 and was used in mining, metal-cutting and as a material for special mechanical parts. Later a number of similar alloys have been developed.

1929 Cadaveric blood transfusion

• by Sergei Yudin

1929 Kinescope

• By Vladimir Zworykin

1929 Teletank / Military robot

• 

  Troika with wolves, an example of Palekh miniature.

• 

  Polikarpov Po-2 Kukuruznik.

• 

  Soviet TT-26 teletank, the first military robot.

1930s

Spring-loaded camming device

• by Vitaly Abalakov

Abalakov thread climbing device

• by Vitaly Abalakov

Electric rocket motor

• by Valentin Glushko

1930s Modern ship hull design

• Vladimir Yourkevitch invented the modern ship hull design when he designed the SS Normandie.

1930 Blood bank

1930 Single lift-rotor helicopter

• Designed by Boris N. Yuriev and Alexei M. Cheremukhin of TsAGI, the TsAGI 1-EA was flown by Cheremukhin to an unofficial altitude record of 605 meters (1,985 ft) in August 1932.

1930 Paratrooping

• Russian Airborne Troops - the first and largest in the world

1931 Pressure suit

• by Yevgeny Chertovsky

1931 Hypergolic rocket propellants

• by Valentyn Glushko

1931 Rhythmicon / Drum machine

• by Léon Theremin, the first drum machine

1931 Flame tank

• KhT-26

1932 Postconstructivism

• A transitional architectural style that existed in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, typical of early Stalinist architecture before World War II.

1932 Postal code

1932 Children's railway

1932 Terpsitone

• by Léon Theremin

1932 Underwater welding

• by Konstantin Khrenov

1933 Human kidney transplant

1933 Sampling theorem

• By Vladimir Kotelnikov

1933 Tandem rotor helicopter

• By Nikolay Florin

1933 Stalinist architecture

• Also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin.

1934 Tupolev ANT-20

• Purpose-designed propaganda aircraft, the largest aircraft in 1930s

1934 Cherenkov detector

• Cherenkov radiation was discovered in 1934 by Pavel Cherenkov

1935 Kirza

• Kirza is a type of artificial leather based on the multi-layer textile fabric, modified by membrane-like substances, produced mainly in the Soviet Union and Russia as a cheap and effective replacement for natural leather. The surface of kirza imitates pig leather. The material is mainly used in production of military boots and belts for machinery and automobiles. The name kirza is an acronym from Kirovskiy Zavod (Kirov plant) located in the city of Kirov, which was the first place of the mass production of kirza. The technology was invented in 1935 by Ivan Plotnikov and improved in 1941. Since that time kirza boots became a typical element of the uniform in the Soviet and Russian Army.

1935 Moscow Metro

• The Moscow Metro, which spans almost the entire Russian capital, is the world's second most heavily used metro system after the Tokyo's twin subway, and the most heavily used single operator metro system. Opened in 1935, it is well known for the ornate design of many of its stations, which contain numerous examples of socialist realist art.

1935 Kremlin stars

1936 Acoustic microscopy

1936 Airborne firefighting

1937 Artificial heart

• By Vladimir Demikhov. It was transplanted to a dog.

1937 Modern evolutionary synthesis

• By Theodosius Dobzhansky

1937 Superfluidity

• By Pyotr Kapitsa, with John F. Allen and Don Misener

1937 Drag chute

• The drag chute or braking parachute is an application of the drogue parachute for decreasing the landing distance of an aircraft below that available solely from the aircraft's brakes. For the first time drag chutes were used in 1937 by the Soviet airplanes in the Arctic that provided support for the famous polar expeditions of the era. The drag chute allowed safe landings on small ice-floes.

1937 Manned drifting ice station

• Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. An idea to use the drift ice for the exploration of nature in the high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean belongs to Fridtjof Nansen, who fulfilled it on Fram between 1893 and 1896. However, the first stations to be placed right upon the drifting ice originated in the Soviet Union in 1937, when the first such station in the world, North Pole-1, started operating. More drifting ice stations were organised after World War II, and many special equipment was developed for them, such as the elevated tents to be placed on the melting ice and indicators monitoring the ice cracks.

1937 Welded sculpture

• Welded sculpture is an artform in which sculpture is made using welding techniques. The first such sculpture was the famous Worker and Kolkhoz Woman by Vera Mukhina. Initially it was placed atop the Soviet pavilion at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. The choice of welding method was explained by a giant size of the sculpture, and also was intended to demonstrate the innovative Soviet technologies.

1937 Fire-fighting sport

• Fire-fighting sport is a sport discipline that includes a competition between various fire fighting teams in fire fighting-related exercises, such as climbing special stairs in a mock-up house, unfolding a water hose, and extinguishing a fire using hoses or extinguishers. It was developed in the Soviet Union in 1937, while international competitions have taken place since 1968.
• 1937-1957 ANS synthesizer

1938 Deep column station

• The deep column station is a type of subway station, consisting of a central hall with two side halls, connected by ring-like passages between a row of columns. Depending on the type of station, the rings transmit load to the columns either by "wedged arches" or through purlins, forming a "column-purlin complex." The fundamental advantage of the column station is the significantly greater connection between the halls, compared with a pylon station. The first deep column station in the world is Mayakovskaya, designed by Alexey Dushkin and opened in 1938 in Moscow Metro.

1938 Sambo

• Sambo (an acronym, Самбо stands for САМооборона-Без-Оружия, meaning "self-defence without weapons") is modern martial art, combat sport and self-defense system developed in the Soviet Union and recognized as an official sport by the USSR All-Union Sports Committee in 1938, presented by Anatoly Kharlampiev.

1939 Kirlian photography

• By Semyon Kirlian

1939 Vought-Sikorsky VS-300

• The world's first tail rotor helicopter and first amphibious helicopter by Igor Sikorsky.

1939 Ilyushin Il-2

• The world's most produced combat aircraft.

1940s

1940s Ballast cleaner

1940s TRIZ

1940s Sikorsky R-4

• The R-4 was the world's first mass-produced helicopter and the first helicopter used by the United States Army Air Forces, Navy, Coast Guard, and the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.

1940 T-34 tank

• by Mikhail Koshkin, the most produced tank of World War II

1941 Competitive rhythmic gymnastics

1941 Maksutov telescope

• by Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov

1941 Degaussing

• by Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov, independently from Charles F. Goodeve

1942 Winged tank

• Antonov A-40 by Oleg Antonov

1942 Gramicidin S

• by Georgy Gause

1944 Microtron

1944 EPR spectroscopy

• by Yevgeny Zavoisky

1945 T-54/55 tank

• World's most produced tank.

1945 Passive resonant cavity bug

• by Léon Theremin

1946 Heart-lung transplant

• by Vladimir Demikhov

1947 Modern multistage rocket

• by Mikhail Tikhonravov and Dmitry Okhotsimsky

1947 MiG-15

• World's most produced jet aircraft.

1947 AK-47

• The AK-47 (other names include Avtomat Kalashnikova, Kalashnikov, or AK) is a selective fire, gas operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. The AK-47 was one of the first true assault rifles. It has been manufactured in many countries and has seen service with regular armed forces as well as irregular, revolutionary and terrorist organizations worldwide. Even after six decades, due to its durability, low production cost and ease of use, the original AK-47 and its numerous variants are the most widely used and popular assault rifles in the world; more AK-type rifles have been produced than all other assault rifles combined.

1947 Lung transplant

• by Vladimir Demikhov

1947 Light beam microphone

• The technique of using a light beam to remotely record sound probably originated with Léon Theremin in the Soviet Union at or before 1947, when he developed and used the Buran eavesdropping system. This worked by using a low power infrared beam (not a laser) from a distance to detect the sound vibrations in the glass windows. Lavrentiy Beria, head of the KGB, used this Buran device to spy on the U.S., British, and French embassies in Moscow

1949 Staged combustion cycle

• Aleksei Isaev proposed the Staged combustion cycle widely used in rocket engines.

1949 Reactive armour

• 

  T-34, the most successful tank design of World War II.

• 

  A 150mm aperture Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope.

• 

  Antonov A-40 winged tank.

• 

  Front view of a MiG-15.

• 

  A Type 2 AK-47, the first machined receiver variation

1950s

1950s Head transplant

• The first head transplant with full cerebral function (by Vladimir Demikhov)

1950s Magnetotellurics

• by Andrey Nikolayevich Tikhonov

1950 MESM

• The first universally programmable electronic computer in continental Europe, developed by Sergey Lebedev.

1950 Berkovich tip

1951 Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction

1951 Explosively pumped flux compression generator

1952 Masers

• Invention of the first masers by Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov who later shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for invention and development of laser technologies with Charles Townes.

1952 Seven Sisters (Moscow)

1952 Carbon nanotubes

• A 2006 editorial written by Marc Monthioux and Vladimir Kuznetsov in the journal Carbon described the interesting and often misstated origin of the carbon nanotube. A large percentage of academic and popular literature attributes the discovery of hollow, nanometer-size tubes composed of graphitic carbon to Sumio Iijima of NEC in 1991. In 1952 L. V. Radushkevich and V. M. Lukyanovich published clear images of 50 nanometer diameter tubes made of carbon in the Soviet Journal of Physical Chemistry. This discovery was largely unnoticed, as the article was published in the Russian language, and Western scientists' access to Soviet press was limited during the Cold War. It is likely that carbon nanotubes were produced before this date, but the invention of the transmission electron microscope (TEM) allowed direct visualization of these structures.

1952 Anthropometric cosmetology or Ilizarov apparatus

• by Gavril Ilizarov

1954 Nuclear power plant

• Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant by Igor Kurchatov

1955 MiG-21

• World's most produced supersonic aircraft.

1955 Ballistic missile submarine

• R-11 Zemlya submarine-launched ballistic missile by Victor Makeev, Project 611 ballistic missile submarine

1955 Fast-neutron reactor

• BN350 nuclear fast reactor.

1955 Leningrad Metro

1955 Tokamak

• The Tokamak T-4 was tested in 1968 in Novosibirsk, conducting the first ever quasistationary thermonuclear fusion reaction. The first actual experimental tokamak was built in 1955. The Tokamak design plays the basic role in modern projects for power generation based on thermonuclear fusion like ITER.

1957 ANS synthesizer

1957 Synchrophasotron

1957 Spaceport

• Baikonur Cosmodrome launch complex by Vladimir Barmin

1957 Intercontinental ballistic missile

• The world's first successful intercontinental ballistic missile, R-7 Semyorka, was developed under supervision of Sergey Korolev between 1953-1957.

1957 Orbital space rocket

• The world's first successful intercontinental ballistic missile, as well as a first space rocket and expendable launch system, R-7 Semyorka, was developed under supervision of Sergey Korolev between 1953-1957.

1957 Artificial satellite

• Sputnik 1, the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957, and was the first in a series of satellites collectively known as the Sputnik program.

1957 Space capsule

• Sputnik 2

1957 Raketa hydrofoil

• by Rostislav Alexeyev

1958 Modern ternary computer

• Setun, by Nikolay Brusentsov

1959 Nuclear icebreaker

• A nuclear-powered icebreaker is a purpose-built ship with nuclear propulsion for use in waters continuously covered with ice. Nuclear-powered icebreakers are far more powerful than their diesel powered counterparts, and have been constructed by Russia primarily to aid shipping in the frozen Arctic waterways in the north of Siberia, along the Northern Sea Route. NS Lenin was the world's first nuclear icebreaker, launched in 1957 at the Admiralty Shipyard and completed in 1959.

1959 Space probe

• Luna 1, also the first escape velocity spacecraft and the first Sun satellite.

1959 Missile boat

• Komar class missile boat

1959 Kleemenko cycle

1959 Staged combustion cycle

• 

  A Berkovich tip.

• 

  Inside a carbon nanotube.

• 

  An Ilizarov apparatus treating a fractured tibia and fibula.

• 

  BN350 nuclear fast reactor.

• 

  Tokamak magnetic field and plasma current.

• 

  Baikonur Cosmodrome's "Gagarin's Start" Soyuz launch pad prior to the rollout of Soyuz TMA-13, October 10, 2008.

• 

  The large-size model of R-7 Semyorka, the first ICBM and the first orbital rocket.

• 

  Sputnik 1 replica.

• 

  Raketa-234 on the Volga River.

• 

  A Komar class missile boat launching a missile.

• 

  Lenin, the first nuclear icebreaker

• 

  Staged combustion rocket cycle.

1960s

1960s Rocket boots

1960 Reentry capsule

• Sputnik 5

1961 Human spaceflight

• Vostok 1 (Template:Lang-ru, Orient 1 or East 1) was the first human spaceflight. The Vostok 3KA spacecraft was launched on April 12, 1961, taking into space Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union. The Vostok 1 mission was the first time anyone had journeyed into outer space and the first time anyone had entered into orbit. The Vostok 1 was launched by the Soviet space program and supervised by the Soviet rocket scientist Sergey Korolyov.

1961 RPG-7

1961 Lawrencium

• Co-discovered at the Dubna Nuclear Research Institute and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

1961 Anti-ballistic missile

• by Pyotr Grushin

1961 Space food

1961 Space suit

1961 RDS-220

• The most powerful weapon ever tested. The RDS-220 was a three-stage Teller–Ulam design hydrogen bomb with a yield of 50 to 58 megatons of TNT (210 to 240 PJ). This is equivalent to about 1,350–1,570 times the combined power of the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 10 times the combined power of all the conventional explosives used in World War II, or one quarter of the estimated yield of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, and 10% of the combined yield of all nuclear tests to date.

1961 Platform screen doors

• Park Pobedy (Saint Petersburg Metro)

1961 Ekranoplan

• by Rostislav Alexeyev

1961 Mil Mi-8

• The world's most-produced helicopter

1962 Detonation nanodiamond

1962 AVL tree datastructure

1962 3D holography

• by Yuri Denisyuk

1962 Modern stealth technology

• by Petr Ufimtsev

1963 Oxygen cocktail

1964 Rutherfordium

1964 Druzhba pipeline

• The longest oil pipeline system in the world.

1964 Plasma propulsion engine

• Pulsed plasma thruster

1964 Kardashyov scale

1965 Extra-vehicular activity

1965 Molniya orbit satellite

1965 Voitenko compressor

1965 Proton rocket

• The most used heavy lift launch system

1965 Air-augmented rocket

• by Boris Shavyrin

1966 Nobelium

1966 Lander spacecraft

• Luna 9 by Georgy Babakin

1966 Orbiter

• Luna 10

1966 Regional jet

• The Yakovlev Yak-40 was the world's first regional jet.

1966 Caspian Sea Monster

• The largest ekranoplan and the second largest fixed-wing aircraft by Rostislav Alexeyev

1969 Intercontinental Submarine-launched ballistic missile

• R-29 Vysota

• 

  tAn RPG-7 with warhead, world's most used anti-tank weapon.

• 

  The model of Vostok spacecraft, the first human spaceflight module.

• 

  Russian space food.

• 

  A Tsar Bomba-type casing on display at Sarov.

• 

  Mil Mi-8, the world's most produced helicopter.

• 

  Molniya 1 satellite.

• 

  Launch of a Proton rocket.

• 

  Soyuz spacecraft (TMA version).

• 

  Mil Mi-12, the world's largest helicopter.

1970s

1970s Semiconductor Heterostructures

• Creation by Zhores Alferov of Semiconductor Heterostructures which play important role in modern electronics (Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000).

1970s Radial keratotomy

• by Svyatoslav Fyodorov

1970 Excimer laser

1970 Robotic sample return

• Luna 16

1970 Space rover

• Lunokhod 1, the first space exploration rover, reached the Moon surface on November 17, 1970.

1971 Space station

• Salyut 1 (DOS-1) (Template:Lang-ru; Template:Lang-en) was launched April 19, 1971. It was the first space station to orbit Earth. Developed under supervision of Vladimir Chelomey.

1971 Kaissa (chess program)

• Kaissa became the first computer chess world champion in 1974.

1972 Hall effect thruster

1972 Mil Mi-24

1972 Nuclear desalination

• BN-350 reactor

1973 Reflectron

• By Boris Aleksandrovich Mamyrin

1973 Skull crucible

• The first commercially viable process to manufacture cubic zirconia.

1974 Electron cooling

• Electron cooling was invented by Gersh Budker (INP, Novosibirsk) in 1966 as a way to increase luminosity of hadron colliders. It was first tested in 1974 with 68 MeV protons at NAP-M storage ring at INP.

1975 Underwater assault rifle

• APS underwater assault rifle by Vladimir Simonov

1975 Arktika class icebreaker

• The Arktika class is a Russian and former Soviet class of the world's most powerful nuclear icebreakers. Its pilot ship, NS Arktika, was the second Soviet nuclear icebreaker, completed in 1975. She became the first surface ship to reach the North Pole, on August 17, 1977.

1975 Androgynous Peripheral Attach System

• by Vladimir Syromyatnikov

1976 Close-in weapon system

• AK-630

1976 Mobile ICBM

• RT-21 Temp 2S by Alexander Nadiradze

1977 Vertical launching system

• First installed on Azov, a Kara class cruiser

1977 Kirov class battlecruiser

• The Kirov class battlecruisers of the Russian Navy are the largest and heaviest surface combatant warships (i.e., not an aircraft carrier, assault ship or submarine) currently in active operation in the world.

1978 Unmanned resupply spacecraft

1978 Active protection system

• Drozd system

1979 Space-based radio telescope<ref name=Kometa>{{cite web |script-title=ru:Из истории ОАО "Корпорация "Комета" |publisher=Kometa Corporation

1980s

Kalina cycle

• Invented and patented in the 1980s by Russian engineer Alexander Kalina. His invention included the first time development of a contiguous set of ammonia-water mixture thermodynamic properties, which provide the basis for unique power plant designs for different forms of power generation from different heat sources.

1980s EHF therapy

• by Nikolay Devyatkov and Mikhail Golant

1980 Typhoon class submarine

• The largest submarine ever built.

1981 Quantum dot

1981 Tupolev Tu-160

• The Tupolev Tu-160 is a supersonic, variable-geometry heavy bomber designed by the Soviet Union. Although several civil and military transport aircraft are bigger, the Tu-160 has the greatest total thrust, and the heaviest takeoff weight of any combat aircraft, and the highest top speed as well as one of the largest payloads of any current heavy bomber. Pilots of the Tu-160 call it the “White Swan”, due to its maneuverability and anti-flash white finish.<

1982 Helicopter ejection seat

• Kamov Ka-50

1984 Tetris

• by Alexey Pazhitnov

1986 Modular space station

• Mir space station

1987 MIR submersible

• The first to reach the seabed under the North Pole. Developed in cooperation with Finland.

1987 RD-170 rocket engine

• The world's most powerful liquid-fuel rocket engine.

1988 Buran

1988 An-225

• The largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built.

1989 Kola Superdeep Borehole

• The deepest borehole in the world.

1989 Supermaneuverability

• Sukhoi Su-27, Pugachev's Cobra maneuver.

1989 Tupolev Tu-155

• The world's first aircraft to use liquid hydrogen as fuel.

• 

  Typhoon class submarine, covered with ice.

• 

  Tetris figures.

• 

  Mir space station.

• 

  A Su-27 performing the Cobra maneuver.

Early 1990s

1989-1991 BARS apparatus

1991 Thermoplan

• The thermoplan is a disc-shaped airship of hybrid type, currently under development in Russia. The key feature of thermoplan is its two section structure. The main section of the airship is filled with helium, while the other section is filled with air that can be heated or cooled by the engines. This design greatly improves the maneuverability, alongside the disc shape which helps resist the powerful winds up to 20 metre per second. The projet was started in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, with the first working prototype tested in 1991. That was rather small airship, and the giant thermoplan wasn't built at that time due to the problems caused by the economy crisis of the 1990s. In the late 2000s (decade), the project was revived under the name Locomoskyner by the Russian company Locomosky in Ulyanovsk.

1991 Scramjet

• The Central Institute of Aviation Motors (CIAM) KHOLOD Hypersonic Flying Laboratory. First successful supersonic combustion ramjet flight demonstration.