Leonid Michael Tichvinsky (1897 - 1976)

Born 29 Jun 1897 in St Petersburg, Russia

Husband of Vivian (Lucci) Tichvinsky — married Jun 1935 (to 10 Dec 1963) in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA

Husband of Marian S (Gregg) Tichvinsky — married about 1965 (to Nov 1976) in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

Died Nov 1976 at age 79 in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

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Biography

Leonid Tichvinsky ^[1] was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 16, 1897. His father, Michael Tichvinsky, was a professor of petroleum engineering who participated in the resistance of faculty and students in the uprisings against Czar Nicholas in 1905. He was killed by the Bolsheviks in the 1917 revolution.

Leonid Michael completed the Real Gymnasium in May, 1916, attended the Military Engineering Academy from July to November, 1916, and served as a reserve officer in the Russian Army from 1916 to 1921. His father had been a friend of Alfred Nobel, the famous Swedish engineer and philanthropist, and Nobel arranged a fellowship for the son at the Prague Polytechnic Institute in Czechoslovakia. He studied at this famous European engineering school from October, 1921 to April, 1929, receiving the degree of Diplom-Ingenieur in Mechanical Engineering. Professor Tichvinsky came to the United States in 1929 and received citizenship here in 1935. He was one of a group of outstanding engineers who worked at the East Pittsburgh Laboratory of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in the decade 1930-1940. Their leader was the well-known scientist, Dr. Stephen P. Timoshenko, who served as Professor of Mechanics at Stanford University for many years and whose research and teaching in applied mechanics was world renowned. Other engineering scholars in the group such as Dr. den Hartog, contributed significantly as engineering faculty members in American universities in the year just preceding and following World War II.

After working at Westinghouse from October, 1929 to May, 1940, Tichvinsky served during the war years in the Internal Combustion Engineering Laboratory of the U.S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station in Annapolis, Maryland. There he worked on practical and theoretical diesel engine bearing problems of great importance to national defense, achieving a high reputation among engineering naval offices. He was named Vice-President, Engineering, of the American Bearing Corporation in St. Louis as a result of his exceptional Navy record. He served in that capacity from May, 1944 to December, 1945, when he joined the faculty of Washington University St. Louis as Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Tichvinsky was appointed Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Berkeley in 1948. At that time he was recognized as probably the outstanding authority in the country in the field of lubrication, with an extensive bibliography of papers on the practical and theoretical aspects of lubrication and the design of bearings. In the Department of Mechanical Engineering, he taught courses in the hydrodynamic theory of lubrication, in applied thermodynamics, and in mechanics. His combination of sound theoretical training in the European tradition, coupled with extensive practical experience, was much appreciated by his students and faculty colleagues. Toward the end of his tenure at Berkeley, Tichvinsky was active in a project concerned with the efficient and rapid loading of naval and merchant ships. He collaborated in these cargo-handling studies under the National Research Council with colleagues in the Department of Naval Architecture.

Tichvinsky received a Fulbright Lecturer Award in France in 1952, when he lectured (in French) on lubrication theory at the Institut Francais du Pétrole in Paris. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in Italy in 1956, giving lectures at several Universities and technical institutes.^[2] He returned for research at the Institut Francais du Pétrole in 1960. He was very active in professional society affairs, and he served as an organizer and regular participant in meetings of the International Congresses of Applied Mechanics. He was a member of the Applied Mechanics Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Education, the American Society of Naval Engineers, and American Society of Lubrication Engineers, and the Newcomen Society of North America.

Professor Tichvinsky was a very warm and outgoing person who made friends easily. He was an engineering scholar of exceptional culture, who spoke several languages fluently in addition to his native Russian. He was interested in art, music, and the history of science and technology, and he had faculty friends on the Berkeley campus in many disciplines. He and his gracious wife Vivien were both excellent cooks and delightful conversationalists. Evenings at their home on Alvarado Road in Berkeley are remembered fondly by their wide circle of friends and colleagues. This warmth and hospitality served the University well in the Education Abroad Program when Tichvinsky was appointed director of the Program at the University of Göttingen for the years 1963 to 1966. He and his wife were exemplary guides and mentors, who earned the respect and affection of the American students at Göttingen.

Vivien Tichvinsky died in Göttingen in 1964, the year of Professor Tichvinsky's retirement as Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He married Marion King of St. Louis, Missouri in 1965 and resided in that city with his wife until his death. He died of a heart attack in 1976 at age 79.^[3][4]

Sources

1. ↑ California Digital Library
2. ↑ https://www.gf.org/fellows/leonid-michael-tichvinsky/
3. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1976/12/02/archives/leonid-m-tichvinsky.html
4. ↑ [https://books.google.ca/books?id=Tu4gEAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT1029&ots=AGSBmK4wnA&dq=Leonid%20Michael%20Tichvinsky&pg=PT1029#v=onepage&q=Leonid%20Michael%20Tichvinsky&f=false American Men and Women in Medicine, Applied Sciences and Engineering By Miloslav Rechcigl Jr.

• The Pittsburgh Press; Publication Date: 17/ Mar/ 1935; Publication Place: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; URL: https://www.newspapers.com/image/146591028/?article=c1ca300e-d013-4c4f-926b-6bb367ec9c4a&focus=0.38271844,0.76437575,0.4977202,0.8066326&xid=3398

• U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942

Name Leonid Michael Tichvinsky

Gender Male

Birth Date 29 Jun 1897

Birth Place Stpetersburg, Russia

Residence Place Anne Arundel, Maryland, USA

Military Draft Date 1942

Next of Kin Mrs Vivien Tichvinsky

• 1950 • Berkeley, Alameda, California, USA

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/180074616/leonid-michael-tichvinsky: accessed 19 September 2023), memorial page for Leonid Michael Tichvinsky (1897–1976), Find a Grave Memorial ID 180074616, citing Christ Church Cathedral, Saint Louis, St. Louis City, Missouri, USA; Maintained by Karen S. Lee (contributor 48297700).

• The San Francisco Examiner; Publication Date: 3 Dec 1976; Publication Place: San Francisco, California, USA; URL: https://www.newspapers.com/image/460969298/?article=e75e552a-693e-4343-b06b-f726452e8275&focus=0.5062143,0.057461865,0.66082823,0.3006373&xid=3355