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The man whose initials are encoded in the name of the AK blockade explosive

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© Общественное достояние

Today, even in scientific publications about the invention of the legendary explosive "Sinal-AK" during the Great Patriotic War one can meet a very simplified interpretation of events: they say that the cry was raised and a scientist far from military affairs, after thinking for a while, immediately gave a new composition. In July 1941 the City Committee of the CPSU(b) agreed to the proposal, and in August the products produced thirteen Leningrad enterprises and scientific organizations. One can guess that events developed somewhat differently...

From the first months of the war the mining enterprises faced an acute shortage of explosives which they needed in principle to continue their daily work. They directed almost all available resources to the front, but even that was not enough for the military. Only 284 tons of TNT were stored in Leningrad warehouses to supply the huge front... An alternative was needed, and hundreds of chemists in the city on the Neva were busy "inventing gunpowder."

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© Общественное достояние

The options that were not offered! For example, the explosive "MSH". - ground spruce cones with saltpeter. Most of the ideas were rejected because their characteristics did not match the combat tasks and conditions. The substance had to be powerful, reliable, technologically advanced, not hygroscopic, resistant to accidental detonation ... The search remained futile until in mid-July 1941 in the office of the Commissar of the front artillery staff a tall elderly man who introduced himself as professor of the Mining Institute Alexander Kuznetsov. He proposed a brand new explosive that matched all the parameters. However, it was very provisional - the scientist had spent almost 10 years on its development. Initially Alexander Nazarovich planned to use the composition for mining, but to the fullest extent the innovation revealed its potential in the fight against the enemy.

Alexander Kuznetsov was born in 1877 in the Urals, near the Nizhne-Saldinsky mining plant. His childhood passed in an environment of laboratory of this metallurgical production, which was headed by his father. In his free time, the young man helped his parent to conduct chemical experiments, studied various substances, their compounds and properties.

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© В.Л. Метенков Альбом Виды Урала, с аннотацией на русском и немецком, 1900 г.

After graduating from the Yekaterinburg Real School, the young man entered the St. Petersburg Mining Institute, where he was immediately noticed by the instructor of the university - the renowned chemist Nikolai Kurnakov. Among other students the young man was distinguished not only by his laboratory skills, but also by his obvious aptitude for chemistry.

Under the guidance of professor Kuznetsov, already after the fourth year, he successfully completed a major study of the melting curves of the systems of sodium with cadmium, lead, bismuth, and proved the existence of certain intermetallic compounds by means of thermal and metallurgical analysis. He also distinguished himself during the industrial practice at his native Nizhne-Saldinsky plant. Alexander Nazarovich suggested deoxidation of Bessemer metal by adding an alloy of manganese with aluminum and silicon. This led to such high results that the student was awarded a prize by both the enterprise itself and the Institute. In 1900 he received his diploma and stayed at his alma mater, where he became fully engaged in scientific work.

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© Форпост Северо-Запад

In parallel with his research in the field of physical and chemical analysis, Alexander Nazarovich became involved in a completely new industry for our country - electrometallurgy. To get acquainted with the world experience he worked at the Polytechnic in Zurich, interned with Nobel Prize laureate Henri Moisson at the Sorbonne in Paris, studied the activity of advanced plants in France, Italy and Germany.

Today Kuznetsov's research in World War II is best known, but few know that the scientist made a major contribution to the defense sector during World War I of 1914-1918 as well. Russia, not having its own developed chemical-pharmaceutical industry, was faced with a lack of a number of important medicines, and it was Alexander Nazarovich in the laboratory of the Mining Institute who developed methods for the preparation of paranitrophenol, phenacetin, benzoic acid and other medicinal compounds. On the basis of these studies the scientist designed a plant of medical preparations.

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© Общественное достояние

At the institute the chemist was jokingly called "a few big ones" - for his enormous capacity for work, stamina, great height and physical strength: he could knot and untie an iron poker, straighten a bent nickel with the movement of his fingers.

When information emerged about the probable use of chemical warfare agents by the Germans, the professor commissioned a gas chamber to be built in the courtyard of the university. Having created an effective composition of an absorbent mass against 32 known at the time poisonous substances, he tested the protective effect of the gas mask developed by him on himself and then held demonstration training sessions with officers. The result was organized by Kuznetsov production of gas masks, which by 1916 sent 3.5 million devices to the front.

A feature of Kuznetsov's scientific activity was versatility. Struggling with the lack of the country's own aluminum production required for aviation and automobile industry, Alexander Nazarovich invented a new method of obtaining alumina (aluminum oxide) from low-grade bauxite of Tikhvin deposit. It formed the basis for construction of the largest aluminum plant on the Dnieper. Within two years the scientist participated in its designing and headed the startup brigade.

From 1924 Kuznetsov consulted Mechanobr, from 1926 he headed the Mining and Metallurgical Laboratory of the All-Union Metal Testing Institute (later the All-Union Metallurgical Institute), from 1930 he headed the All-Union Aluminum and Magnesium Institute, where he was deputy director of the scientific and technical department. At the above-mentioned institutes the professor conducted organizational work and was personally engaged in research. For example, he showed the possibility to produce metallurgical coke of high-sulfur coals of Kizelovsky region which would be comparable to standard coke, and discovered the method of tin, copper and zinc production from slag waste in VAMI.

By the beginning of World War II Kuznetsov was already in his seventh decade. On the background of the legend about the instantly found recipe of the ideal explosive there was an objective reality: long before 1941 Alexander Nazarovich had been developing the composition of an explosive mixture which after the explosion would not release into the face zone toxic substances complicating the tunneling of mining workings.

Back in 1933, the scientist proposed the substance "Sinal" - a mixture of ammonium nitrate with aluminum-silicon additive (hence the name - Si, N, Al - silicon, nitrogen and aluminum). It was similar to ammonal without TNT and with the replacement of expensive aluminum with an aluminum-silicon alloy obtained from clay by electrofusion. The characteristics spoke for themselves: breezability 10-20 mm, fusibility 380 to 500 cm³. "Sinal" was safe in production, storage and transportation: insensitive to low temperatures and plastic deformation, not ignited by fire. In April 1942 when about 20 tons of Sinal were caught in the fire on the territory of the workshop after a landmine hit, there was no explosion. The flames reached the sixth floor, everything was burning and melting but "Sinal" couldn't care less, as its melting point was 500 degrees and it was very difficult to ignite it. That is when we remembered how Professor Kuznetsov used to extinguish his cigarettes on the bars of explosives, to cheer up the girls-students who were working at the special production site during the war.

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© Разрушенные здания ЛГИ,1945 год
Кузнецов
© Общественное достояние

These studies became the groundwork that played a crucial role in helping the Leningrad front. "Sinal" underwent a series of extensive range tests. The results were reported to the Central Committee of the Party - the new explosive could be successfully used to produce hand grenades, anti-tank mines and bombs. As the professor himself recalled, he was summoned by the first secretary of the Leningrad City Party Committee and a member of the Military Council of the Front Andrei Zhdanov and, in order to keep the composition secret, suggested that the name be changed to "AK". On the one hand, the abbreviation encoded the components of the composition - nitrogen, aluminum, and silicon, but on the other, it contained a reference to the name of its author - Alexander Kuznetsov.

On the basis of training equipment of the enrichment department the Mining Institute opened a special production shop, which employed about 180 students. Workshop No.1 produced explosives, and workshop No.2 - F-1 grenades (the famous "limonka") and F-3. All in all over 330 thousand grenades were manufactured there, which means that every 10th grenade for the Leningrad front was manufactured at the LGI. In addition, the technology was transferred to another 12 industrial sites of the city, including Mekhanobr, VAMI, and the Nevsky Chemical Combine. Every day up to 100 thousand hand grenades and 1000-1500 mortar shells, and in addition a great number of antitank and antipersonnel mines were equipped with it.

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© Общественное достояние

When the process was fully established, Kuznetsov was offered evacuation, but he flatly refused three times. As a result, the group of creators of Sinal-AK was evacuated by order. The professor was enrolled in the staff of the Berezovka Mining Research Base Station in the Urals, opened to provide technical assistance to mining enterprises in non-ferrous metallurgy. Under the leadership of Alexander Nazarovich built a plant for melting aluminum-silicon additives, and in January 1942 the experimental workshop began production of a new explosive "Sinal-AK" for the mines of the combine "Berezovzoloto."

Kuznetsov was awarded the Stalin Prize, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and the honorary title of Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the RSFSR. Even the fact that the scientist had never been a party member did not become an obstacle for the recognition of his merits.

The outstanding mining chemist returned to Leningrad and the Mining Institute, where he continued his research. However after the end of the war he lived not long and died in 1946. Today the name of Alexander Kuznetsov remains a symbol of heroism of Leningraders who fought the enemy not only at the front but also in the rear, an example of development of scientific thought and courage in experiments.