Andrey Alexandrovich Lipgart

In June 1898, Andrey was born into the large family of serviceman Alexander Lipgart. His father was German by birth but later moved to Russia and married a Russian woman. Andrey’s childhood differed little from that of his peers. He attended Voskresensky’s private school, then the Imperial Moscow Technical School, later renamed Bauman Moscow State Technical University. The end of his studies coincided with the end of the First World War. Nevertheless, he served in a telephone and telegraph battalion before being sent back to continue his education at the Moscow Higher Technical School, where he combined work and study until 1925.

That year was a turning point. After graduating, he joined the Central Scientific Research Automobile and Automotive Engines Institute, NAMI, as a draughtsman and designer. He soon became chief designer of its automotive department. In developing the earliest Soviet vehicles, he designed the NAMI-1 passenger car, a three-axle truck that was a prototype of the GAZ-AAA, and the first Soviet trolleybus.

In 1933, he moved to the Gorky Automobile Plant as chief designer, remaining until 1951. There his talents flourished: he developed over sixty experimental models, nearly thirty of which entered mass production.

In 1951, he was removed from his post and sent to the Urals as an ordinary engineer at the local automobile plant. He refused to remain idle: at his initiative and with his direct involvement, production of one of its principal models, the UralZIS-5 truck, was modernised.

His stay in the Urals was brief. In 1953, he returned to Moscow and was immediately offered the chair of the Automobile Department at the Moscow Higher Technical School. He combined university research with his renewed role as NAMI’s chief designer, later becoming director of scientific and experimental work.

Lipgart initiated numerous projects that shaped the technical policy and future development of the domestic automotive industry. His initiatives led to the development of future Soviet car models.

Recognition came in 1960, when he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences. Even then, he did not retire, continuing to combine research and teaching.

He wrote more than sixty scientific works and edited numerous other publications on vehicle engineering.

This outstanding man died in Moscow in his eighty-second year and was buried with full honours at Vvedenskoye Cemetery.