General

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 Boris Lvovich Vannikov ' onMouseout='HidePop("38873")' href="/topics/Baku">Baku

Baku

Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

, Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 – 22 February 1962, Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, USSR), Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 government and military official, a three-star General. People's Commissar for Armament from January 1939 through June 1941, and for Ammunition from February 1942 through June 1946. From 1945 through 1953 Vannikov was Head of the 1st Main Directorate of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. In this position Vannikov worked under direct leadership of Lavrenty Beria overseeing the Soviet atomic bomb project

Soviet atomic bomb project

The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb , was a clandestine research and development program began during and post-World War II, in the wake of the Soviet Union's discovery of the United States' nuclear project...

. After Beria's arrest and death in 1953, Vannikov was demoted to the position of First Deputy Minister of Middle Machinery (a code word for the nuclear research and atomic weapons production in the USSR). Retired in 1958.

On June 7, 1941, Vannikov was arrested for "failing to carry out his duties". However, as the war with Germany started on 22 June, Vannikov was released on 25 July 1941 and appointed First Deputy People's Commissar for Armament.

Vannikov was thrice named a Hero of Socialist Labor

Hero of Socialist Labor

Hero of Socialist Labour was an honorary title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. It was the highest degree of distinction for exceptional achievements in national economy and culture...

 (1942, 1949, and 1954), and twice awarded the Stalin Prize

USSR State Prize

The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....

 (1951 and 1953).

Publications

Books Записки наркома (Narkom's Essays). Prepared for publication in 1960s, it was published in 1988 in Znamya

Znamya

Znamya is a Russian monthly magazine, which was established in Moscow in 1931. In 1931-1932, the magazine was published under the name of Lokaf...

magazine (Знамя, 1988:1-2)