Mechanical engineer, scientist, teacher. On the occasion of centenary of the birth of I.A. Birger

Isaac Aronovich Birger created a scientific school that had a great impact on the development of Russian aircraft and rocket engine construction, as well as on the training of top-qualification academic personnel. In 1946 I.A. Birger entered Central Institute of Aviation Motors named after P.I. Baranov where he worked for nearly 50 years, passing all the stages – from engineer to the Head of the Department of Strength and the Deputy Head of the Institute. His main scientific and engineering efforts were inextricably connected with the problems of ensuring strength of aircraft and rocket engines. We can distinguish three main directions in I.A. Birger’s scientific activities: 1) investigation in the area of mechanics of deformable bodies determining the strength of parts in new operating conditions; 2) development of general numerical methods of calculating stress and strain in structures; 3) development of methods of calculating strength and oscillations of engine parts with wide use of the results of investigation in the first two directions. The main feature of I.A. Birger’s approach to solving engineering problems consisted in the development of engineering solutions based on consistent application of theoretical methods of mechanics and applied mathematics for vital practical tasks determining the working capacity of a wide variety of structures.