Image: Ivan Yegiazarov
Today, a four-story residential building located at 9 Mashtots (formerly Lenin) Avenue in Yerevan is listed as a cultural heritage monument of Armenia. Built in 1939, it was originally intended for the employees of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (which, until 1943, was the Armenian branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR).
Famous scientists, academicians, and artists lived in this building. In 1971, in his apartment located in this building, robbers brutally murdered Ivan Yegiazarov, the Armenian Soviet hydroelectric engineer, Doctor of Technical Sciences (1935), professor, and academician of theAcademy of Sciences (1943)...
Ivan Yegiazarov was born on January 6, 1893, possibly in Armenia. According to some sources, his father, Vasily Yegiazarov, a merchant of the first guild, later moved to Tiflis, where he was involved in the trade of ironmongery.
Ivan spent his childhood in his father's home in Tiflis, at 14 Shalva Dadiani Street. Vasily and his wife, Maria Davydovna had ten children, though two of them died from typhoid fever in infancy.
A large family once went on vacation to Paris, traveling to the French capital by ship. During the journey, a young Frenchman approached Maria Davydovna, knelt before her, and expressed his deepest respect and admiration for such a ‘feat’.
In 1906, the family’s father passed away, and the responsibility of caring for the children fell to Maria Davydovna. A graduate of the Institute of Noble Maidens, she was highly educated, well-mannered, and spoke several languages. But her greatest merit was her boundless kindness.
Before the arrival of Soviet power, the Yegiazarov household was lively and hospitable. A cook named Suliko lived on the second floor, and one of the brothers, Bogdan, was a diplomat serving at the French mission in Tiflis. The family hosted festivities and celebrations almost every day.
Well, then the power shifted, and Bogdan sailed from Tiflis with the French mission. Two ships departed from Batumi that day – one carrying the authorities, and the other with emigrating intellectuals, members of the bourgeoisie, and ordinary citizens.
Bogdan left Georgia with his wife, a woman of extraordinary beauty. During World War II, he joined the French Resistance.
Another brother, Ivan, also left Tiflis to pursue his studies in St. Petersburg. He enrolled at the Electrotechnical Institute, where he became a student of Heinrich Grafito. Ivan was actively involved in the work of the GOELRO commission, serving as an expert on the management of the Dnieper hydroelectric power plant project. He also contributed to the design of several hydroelectric stations, including those at Volkhov, Svirskaya, and Zoraget.
In 1928, after taking charge of the design and construction of the DzoraHPP, Grafito invited Yeghiazarov to Armenia, where he was appointed chief engineer of the project.
Ivan Yeghiazarov became a renowned Soviet hydropower engineer. Later, one of his sisters moved in with him to Leningrad. When World War II began, Yegiazarov’s family was relocated to Central Asia. During that time scientists, actors, researchers were evacuated.
However, Ivan was unable to take his sister out of Leningrad, and she remained in the besieged city. After the war, Ivan returned to Leningrad before eventually moving to Yerevan.
He was a professor in the Department of Hydropower Plants at the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute, head of the Department of Water Energy Use at the Karl Marx Polytechnic Institute in Yerevan, and director of the USSR Hydropower Institute. His research focused on hydropower engineering, hydraulic modeling, unstable currents, and the movement of reservoirs.
Yegiazarov also was one of the a founders and an honorary member of the International Association for Hydraulic Research, a corresponding member of the Toulouse Academy (France), and an honorary doctor of the University of Budapest.
He was elected as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for its 2nd convocation and was awarded the Order of Lenin.
In the final years of his life, he resided in Yerevan on Lenin Avenue, in the House of Academicians. He did not have any children of his own and lived alone.
…In 1971, news broke that the body of the academician had been found in his apartment, showing signs of torture. The investigation revealed that robbers had fraudulently gained entry to the apartment of the elderly man. They brutally beat and killed him, stealing all the valuables from the apartment.
Thus, at the age of 78, the renowned scientist – who had been the first chief engineer and one of the key designers of the DzoraHPP – tragically died in his apartment in the House of Academicians.
Source: ECTI
Image: Ivan Yegiazarov