On February 20, a round table dedicated to Volodymyr Khilchevskyi, a prominent Ukrainian scientist in the field of mechanical engineering technology, professor, and World War II soldier, was held in the Rare Books Room of the Denysenko Scientific and Technical Library. The meeting was organized by the staff of the E.O. Paton Institute of Materials Science and Welding and its Department of Laser Engineering and Physical and Technical Technologies, the State Polytechnic Museum and the KPI Scientific and Technical Library. The roundtable continued the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the scientist's birth, which our newspaper wrote about in #3-4 of January 25 this year.
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According to the head of the Department of Laser Engineering and Physical and Technical Technologies (LTFT) Oleksiy Kagliak, who moderated the roundtable, we should not forget about the contribution to science of Doctor of Technical Sciences, Academician of the Academy of Engineering Sciences of Ukraine V. Hilchevsky cannot be forgotten not only because of his scientific achievements, but also because of his admirable and admirable diligence and productivity: during the period of his heading the Department of Materials Resistance of KPI and eighteen years of heading the Department of Materials Science and Technology of Structural Materials (1973-1991), he managed to write more than 300 scientific papers, including 5 monographs, three textbooks, published an autobiographical story, compiled a Russian-Ukrainian dictionary of mechanical engineering and general engineering, etc. In addition, for more than 30 years he was the head of the preparatory department of the KPI and made great efforts to organize the KPI branches in Chernihiv and Zhytomyr.
Mykhailo Ilchenko, chairman of the Academic Council of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, said that in the near future a plaque in honor of Volodymyr Khilchevsky will appear on the Alley of Stars in front of the main university building. One of the classrooms of the E.O. Paton Institute of Mechanical Engineering will also be named after him.
The roundtable was introduced by a video film about some milestones in the history of KPI, interesting facts about the university's work before the Second World War, its post-war revival, the development of university infrastructure, and the establishment of KPI as a new type of higher education institution. In his comments to the film, Vitaliy Tatarchuk, head of the research department of the KPI History of the Borys Paton Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, linked a number of information about the university to the biography of V. Khilchevsky.
Probably the “warmest” part of the meeting was the vivid memories of Volodymyr Hilchevsky of his colleagues and students.
Professor Andriy Babenko of the Institute of MMI focused the participants' attention on certain traits of Volodymyr's character, in particular, his extraordinary ability to work and his talent for finding and supporting capable students. Managing methodological commissions at the Ministry of Higher Education of the Ukrainian SSR, whose task was to organize general technical faculties, introduce computers, programmed learning, publish methodological literature, educational films, etc. is not a complete list of V. Khilchevsky's achievements.
Vitaliy Dzhemelynsky, Professor of the Department of LTFT of the E.O. Paton Institute of IMZ, recalled how V. Khilchevsky participated in the renewal of the equipment of the foundry and welding production and training areas in the institute's workshops, the reorganization of the materials science laboratory, organized and conducted a scientific seminar at KPI for the heads of the departments of technologies for processing structural materials from all technical universities of the former USSR. Volodymyr Hilnyk's contribution to the process of introducing finishing technologies for machining parts at machine-building enterprises, creating a highly efficient technology for the manufacture and repair of parts for agricultural, forage and road machines was also significant - first at the facilities of the KPI training and production workshops, and later at machine-building enterprises of the former Soviet Union.
Viktor Romanenko, associate professor of the LTFT department, spoke about the integrity of V. Khilchevsky as the head of the department. Volodymyr Vasylovych was especially supportive of those students and young researchers who not only “gushed” with new ideas, but also offered technological solutions and joined the development and implementation of new technologies.
Anatoliy Svyatina, an engineer at the LTFT department, is grateful to V. Khilchevsky for his mentorship: Volodymyr Vasylovych helped him first as a master of industrial training, and later as an engineer.
And Yulia Ivanchenko, editor of the Summit Book publishing house, who was preparing for publication Volodymyr Hilchevsky's book of memoirs “Black Infantry. From Soldier to Academician, expressed confidence that the autobiographical story of the “black infantryman” V. Hilchevsky allowed readers to better understand the tragedy of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who in 1941 found themselves under Nazi occupation, and after the liberation, by order of the Soviet military leadership, untrained, almost unarmed and not dressed in military uniforms, the regular army was replenished as cannon fodder. Volodymyr Khilchevsky was among those who miraculously survived.
Finally, Volodymyr Khilchevsky's daughter, Tetiana Luhova, thanked the organizers and participants of the roundtable for remembering her father.