Robert Klasson

Robert Artur Eduardovich Klasson (; ; , Kyiv – 11 February 1926, Moscow) was a Russian and Soviet electrical engineer, energy specialist, and inventor. A student of Vladimir Chikolev and Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, Klasson played a pioneering role in the electrification of Russia, including the construction of the country's first three-phase power stations and his participation in the development of the GOELRO plan for nationwide electrification.

Early life and education Klasson's grandfather Ernest Klassohn was a free, apparently Germanized Swede. His father Eduard Klassohn was born in 1829 in Jakobstadt in the Courland Governorate, became a pharmacist, and remained a foreigner in the Russian Empire throughout his life. His mother was Anna Karlovna.

Klasson entered the 1st Kyiv Gymnasium at the age of eight. In 1886, he began studies at the Technological Institute in Saint Petersburg, graduating in 1891. Following graduation, he undertook an internship in Germany. He was a participant in the 1893-1895 Saint Petersburg circle of Marxists that included Vladimir Lenin, Krupskaya, Alexander Potresov, Pyotr Struve, and others. He later withdrew from political activities.

Career From 1893 to 1897, Klasson worked at the Okhta Powder Works near Saint Petersburg. From 1895 to 1896, he directed the construction of Russia's first three-phase alternating current power station for the factory.

On 9 March 1900, Klasson concluded his first contract with local Azerbaijani contractors Haji Alijan and Mir Ismail for roadwork on the construction site. His primary responsibility was overseeing construction of a large power station in White City, an industrial district of Baku. The project included a main building housing machine and boiler halls, worker barracks and housing for technical personnel, workshops and warehouses, and an overhead transmission line extending approximately 8 versts (8.5 km) to the oil fields of Balakhany and Sabunchi. The station was designed to accommodate 16 steam boilers, comprising 13 Babcock-type and 3 Cornish-type boilers. He was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, in section No. 1, second row. His second wife Evgenia Nikolaevna Klasson (1875-1952) and son Ivan Robertovich Klasson (1899-1991) are buried alongside him.

A monument to Robert Klasson has stood on the station square in Elektrogorsk since 2014. The GRES-3 power station and streets in Mirny and Ozyorny, as well as the settlement of Klasson, bear his name. An obituary in the Journal of the Association of German Engineers honored him as "the most important electrical engineer in Russia."

Family Klasson was married to Sofya Ivanovna Klasson (née Motozilova, 1863-1912). Their children included:

Sofya Robertovna Klasson (1892-1930), daughter Tatyana Robertovna Svechanskaya (née Klasson, 1896-1943), daughter Ivan Robertovich Klasson (1899-1991), son, electrical engineer Yekaterina Robertovna Klasson (1901-1980), daughter, artist, art historian, and translator who married the poet Valentin Parnakh Pavel Robertovich Klasson (1904-1944), son

Klasson's sister Ella Eduardovna was married to court councillor Pyotr Pavlovich Alexandrov, justice of the peace in Tarashcha, Kyiv Governorate. Their son Anatoly Alexandrov (1903-1994) became one of the Soviet Union's leading nuclear physicists, three-time Hero of Socialist Labor (1954, 1960, 1973), and President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1975-1986).

Works

Klasson, R. E., Chikolev, V. N., & Tyurin, V. A. (1891). Осветительная способность прожекторов электрического света [The illuminating capacity of electric light projectors]. Part 1. Saint Petersburg. Klasson, R. E., Chikolev, V. N., & Tyurin, V. A. (1895). Осветительная способность прожекторов электрического света [The illuminating capacity of electric light projectors]. Part 2. Saint Petersburg. Klasson, R. E. (1897). Электрическая передача силы трехфазными токами на Охтенских пороховых заводах близ Санкт-Петербурга [Electric power transmission by three-phase currents at the Okhta Powder Works near Saint Petersburg]. Saint Petersburg. Klasson, R. E., Kirpichnikov, V. D., Stadnikov, G. L., et al. (1923). Гидроторф [Hydroturf]. Book 1. Moscow. Klasson, R. E., Kirpichnikov, V. D., Stadnikov, G. L., et al. (1927). Гидроторф [Hydroturf]. Book 2, Parts 1-4. Moscow.