Yury Lomonosov

Yury Vladimirovich Lomonosov (; 24 April 1876 – 19 November 1952) was a Russian railway engineer and a leading figure in the development of Russian Railways in the early 20th century. He was best known for design and construction of the world's first operationally successful mainline diesel locomotive, the E el-2. This was completed in 1924 and went into service in 1925. In the late 1920s, Lomonosov immigrated to Europe and later became a British citizen.

In his homeland, he is best known for being a member of the Bolshevik Party, during the February Revolution, stopping the Tsar's Train heading to Tsarskoe Selo. This predicted the abdication of the throne, the end of the monarchical Russian Empire and the victory of the revolution.

Early years Lomonosov was born in 1876 in Gzhatsk (now Gagarin), a town in Smolensk Oblast of Russia. His father Vladimir Grigorievich Lomonosov was a former cavalry officer who worked as a judge since 1870. His mother Maria Fedorovna Lomonosova (née Pegelau) was a housewife known for establishing a public library.

In 1887 following the family tradition, Lomonosov entered the Moscow 1st Cadet Corps. However, he then decided to abandon his military career in favor of engineering. In 1893 Lomonosov passed the entrance exam and started his studies at the St. Petersburg Institute of Communications. After graduation, he worked at Kharkiv Locomotive Plant and then, in October 1898, became assistant director of the depot of the Kharkiv-Mykolaiv railways. In 1898 he started designing and testing locomotives which became the occupation of his life. In 1899 he was offered a teaching position at the Warsaw Polytechnic Institute where he taught a course on the theory and management of locomotives. In the meantime, the Russian Ministry of Communications approved him for the position of Inspector of the Russian State and Private Railways. They had a son Yuri who was born in Nikopol and worked most of his life in Britain.

During this time, Lomonosov did not stop his engineering and scientific activities. From 1923 to 1924 he took on a task of creating the first Russian diesel engine with electric transmission. Using his administrative skills, Lomonosov assembled a creative team of engineers and scientists who managed to design and build a prototype as early as in Spring 1924. The locomotive passed all State tests and examinations and in February 1925 was officially listed under number Юэ 001 at the Soviet railways. Although several other prototype designs were constructed much earlier and in different countries, this locomotive is considered as the world's first operationally successful mainline diesel locomotive.