Activities to be held in Moscow to mark 150th birthday anniversary of engineer Vassily Shukhov

The anniversary international scientific-practical conference Engineer's Art in the Development of Civilisation will be held in Moscow on October 8-9, 2003. It is timed to the 150th birth anniversary of outstanding Russian engineer Vassily Shukhov (1853-1939), the press centre of the Moscow Mayor's Office and government reported.

The ordinance of the government of Moscow, signed by mayor of the city Yuri Luzhkov, stresses that this forum will be held under the aegis of UNESCO jointly with the International Union of Scientific and Engineering Public Associations, the Russian Union of Scientific Organisations, the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Industry and Science of Russia, and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

An exhibition will be held simultaneously with the conference to mark the signal date. The organising committee of the forum is headed by the mayor of Moscow.

Honorary member of the Soviet Union Academy of Sciences Vassily Grigoryevich Shukhov is known as the author of many technical and architectural constructions distinguished by boldness of decisions, novelty and practical character. The 148.3-metre-high aerial tower situated in Shabolovka is his best-known creation in Moscow. The tower, built under the direction of Shukhov according to his design in 1919-1922, was the highest structure in the country at that time. From the year of 1922 it was used for radio broadcasting, and from 1957 - for telecasting.