Mikhail Kalashnikov

Also known as Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov

Soviet and Russian small arms designer (1919–2013)

AI overview

Mikhail Kalashnikov was a Soviet and Russian weapons designer best known for creating the AK-47 rifle, one of the most widely used firearms in the world. His design became historically significant because it was simple, reliable, and affordable to manufacture, making it influential in military and civilian contexts globally.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Works: 3

Top works

Gun That Changed the World
The gun that changed the world
From A Stranger's Doorstep To The Kremlin Gates - A Word From The Ak Man

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Group
Origin: Italy
Active from: 1996

italymilanpunkromantic punk

Discography

Romantic Songs of Dissidence2000
Rebels of the Neon Gods2004
Music Is a Gun Loaded With Future2005
Dreams for Super-Defeated Heroes2007
Angoscia rock2008
Living in a Psycho-Chaos Era2010
Vampirizzati oggi2011
La città dell’ultima paura2012
Come il soffitto di una chiesa bombardata2014
L’algebra morente del cielo2015

Official site Discogs

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 22
Total plays: 45

via Last.fm · Mikhail Kalashnikov

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

SciPy 1.0: fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python
· 2020 · cited 36,382x
SPAdes: A New Genome Assembly Algorithm and Its Applications to Single-Cell Sequencing
· 2012 · cited 24,556x
A global reference for human genetic variation
· 2015 · cited 17,753x
Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
· 2020 · cited 15,936x
Global Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases and Risk Factors, 1990–2019
· 2020 · cited 10,202x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“I'm proud of my invention, but I'm sad that it is used by terrorists. … I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work — for example a lawnmower.”
“I sleep well. It's the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence.”
“Blame the Nazi Germans for making me become a gun designer … I always wanted to construct agriculture machinery.”
“When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, "All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed" ... So this has been my lifetime motto – I have been creating weapons to defend the borders of my fatherland, to be simple and reliable.”
“Whenever I look at TV and I see the weapon I invented to defend my motherland in the hands of these bin Ladens, I ask myself the same question: "How did it get into their hands?" I didn't put it in the hands of bandits and terrorists, and it's not my fault that it has mushroomed uncontrollably across the globe. Can I be blamed that they consider it the most reliable weapon?”
“I was in the hospital, and a soldier in the bed beside me asked: "Why do our soldiers have only one rifle for two or three of our men, when the Germans have automatics?" So I designed one. I was a soldier, and I created a machine gun for a soldier. It was called an Avtomat Kalashnikova, the automatic weapon of Kalashnikov — AK — and it carried the date of its first manufacture, 1947.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Mikhail
Gender: male
Citizenship: Russia
Place of birth: Kurya
Place of death: Izhevsk
Child: Victor Kalashnikov
Occupation: bladesmith
Political party: United Russia
Languages spoken: Russian
Native language: Russian
Religion: Eastern Orthodox Church
Notable work: AKM
Field of work: small arms
Conflict: Eastern Front
Military branch: Russian Armed Forces
Military rank: Sergeant
Image: Michael Kalashnikov.jpg
Number of children: 4
Work location: Almaty

Show 11 more facts

Commons category: Mikhail Kalashnikov
date of death: 2013-12-23
date of birth: 1919-11-10
place of burial: Federal Military Memorial Cemetery
cause of death: pulmonary embolism
manner of death: natural causes
member of: Union of Writers of Russia
allegiance: Russia
topic's main category: Category:Mikhail Kalashnikov
name in native language: Михаил Тимофеевич Калашников
start of work period: 1938-00-00

Sources (8)

via Wikidata · CC0

~15 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov (10 November 1919 – 23 December 2013) was a Soviet and Russian lieutenant general, inventor, military engineer, writer, and small arms designer. He is most famous for developing the AK-47 assault rifle and its improvements, the AKM and AK-74, as well as the RPK light machine gun and PK machine gun.

Kalashnikov was, according to himself, a self-taught tinkerer who combined innate mechanical skills with the study of weaponry to design arms that achieved battlefield ubiquity. Even though Kalashnikov felt sorrow at the weapons' uncontrolled distribution, he took pride in his inventions and in their reputation for reliability, emphasizing that his rifle is "a weapon of defense" and "not a weapon for offense".

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mikhail Kalashnikov” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.