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'Chelyabinsk' () is a Russian city just to the east of the Ural Mountains, on Miass River, at to . It is the administrative center of Chelyabinsk Oblast. Population: 1,077,174 (2002 Census). It is served by Chelyabinsk Balandino Airport.

Contents

History

Famous People from Chelyabinsk

Education

Economy

External links

History

Fortress Chelyaba, from which the city takes its name, was constructed on the site in 1736; the city was incorporated in 1781. Around 1900, it served as a center for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
During the Soviet industrialization of the 1930s, Chelyabinsk experienced a fast growth. Several industrial establishments, including the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant and the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, were built at this time. During World War II, Joseph Stalin decided to move a large part of Soviet factory production to places out of the way of the advancing German armies in late 1941. This brought new industries and thousands of workers to Chelyabinsk—still essentially a small city. Several enormous facilities for the production of T-34 tanks and Katyusha rocket launchers existed in Chelyabinsk, which became known as "'Tankograd'" (Tank City). Chelyabinsk was built essentially from scratch at this time. A small town existed before this, signs of which can be found in the centre of the city. The S.M. Kirov Factory no. 185 moved here from Leningrad to produce heavy tanks—it was transferred to Omsk after 1962.

A serious nuclear accident in 1957 at the Mayak nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, 150 km north-west of the city, caused deaths in Chelyabinsk Oblast but not in the city.

Famous People from Chelyabinsk

★ Sergei Makarov - former Traktor Chelyabinsk, CSKA Moscow, Soviet national team, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, and Dallas Stars hockey player. One of the greatest players in the history of International Hockey, "M" in the famous KLM line of the late 70s - early 80s (together with Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov)

★ Sergei Babinov and Sergei Starikov- 2 former USSR national team defencemen.

★ Viacheslav (Slava) Bykov - former Traktor Chelyabinsk, CSKA Moscow and Soviet national team hockey player. Since August 10, 2006 - head coach of the Russian national hockey team

★ Dimitri Kalinin - Buffalo Sabres Ice Hockey Player

★ Sergei Gonchar - Pittsburgh Penguins Ice Hockey Player

★ Eugene Roshal - Developer of the WinRAR compression utility

★ Andrei Nazarov - former Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Calgary Flames, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes player of the National Hockey League. Currently employed as a head coach of Traktor Chelyabinsk

★ Viktor Khristenko - politician, the Industry and Energy Minister since March 9, 2004. Prior to that, held a number of government posts, including a brief stint in 2004 as an acting Prime Minister (from February, 24 to March, 5)

Education

There are over a dozen universities in Chelyabinsk. The main ones are South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk State University and Chelyabinsk Medical Academy. The oldest one is Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical University, which was founded in 1934.

Economy

Chelyabinsk is one of the major industrial centers of Russia. Heavy industry predominates, especially metallurgy and military machinery, notably the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Combinate (CMK, ChMK), Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (CTZ, ChTZ), Chelyabinsk Electrode plant (CHEZ) and the Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (CHTPZ).
Chelyabinsk also has several electronics plants, including "Metran", "Polet" and "Zavod Electromashina", that serve both military and civil needs.
== Chelyabinsk Metro ==
Chelyabinsk started production of a 3-line subway network in 1993. Construction is proceeding slowly using the New Austrian Tunnelling method. Pending financing, the opening of the first section is scheduled for 2010.

External links

★ Chelyabinsk's website

★ A map of Chelyabinsk's location at MultiMap.com

★ A satellite image of Chelyabinsk. Note the polluted areas in the northern part (from a steel factory) and in the southern part (from the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant and a power station).

★ Chelyabinsk for travelers Sights of Chelyabinsk and Chelyabinsk region

★ Chelyabinsk telephone directory