Valeriya Golubtsova

Golubtsova was born in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a teacher in the Cadet Corps, State Councilor Alexei Golubtsov (1852–1924), and Olga Nevzorova, who was a member of an old noble family.

Nevzorova's older sisters were the famous "Nevzorov sisters" (Zinaida, Sophia, and Augustine) — Vladimir Lenin's comrades-in-arms in Marxist circles back in the 1890s.

Zinaida married Gleb Кrzhizhanovky in 1899, who in the 1920s headed the GOELRO Commission.

The Golubtsov family raised five children: Lyudmila, Valeriya, Roman, Vyacheslav (later Professor of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, corresponding member of the Аcademy of Sciences of the Soviet Union), and Elena.

Valeriya Alexeyevna Golubtsova (15 May 1901 in Nizhny Novgorod — 1 October 1987 in Moscow) was a scientist who was the director of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute from 1943 to 1952.

She was the wife of Georgy Malenkov.

In 1917, Golubtsova graduated from a gym in Nizhny Novgorod, and then did library courses.

Since 1920, during the Russian Civil War, she worked as a librarian on the Turkestan Front, and in the agit-train of the cavalry brigade, she met the Commissar, Georgy Malenkov.

In 1920, she married him (though without official registration until her death, and the preservation of her maiden name) and joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

After moving to Moscow in 1921, Golubtsova got a job at the Organizing Department of the Central Committee at got a separate room in the Loskutnaya Hotel on Тverskaya Street— the center of the Moscow Communist bohemia.

Malenkov then entered the Bauman Moscow State Technical University (the couple decided to graduate one-by-one).

From 1928 to 1930, she worked as a standardizer at the Moscow Metallurgical Plant.

In 1930, at the direction of the party organization, Golubtsova entered the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, where, as a student, she took the post of Secretary of the Institute Organization of the CPSU.

After graduating in 1934, she worked as an engineer at the Dynamo Plant until 1936.

In 1936, she entered the graduate school of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, but was interrupted in 1938 due to giving birth to two sons.

During the Great Patriotic War, from 1941 to 1942, Golubtsova was evacuated with her family to Samara, where she worked as an instructor in the Samara Regional Committee of the CPSU, responsible for the aviation and electrical industries.

For the work con commissioning the evacuated factories at a rapid pace, general quarters, and start-up of enterprises, and fulfillment of the plan at all costs, Golubtsova was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.

In 1942, she returned to Moscow.

On 3 June 1943, Golubtsova, an assistant at the Department of Cable Engineering, was appointed director of the Moscow Order of Lenin of the V.M. Molotov Power Engineering Institute.

She was the director of the university until 4 January 1952.

Beginning to lead the MPEI, Golubtsova knew the institute well, since she herself graduated from it, studied at its graduate school, and, during her studies, was repeatedly elected to the party bureau of the institute.

She knew the teaching staff, the party, Komsomol, trade union activists, the traditions, and the material base of the institute.

Consequently, she held considerable renown within the inner circles of the country's foremost party and state officials, as well as the leadership of the electric and thermal power industry, among which were MPEI graduates Alexei Pavlenko, Dmitry Zhimerin, and Аnatoly Petrakovsky.

In the position of the director of the institute, Golubtsova did a lot to expand the institute and increase its scientific potential.

Those who knew her at work noted her ability to see the future and the ability to organize people to solve tasks.

According to Boris Chertok's memoirs about Golubtsova during the Great Patriotic War:

She assumed full responsibility, removed the confused director from the leadership, and organized, as far as possible, a normal evacuation and then the continuation of the educational activities of the institute in a new place.

After the war, Golubtsova, as director, showed exceptional activity in the construction of new educational buildings, a pilot plant, the expansion of the laboratory and research base, the construction of a palace of culture, a hostel and residential buildings for professors and teachers.

Largely thanks to her energy, combined with her proximity to the highest authorities of the country, a whole town of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute grew up in the area of Krasnokazarmennaya Street.

She generously endowed her with organizational talent.

The inherent sensitivity found in individuals helped her to unite the efforts of all scientists of the institute with a minimum of contradictions.

In any case, the solid MPEI professorship supported the director in all her activities.

The work of Golubtsova as director was highly appreciated by her colleagues.

Professor R.G. Romanov stated:

Valeria Alekseyevna's place is among the most prominent MPEI figures.

In my opinion, after the creator of the MPEI, Karl Krug, Valeria Alekseyevna Golubtsova is in second place in terms of importance, in terms of the weight of all her daily work.

Professor A.N. Starostin stated:

I saw in her not only a beautiful intelligent woman, a scientist, and a leader, but also a loving mother, for whom the success and happiness of children is the most important thing in life.

Academician Alexander Sheindlin stated: