Scientists and doctors
Borys Paton
1918–2020
- Welding scientist
- Academy president
- Born in Kyiv
Kyiv-born son of Yevhen Paton who led the Electric Welding Institute for 67 years and Ukraine’s Academy of Sciences for 58; the first Hero of Ukraine.
Biography
Borys Paton was born in Kyiv in November 1918, the son of the bridge engineer and Kyiv Polytechnic professor Yevhen Paton. The family lived in a professors’ house on the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute campus, and it was at KPI that Borys qualified as an electrical engineer in 1941.
During the Second World War he worked with his father at the evacuated Electric Welding Institute on automatic welding of tank armour. Back in Kyiv he earned his doctorate (1952), and in 1953, after his father’s death, became director of the Electric Welding Institute — a post he held for the rest of his life, more than 67 years.
Welding everything
Under Paton the institute developed electroslag welding of thick metal, special electrometallurgy and technologies for pipelines and bridges. On 16 October 1969 the Kyiv-built “Vulkan” unit aboard Soyuz 6 performed the world’s first welding in space. Later he championed the welding of living soft tissue, a method that won Ukraine’s State Prize in 2004.
58 years at the head of the Academy
Elected president of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR in 1962, Paton stayed in office until his death, outliving the Soviet state and leading the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine for more than half a century. In 1998 he became the first person to receive the title Hero of Ukraine, having twice been named Hero of Socialist Labour (1969, 1978).
He died in Kyiv on 19 August 2020, aged 101, and was buried at Baikove Cemetery in his parents’ grave. A bronze bust has stood outside the National Museum of Natural History since 1982; in 2021 a statue was unveiled at KPI and a plaque on the Academy Presidium building at 54 Volodymyrska Street.
Life timeline
- 1918 Born in Kyiv Born into the family of Professor Yevhen Paton.
- 1941 KPI graduate Graduated from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
- 1953 Institute director Became head of the Electric Welding Institute.
- 1962 Academy president Elected president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.
- 1969 Welding in space The Vulkan unit worked aboard Soyuz 6.
- 1998 First Hero of Ukraine The first recipient of independent Ukraine’s highest title.
- 2020 Death Died in Kyiv on 19 August, aged 101.
Key achievements
- Electroslag welding A technology for joining very thick metal.
- Welding in space The world’s first experiment, Soyuz 6, 1969.
- Tissue welding A surgical method; State Prize of Ukraine, 2004.
- Academy of Sciences Led it from 1962 to 2020.
Kyiv in their life
- Kyiv Polytechnic Institute — where he grew up and studied (graduated 1941); statue of Borys Paton (2021).
- Paton Electric Welding Institute (11 Kazymyra Malevycha St) — director 1953–2020.
- Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences (54 Volodymyrska St) — Academy president 1962–2020; memorial plaque.
- Bronze bust outside the National Museum of Natural History (15 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho St), 1982.
- Baikove Cemetery — the Paton family grave.
Gallery
-
-
-
