Mikhail Kalashnikov
Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov (Russian: Михаил Тимофеевич Калашников; born 10 November 1919) is a Russian small arms designer, most famous for developing the AK-47, AKM, and AK-74 assault rifles.
Kalashnikov was born in Kurya, Kuryinsky District, Altai Krai, Russia, to Aleksandra Frolovna Kalashnikova (née Kaverina) and Timofey Aleksandrovich Kalashnikov. His father was deported in 1930, that is, most of his family was deprived of property and deported to Siberia, to the village of Nizhnyaya Mokhovaya, Tomsk Oblast.[5][6] In his youth, Mikhail suffered from various illnesses and was on the verge of death at age six.[4] He was attracted to all kinds of machinery,[5] but also wrote poetry, dreaming of becoming a poet.[7] He went on to write six books and has continued to write poetry all of his life.[6][8] Kalashnikov's parents were peasants, but after deportation to Siberia had to combine farming with hunting, and thus Mikhail frequently used his father's rifle in his teens. He has since continued hunting through his 90s.
Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1949
Kalashnikov's first rifle