USSR State Prize

The USSR State Prize (Russian:Госуда́рственная пре́мия СССР) was the Soviet Union's highest civilian honour. It was established on September 9 1966.

During 1940—1954 the State Stalin Prize (Государственная Сталинская премия), usually called Stalin Prize, existed. (Some sources give an incorrect termination date of 1952) It essentially played the same role, therefore upon the establishment of the USSR State Prize the diplomas and badges of the recipients of Stalin Prize were changed to that of USSR State Prize.

USSR State Prize of 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees was awarded annually individuals in the fields of science, mathematics, literatature, arts, and architecture to honour the most prominent achievements which either advanced the Soviet Union or the cause of socialism. Often the prize was awarded to specific works rather than to individuals.

Each constituent Soviet republic also had the State Prize (resp. Stalin Prize).

The Stalin Prize was a different honour than the Stalin Peace Prize which was created in 1947 and was usually awarded to foreign recipients rather than to Soviet citizens.

It should also not to be confused with the Lenin Prize.

Recipients of the State Stalin Prize in science and engineering by year

1941

• Andrey Kolmogorov: mathematics
• Sergei Sobolev: mathematics
• Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov: for aircraft design

1942

• Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov: mathematics

1943

• Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov: physics
• Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich: 2nd degree, physics – for works on combustion and detonation
• Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov: for aircraft design

1946

• Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov: physics
• Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov: physics

1949

• Mikhail Kalashnikov: engineering
• Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich: 1st degree, physics – for special works

1950

• Dmitri Skobeltsyn (Дмитрий Владимирович Скобельцын ), physics

1951

• Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov: physics
• Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich: 1st degree, physics – for special works

1952

• Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov: physics
• Leon Theremin: science for inventing eavesdropping equipment
• Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov: physics

1953

• Vitaly Ginzburg: 1st degree, physics
• Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich: 1st degree, physics – for special works

1954

• Andrei Sakharov: 1st degree, physics
• Strela computer: 1st degree, ( V. Alexandrov, Yu. Bazilevsky, D. Zhuchkov, I. Lygin, G. Markov, B. Melnikov, G. Prokudayev, B. Rameyev, N. Trubnikov, A. Tsygankin, Yu. Shcherbakov, L. Larionova (Александров В. В., Базилевский Ю. Я., Жучков Д. А., Лыгин И. Ф., Марков Г. Я., Мельников Б. Ф., Прокудаев Г. М., Рамеев Б. И., Трубников Н. Б., Цыганкин А. П., Щербаков Ю. Ф., Ларионова Л.А.))
• Igor Tamm: physics
• Igor Kurchatov: physics

Recipients of the State Stalin Prize in arts by year