Ruzhansky Semen Davidovich (1931)

Ruzhansky Semen Davidovich (1931, Vinnytsia, Ukrainian SSR) — design engineer and publicist.

After evacuation, in 1945 Semen Ruzhansky moved with his family to Riga, where he completed secondary school and later, in 1954, graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics of the Latvian State University.

He worked as a foreman and later as a senior engineer at a design institute. In 1959–1991 he worked at the Special Design Bureau “Orgtekhstrom” (SPKB) as chief electrician, head of the automation department, and chief designer. At the same time, from 1959 to 1991, he taught at the Faculty of Power Engineering of the Riga Polytechnic Institute. In 1978 he received the degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences.

He is recognized as an expert in the field of automation systems. Under his leadership a complex of mechanisms and measuring instruments was developed for the automation of a fundamentally new method of drying large ceramic products such as bricks and drainage pipes. The technical solutions he developed were successfully implemented at 18 building-materials plants in the USSR. Some of the mechanisms he designed, including multi-channel programmable temperature regulators, entered serial production.

The equipment complex developed under his direction was awarded a Gold Medal at the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh), while individual technical solutions received silver and bronze medals.

Ruzhansky is the author or co-author of more than 30 inventions and four patents. His principal technical achievements were presented in 115 publications in scientific and technical journals and in two books edited by him:

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Complex Automation of Tunnel Dryer Operation Modes (Leningrad, 1975)

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Methods of Intensifying the Drying of Coarse Ceramics at Enterprises of the Ministry of Construction Materials Industry (Riga, 1975)

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He was also a member of the editorial board of the journal “Stroitel’nye Materialy” (Building Materials).

In 1992 he emigrated to the United States. After emigrating he devoted himself entirely to journalistic and publicistic work in Russian-language media in the United States, Israel, and Russia. For more than ten years he contributed to the Russian-language edition of the oldest Jewish newspaper in America, “Forverts”, where he wrote several regular columns. He also published in the journal “Korni” and the newspapers “Jewish World,” “Panorama,” “Novoe Russkoe Slovo,” and “Courier,” among others. He collaborated with the popular online journal of E. Berkovich, Notes on Jewish History.

In total he published about 300 articles and interviews. He served as a member of the Citizens’ Council at the Department of Social Services of Rochester (Monroe County, New York) and as a member of the immigrant affairs commission of the Jewish Federation of that county.