Nikolai Baibakov
Nikolai Konstantinovich Baibakov (; 6 March 1911 – 31 March 2008) was a Soviet statesman and economist who served as Minister of Oil Industry from 1944–1956 and 1948–1955, and Chairman of the State Planning Committee from 1955–1957 and 1965–1985. He was awarded a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1981. Biography Born in Sabunchu, near Baku, Russian Empire, Baibakov finished secondary school in 1928 and entered the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute, from which he graduated in 1931 as a mining engineer, and worked for the oil industry in Azerbaijan. In 1935, he was drafted into the armed forces, in the Far East. After completing his military service, in January 1937, he returned to Azerbaijan and received rapid promotion during the Great Purge. After a few months, he was appointed chief of the oilfield production department in Azerbaijan, then in January 1938, was transferred to Kuibyshev (Samara) as head of the association for oil production in east Russia. In 1940-44, he was Deputy People's Commissar for Oil under Lazar Kaganovich. In 1941-42, Baibakov was responsible for evacuating oil industry facilities from Baku, Kuban and the North Caucasus to the eastern regions during the Nazi invasion. He was in Tuapse just before