The man and his gun

The post-war years in the Soviet Union saw a madcap drive towards establishing Russian `priority' in matters scientific and technological. Polzunov invented the steam engine, Kotelnikov the parachute, Mozhaisky the aeroplane, Popov the radio, Petrov the electric bulb, Lodygin the electric arc, Tsiolkovsky the rocket, the Cherepanovs the locomotive and so forth. And anyone disseminating information that disputed those historical facts had to be re-enlightened under the auspices of the State Administration for Camps. Though Russians are now allowed to know about James Watt, that drive hasn't ended, except that this time the rest of the world has been taken in as well. Hence we routinely credit the design of the AK-47 to a man who, though by all accounts decent and talented, didn't quite deserve the accolades. Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, the `K' in the family of weapons based on the original AK-47 rifle, died at the end of last year aged 94. The family that slays together, the Kalashnikovs have killed considerably more people than all WMDs combined, an achievement that made Kalashnikov a star in the firmament of armament design. As befits a star, his demise was eulogised in countless obituaries the world over.