It is generally accepted that the Soviet Union was good only at making military equipment and weapons, and also achieved high results in the space industry, but in terms of household goods it lagged far behind the West. In general, it is difficult to argue with this, since even Soviet cars were most often complete or partial copies of Western ones. However, few people know that the USSR had inventions that were widely distributed throughout the world, and we continue to use them to this day.
We still use some inventions from the USSR. Photo source: godliteratury.ru
Contents
- 1 Zippered boots — the result of the “thaw” between the USSR and the USA
- 2 Tetris — the development of a Soviet programmer
- 3 Synthetic rubber was first produced in the USSR
- 4 Sanatoriums appeared in the Soviet Union
- 5 The microwave oven was invented by a Soviet scientist
Zippered boots are the result of the “thaw” between the USSR and the USA
For many years, women have been wearing zippered boots and do not even realize that this invention belongs to the Soviet artist of the All-Union House of Fashion Models (ODMO), Vera Aralova. But perhaps she would never have invented these shoes if not for the “thaw” in relations between the USSR and the USA in the late 50s.
The Soviet Union at that time began to “open” its borders, thanks to which Soviet people could participate in various events abroad. For example, in 1959, “Russian Fashion Week” was held in Paris. On the eve of this event, Soviet artists racked their brains over how to impress the European public. Vera Aralova decided to use a lot of fur, bright Pavlovo Posad shawls and zip-up boots.
Zippered boots were first invented in the USSR. Photo source: marko.by
The boots for the Paris show were custom-made, and not at some shoe factory, but in the workshop of the Bolshoi Theater. At that time, there were no analogues to them in the world. However, the invention was not patented. Therefore, some time after the fashion show, the boots with zippers appeared on sale in France, and only 15 years later, Soviet fashionistas began to wear them.
Tetris – the development of a Soviet programmer
Tetris can be called “the game of all times and peoples”, since it continues to be played today all over the world. And those who have never played it should definitely play it, since Tetris is good for the psyche and even helps with PTSD. Earlier, we already said that the game was developed in 1984 by the Soviet programmer Alexey Pajitnov.
Tetris initially became popular in Moscow and then quickly spread around the world. However, as was often the case with Soviet inventions, the rights to release the game were effectively stolen. Therefore, Alexey Pajitnov received his first fee only in 1996, that is, more than 10 years after the release of Tetris.
Tetris was invented in 1984 by a Soviet programmer. Photo source: ru.rbth.com
It should be said that the USSR actively developed board games back in the mid-60s, and in this regard, Soviet programmers even surpassed their American colleagues. For example, the Soviet Union created one of the first chess programs that was able to defeat its American counterpart, developed at Stanford University.
Synthetic rubber was first produced in the USSR
Scientists in many countries were engaged in the synthesis of synthetic rubber, and quite successfully. However, it was in the USSR that Sergei Lebedev developed a technology that allowed synthetic rubber to be launched into mass production. Incidentally, this even influenced the course of the Great Patriotic War, since at some point the Soviet Union began to independently produce tires for cars and military equipment.
Tires are made of artificial rubber. Photo source: shina.guide
Until 1990, the USSR remained the world leader in the production of synthetic rubber. Nowadays, this material is used for a variety of purposes – for the manufacture of tires, shoe soles, all kinds of sealants and adhesives, as well as for many other household and industrial purposes.
Sanatoriums appeared in the Soviet Union
Sanatoriums cannot be fully called an invention of the USSR, since they existed before, but they were completely different and were not very popular. In the modern sense, sanatoriums, that is, large health resort systems, arose in the Soviet Union. They began to open to “support the health of workers.” For example, it is known that in 1929, the resorts of the USSR received more than 300 thousand people.
By the way, another USSR invention is connected with sanatoriums — oxygen cocktails. Foam in a glass was served in resorts for therapeutic purposes. Nowadays, such a cocktail can be drunk in some oxygen bar, for example, at a music festival with an ecological focus. Also, an oxygen-saturated drink continues to be provided to vacationers in modern sanatoriums in Russia.
Heating food with microwaves was also invented in the USSR. Photo source: kp.ru
The microwave oven was invented by a Soviet scientist
The microwave oven was patented in 1945 by the American engineer Percy Spencer. He noticed the ability of ultra-high-frequency radiation to heat food and filed a patent. What does the USSR have to do with it? The thing is that in the world, the copyright for a scientific discovery is assigned to the person who first announced his discovery in print.
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On June 13, 1941, the Trud newspaper published an article describing a device that uses ultra-high-frequency currents to process meat products. Such a device was developed in the magnetic wave laboratory of the All-Union Research Institute of the Meat Industry. True, unlike the inventions described above, the idea of a microwave oven was not implemented in the USSR, but it first appeared in the Land of Soviets.