Josef Abramovich Ringo () was a Russian scientist, inventor, writer.

Life and career

Josef Ringo was born in

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

in 1883. From 1905 until 1918 he studied and worked in both Switzerland and France. Ringo graduated from the Universities of Bern, Zurich and Nancy, received an education as an engineer and philosopher. He was fluent in five languages. In 1917 in Switzerland he published the book ''Jewish Question in its Historical Context and its Proposed Solution'' (). In the book, he analyzed the history of the so-called

Jewish question The Jewish question was a wide-ranging debate in 19th- and 20th-century Europe that pertained to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. The debate, which was similar to other " national questions", dealt with the civil, legal, national, ...

, and advocated the establishment of a

Jewish state In world politics, Jewish state is a characterization of Israel as the nation-state and sovereign homeland for the Jewish people. Overview Modern Israel came into existence on 14 May 1948 as a polity to serve as the homeland for the Jewi ...

In Switzerland Josef met

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

. Lenin invited Ringo to come to Moscow to take part in the plan of electrification of Moscow. From 1918 to 1922 he worked as the head of the electric department of Moscow and the Moscow region, provincial electrical engineer, then director of the electrical installation office of the Moscow

Sovnarkhoz Sovnarkhoz (, ''sovet narodnogo khozyaystva'', "Council of National Economy"), usually translated as Regional Economic Soviet, was an organization of the Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Sov ...

and the department of small-scale electrification of the

Supreme Soviet of the National Economy Supreme Soviet of the National Economy, Superior Soviet of the People's Economy, (Высший совет народного хозяйства, ВСНХ, ''Vysshiy sovet narodnogo khozyaystva'', VSNKh) was the superior state institution for mana ...

. Later he was employed as a worker in the chemical industry. In 1921 under Lenin's order Ringo managed to electrify the residence of Lenin in Gorki in an extremely short amount of time. Ringo patented a large number of inventions, including patents in the field of lightning protection.

References

Links

Lenin's archive. November 1920 (third decade).

Lenin's archive. April 1921 (second decade).

Lenin's archive. Январь 1921 (second decade til 22).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ringo, Josef 1883 births 1946 deaths Belarusian Jews Belarusian Zionists Scientists from Vitebsk People from Vitebsky Uyezd Russian Jews Russian Zionists Soviet inventors Soviet scientists Soviet writers