Josef Kotin

Josef Yakovlevich Kotin (Russian: Жозеф Яковлевич Котин; 10 March 1908, Pavlograd, Russian Empire, now Ukraine - 21 October 1979, Moscow). Married to Nataliya Poklonova, who was an engineer with the RKKA UMM (Soviet army office of motorization and Mechanization). Kotin was a Soviet armor design engineer, Head of all three Leningrad armor design bureaux (1937–39), Chief Designer of the Narkomat for Tank Industry (1939-1941), Deputy Narkom for the tank industry of the Soviet Union (1941-1943), Director of the VNII-100 Research Institute at Kirov Plant, Deputy Defense Industry Minister of the Soviet Union 1968-1972. He is best known for leading the design of some of the Kliment Voroshilov tanks, IS tank family, T-10 tank, SU-152 self-propelled heavy howitzer, Kirovets K-700 tractor and many other armored vehicles and heavy machinery.

Josef Kotin received the title of Hero of Socialist Labour (1941), he was four time Stalin Prize winner (1941,1943,1946,1948).