Genrich Altshuller
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Genrikh Saulovich Altshuller (Ге́нрих Сау́лович Альтшу́ллер) (October 15, 1926 - September 24, 1998) was born in Tashkent. He created the Theory of Solving Inventive Problems (TRIZ), in English called Theory of Inventive Problem Solving -- TIPS. Working as a clerk in a patent office, Altshuller embarked on finding some generic rules that would explain creation of new, inventive, patentable ideas. During one of the Stalin's purges he was imprisoned for political reasons and continued his studies with his fellow inmates while in a labor camp. After his release, Altshuller settled in Baku, Azerbaijan.
He worked as a publicist, essayist, and a science fiction writer. He published his stories under the pseudonym Genrikh Altov (Генрих Альтов) and together with his wife, Valentina Zhuravleva.
A full-fledged TRIZ movement developed among Russian engineers and other technically inclined people by the 1970s, and Altshuller played the role of its intellectual leader. He lectured at TRIZ congresses, published articles and books and corresponded with various TRIZ practitioners. He became the founding member and the president of the Russian TRIZ Association. A number of his close friends and students have become the most prominent thinkers and teachers of the movement, popularizing TRIZ in Russia and abroad.
For a long time he published articles on TRIZ, with examples and exercises, in a popular, but technically very sound Soviet magazine Izobretatel i Ratsionalizator (Inventor and ).
Altshuller left Baku in early 1990s amidst post-Soviet-breakup violence in the area. He settled in Petrozavodsk (in north-eastern Russia) with his wife and granddaughter. As a result, Petrozavodsk became the center of the TRIZ Association.
He died in 1998 because of Parkinsonism complications.
TRIZ
The tools developed under Altshuller's leadership are:
- 40 Inventive Principles 1946-1971,
- ARIZ 1959-1985,
- Separation Principles 1946-1985,
- Substance-Field Analysis (Su-Field Analysis) 1973-1981,
- 77 Standard Solutions 1977-1985,
- Natural Effects (Scientific Effects) 1970-1980,
- Patterns of Evolution 1975-1980...
The different schools for TRIZ and individual practitioners have continued to improve and add to the methodology.
External link
- Full Biography (http://www.altshuller.ru/biography/)de:Genrich Saulowitsch Altschuller