Standardization chief who built the GOST system and laid the groundwork for ISO 9000
When Beria moved to carve up the aviation industry, Boytsov dug in. The industry survived intact — and he was demoted for it.
Born into a peasant family near Moscow, Boytsov trained as a welding specialist at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University and became an aviation engineer. During the war he served as chief engineer and factory director, handling field repair of aircraft on the front, and rose to Deputy Minister of the Aviation Industry in 1947, but was demoted after opposing Beria's plan to dismember the industry, a stand that preserved the integrity of Soviet aviation. As chairman of Gosstandart for 21 years from 1963, he modernized the GOST standards system and built a nationwide metrology and quality-control infrastructure. As ISO president (1977–1979), he recommended the development of what became the ISO 9000 series, now used by enterprises in 170 countries.
Career Timeline
- 1937–1940Engineer and shop chief at Aircraft Plant No. 39, Moscow
- 1940–1942Director of Aircraft Plant No. 130, Komsomolsk-on-Amur
- 1942–1943Chief engineer at Aircraft Plant No. 156, Moscow
- 1943–1944NKAP representative to the 17th Air Army, field aircraft repair
- 1944–1946Chief engineer at Aircraft Plant No. 292, Saratov (Yak-3 fighters)
- 1947Deputy Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR
- 1947–1963Director of the Research Institute of Aviation Technology (NIAT)
- 1963–1984Chairman of the USSR State Committee for Standards (Gosstandart)
- 1977–1979President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
- 1984–1997Head of department at Bauman MVTU, personal pensioner