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Barys Kit (April 6, 1910 – February 1, 2018) was a Belarusian-American rocket scientist.
After graduation from the Navahrudak Lyceum in 1928, Kit entered the physics and mathematics faculty of Vilnius University. After graduation in 1933 he worked as a teacher at the Belarusian Gymnasium of Vilnia in Vilnius. In 1939 he was appointed its Principal. After World War II had begun and the Vilnius Region had been handed over to Lithuania, Kit returned to his native region which had been joined to the Byelorussian SSR. He was the Principal of Navahrudak Belarusian High School there and later a superintendent of a large school system district. Hundreds of elementary schools and several dozen high schools were opened in the region within a year due to Kit's direct participation. Barys Kit Biography Archives of Belarus
Kit worked as a teacher in the village of Lebedzeva near Maladzyechna and later as a director of the Pastavy Teachers College during the Nazi occupation of Belarus. He was suspected of having partisan connections and was arrested by the Germany SD punitive bodies. He spent a month in prison and was saved from execution by his former pupils.
In 1944, Kit and his family, with the retreating German army moved to Germany, first to Opfenbach near Lindau in Bavaria, then to Munich. Boris Kit: Ein Jahrhundertleben In 1948 Kit emigrated to the United States. In 1950 he settled in Los Angeles and worked there as a chemist in various companies.
In the mid-1950s Kit began his scientific activities in the field of astronautics. He worked for 25 years in the American space research program. As a mathematician and systems analyst, he took part in projects aimed at the development of intercontinental missile systems. Kit took part in multiple American space research projects, including the development of the mathematical apparatus behind the moon landing. In 1972 Kit moved to Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany and decided to pursue a career in Europe. He began teaching mathematics at the European College of the University of Maryland at Heidelberg in 1973, where he started a thesis on the work of mathematician and professor at Vilnius University Antoni Zygmund.
Despite his emigration, Kit stayed a conscious Belarusian through all his life: "Everything I did in my life — I did for my homeland and its fame". Barys Kit Biography Virtual Guide to Belarus He lived out his final years in a Jewish nursing home and celebrated his 107th birthday in 2017. He died on February 1, 2018. Barys Kit's obituary
Kit was a long-standing member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, an honorary member of the Hermann Oberth DGLR Board of Directors, a member of the International Astronautics Academy in Paris, Vice-President of the International Astronautics Academy, Professor Emeritus of Maryland University, Honorary Doctorate of Science of Hrodna State University, and Navahrudak's honorable resident.
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