Soviet aircraft designer, colonel general of technical service, head of Experimental Design Bureau-155, member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1968), double Hero of Socialist Labor, six-time winner of the Stalin Award, and winner of the Lenin Award (1962).
Artyom Mikoyan was born in the mountainous settlement of Sanain (nowadays in the city of Alaverdi, Armenia). Before military conscription he worked at a plant in Rostov-on-Don and then in Moscow. After demobilization he entered the Air Force Academy and graduated with honors in 1937.
In 1935 he designed his first aircraft jointly with other academy students. After graduation he worked at the State Aircraft Factory No 1.
In May, 1939 works on the high-speed fighter I-180 were shifted to Factory No 1. The Design Bureau of Polikarpov developing this model was also moved there. Nikolay Polikarpov was appointed the technical director and the chief designer of the factory. Soon he was sent for a business trip to Germany. In his absence the director of the factory organized a new Design Bureau and appointed the young aircraft designer Artyom Mikoyan as its head. At the same time Artyom Mikoyan got the project of the new I-200 fighter (future MiG-1).
He designed and constructed the fighter aircrafts MiG-1 and MiG-3 that were used in World War II. After the war the Mikoyan Design Bureau produced fighters MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-19, MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-25.
55 world records were set by the aircrafts designed by his bureau.
Artyom Mikoyan was one of the pioneers of jet aviation in the USSR. After World War II he developed high-speed and supersonic jet aircrafts, lots of which were produced in large-scale series and served the Air Force for a long time.
Artyom Mikoyan died on December 9, 1970. A memorial board was set on his well-known "House on the Embankment".