Today, it is often heard that wind power plants could become an alternative to the hydroelectric plants we are accustomed to. In the USA and Western Europe, they are already actively used. Such "mills" could have appeared in our country almost 100 years ago thanks to the idea of the self-taught inventor from Kursk, Anatoly Georgievich Ufimtsev. His project was experimental: a small power plant provided electricity only to his house and workshop. Moreover, thanks to an inertial flywheel weighing 360 kg, placed in a vacuum chamber, the station could generate electricity even in calm weather for several hours. Later, another inventor, Vladimir Vetchinkin, joined the project. Together they conducted calculations for different regions of the country and concluded that Russian energy could also be based on wind energy. Their ideas were ahead of their time by almost a century, but they were unable to realize their plans.

However, Anatoly Ufimtsev was known not only for his wind power plants. In 1906, he improved kerosene lamps by adding metal caps made of various metals and alloys, which allowed the lamps to burn longer. These lamps began to be installed in Kursk and cities in Crimea.

In addition, the inventor was passionate about aircraft construction. In the early 20th century, he created an unusual flying machine, a spheroplane, resembling a flying saucer. However, in 1909, a hurricane destroyed his creation. Ufimtsev also proposed an innovation that was used for more than half a century: making the shaft of the aircraft engine hollow so that it could serve as the barrel of a machine gun.

The talented engineer passed away at the age of 56 on July 10, 1936. Unfortunately, after his death, his workshop was looted, and many valuable projects of his inventions were lost.