Ivan Stepanovich Kolesnikov (1901–1985) – an outstanding Soviet surgeon, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, Major-General of Medical Service (1953), Honored Scientist of RSFSR (1964), Hero of Socialist Labor (1976), Lenin Prize Laureate (1961) and USSR State Prize Laureate USSR (1985). Ivan S. Kolesnikov had a glittering life from a junior medical staff to an academician. He participated in 6 wars. Academician Kolesnikov was a talented organizer. He supported and developed thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, anesthesiology-resuscitation, combustiology, transfusiology. His monographs have become handbooks for surgeons in our country: “Resection of the lungs: indications, surgical techniques, postoperative care” (1960), “Organ-sparing resections of the lungs in tuberculosis” (1965), “Autotransfusion of blood and its components in surgery” (1979). Ten volumes of the “Atlas of Gunshot Wounds” prepared by him and his collaborator Academician P. A. Kupriyanov were published in 1946–1955.