Name: Mikhail Kalashnikov
Age: 83
Nationality: Russian
Claim to fame: Inventor of the (in) famous Kalashnikov assault rifle.

ALMOST every inventor in history has taken pride in his invention. It ensures a place in the annals of history. However, the same cannot be said of Mikhail Kalashnikov, who has mixed feelings about his invention. He is both happy, over having created something so important, and, yet, he is unhappy at the fact that his invention has contributed to the ill-health of global society.

The veteran ex-Soviet general and inventor is probably the most famous inventor alive. Last week, he was in Germany to inaugurate a special exhibition in honour of his invention. The exhibit, currently running in the Suhl Weapons Museum, is called Kalashnikov — The Myth Curse of a Weapon.

During an interview with a local newspaper Kalashnikov displayed how at odds he is with himself over his brainchild. When asked to express his feelings about the invention, to the surprise of many, he replied: “I would have preferred to invent something which helps people and makes life easier for farmers. A lawnmower, for example.” Still, he later said, “I am proud of it. And sad, too, that the weapon is used by terrorists.”

More than fifty years old, the Kalashnikov, also known as the AK-47, is the most popular assault rifle in the world. Not just manufactured in Russia anymore, the original and its many versions have killed or injured more people around the world than any other hand-held weapon of destruction in history.

The story of the Kalashnikov itself is as engaging as the success of the rifle. It stared in 1941, when Adolf Hitler decided to annul his non-aggression pact with Stalin’s Soviet Union and launched Operation Barbarossa. It was during one of the initial battles that, as a tank commander, Mikhail Kalashnikov was injured. While recuperating in hospital of shell shock and battle fatigue, he began toying around with ideas for a new machinegun that could provide high-volume, light-weight firepower for soldiers in a mechanized infantry. It was the result of these ideas that the Soviet Army adopted the Automatic Kalashnikov design of 1947 as their standard rifle, in 1949.

Today, according to rough estimates, more than 75 to a 100 million pieces of this gun have been made, including a chrome-plated version made for a sheikh to others garishly decorated with jewels, on display at the exhibition in Suhl. To add a new twist to the whole tale, Kalashnikov put the whole blame for the invention of his creation on the shoulders of his German hosts. “Actually, you Germans are to be blamed. Our soldiers often didn’t have proper weapons in those days.”