Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov (Russian: Сергей Гаврилович Симонов; 9 April 1894 – 6 May 1986) was a Russian weapons designer; he is one of the fathers of the modern assault rifle. Mostly known for the Samozaryadnyi karabin sistemi Simonova (Russian: Самозарядный карабин системы Симонова), 1945 (Self-loading Carbine, Simonov's system, 1945), or SKS carbine, he also pioneered the assault and semi-automatic rifle field in the 1920s and 1930s, mostly under the supervision of both Vladimir Fyodorov and Fedor Tokarev. His early work preceded both the M1 Garand (of 1933), and the later M1 Carbine, AK-47, and M16 series.