Igor Kurchatov
Encyclopedia
Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov , was a Soviet
nuclear physicist who is widely known as the director of the Soviet atomic bomb project
. Along with Georgy Flyorov
and Andrei Sakharov
, Kurchatov is widely remembered and dubbed as the "father of the Soviet atomic bomb" for his directorial role in the development of the Soviet nuclear program, in a clandestine program during World War II
formed in the wake of the USSR's discovery of the American efforts
to develop nuclear weapons. After nine years of covert development, the Soviet Union successfully tested its first nuclear weapon, codenamed First Lightning at the Semipalatinsk Test Range in 1949. In 1954 he was awarded the USSR State Prize
in physics.
From 1940 onward, Kurchatov worked and contributed advancing the nuclear weapons program, and later advocated for the peaceful development of nuclear technology. In 1950, Kurchatov contributed in the development of the Hydrogen bomb with Andrei Sakharov who originated this development as Sakharov's Third Idea. Other projects completed under Kurchatov included the installation and development of Soviet Union's first particle accelerator, the Cyclotron
, inauguration and established of Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant
, the first commercial nuclear power plant in Obninsk
, and the completion and launching of the Lenin, the first nuclear-power vessel, under his leadership, in 1959.
, Chelyabinsk Oblast
). After completing Simferopol gymnasium №1, he enrolled at the Physics Physics Department
of the Crimea State University, earning his doctorate degree in Physics from there, under the supervision of Abram Fedorovich Ioffe. Kurchatov also studied at the Polytechnical Institute
in Petrograd where he earned his degrees in naval engineering
.
After studying Physics
and Naval engineering, Kurchatov was a research assistant at the faculty of Physics of the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute
in Baku
and later he researched under Dr. Abram Fedorovich Ioffe at the Physico-Technical Institute
on various problems connected with radioactivity. In 1932, he received funding for his own nuclear science research team, which built the Soviet Union's first cyclotron
particle accelerator in 1939.
which was headed by Vitaly Khlopin where Kurchatov was researching as an senior scientist and took part in the creation of the Europe's first cyclotron
(work was started in 1932, the cyclotron was completed in 1937). Then to 1943 he worked at the Ioffe Institute with Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov
. In that period (by November 1941) they devised a method of demagnetizing ships to protect them from German mines
, which was in active use through the end of the World War II
and afterwards. Kurchatov's laboratory separated from the Ioffe Institute and moved to Moscow in 1943 for the work on the Soviet atomic bomb project
.
In 1932, George Gamow and Lev Mysovskii submitted a draft for consideration by the Academic Council of Radium Institute, which was approved by the Soviet government. Khlopin, under the guidance and direct participation of Igor Kurchatov, Lev Mysovskii and George Gamow
, installed the Europe's first cyclotron particle accelerator . Installation was finished in 1937, and the research began to take place on 21 September 1939.
Kurchatov and his apprentice Georgy Flyorov
discovered the basic ideas of the uranium chain reaction
and the nuclear reactor concept in the 1939. In 1942 Kurchatov declared: "At breaking up of kernels in a kilogram of uranium, the energy released must be equal to the explosion of 20,000 tons of trotyl." This announcement was practically verified during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
commenced a large-scale military offensive against Soviet Union under codename Operation Barbarossa
. During this time, Kurchatov was leading the research in nuclear physics and was widely known in Soviet Academy of Sciences for his wide research. Because of the war engaged with the Germany and her allies, Soviet Union did not undertake serious initiate to start the scientific research in nuclear weapons until 1942. In April of 1942, Georgii Flerov, who would later became a key figure in the nuclear program, directed a secret letter to Joseph Stalin
pointing out that nothing was being published in the physics journals by Americans, British, or even Germans, on nuclear fission since the year of its discovery in 1939, and that indeed many of the most prominent physicists in Allied countries seemed not to be publishing at all. This academic silence was high suspicious and Flerov urged Stalin to launch the program on immediate effct as he believed that other nations were already advancing their program clandestinely. In 1943, the NKVD
obtained a copy of a secret British report by the MAUD Committee
concerning the feasibility of atomic weapons, which led Joseph Stalin
to order the commencement of a Soviet nuclear programme (albeit with very limited resources).
Stalin turned to Soviet Academy of Sciences to find the best administrator to lead the program, and as its result, the Soviet Academy of Sciences chose Kurchatov for his wide experience in nuclear physics. Ioffe recommended Kurchatov to Vyacheslav Molotov
who advised Stalin to appoint Kurchatov as the formal director of the nascent Soviet nuclear programme and the development of Soviet nuclear weapons were began in 1940s. Kurchatov switched his research first to protecting shipping from magnetic mines, and later to tank armour to nuclear physics.
During its formative years, the atomic bomb project
remained a relatively low priority until information from spy Klaus Fuchs
and later the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki goaded Stalin into action. Stalin ordered Kurchatov to produce a bomb by 1948, and put the ruthless Lavrenty Beria in direct command of the project. The project took over the town of Sarov
in the Gorki Oblast (now Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
) on the Volga, and renamed it Arzamas-16. The team (which included other prominent Soviet nuclear scientists such as Julii Borisovich Khariton and Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich
) was assisted both by public disclosures made by the United States government and by further information supplied by Fuchs, but Kurchatov and Beria (fearing the intelligence was misinformation) insisted his scientists retest everything themselves. Beria in particular would use the intelligence as a third-party check on the conclusions of the teams of scientists.
on August 29, 1949. Kurchatov later remarked that his main feeling at the time was one of relief. After this test, Kurchatov earned renown and prestige by the Physics communities of the world. Following this test, Kurchatov was bestowed with national honors and prizes in the recognition of his work.
As a wake of successful detonation of world's first fusion device, codename Ivy Mike
in 1952. Stalin ordered Soviet scientists to build the fusion device, a program that was launched in 1953. The directors of this project was Vitaly Ginzburg
and Andrei Sakharov
who originated this project as Sakharov's Third Idea. Kurchatov subsequently contributed in the calculations regarding to the Soviet's first hydrogen bomb. Kurchatov worked under Ginzburg and took participation on the calculations that was given to him by Ginzburg. Unlike Ginzburg, Sakharov, and Yakov Zel'dovich, Kurchatov was only seen in the small scale of calculations, applying the basic nuclear weapon principle used in the smaller nuclear weapons that were developed under his directorship. In 1953, Soviet Union detonated its first thermonuclear device, codename Joe 4
while other scientists, such as Ginzburg, Zel'dovich, Sakharov, earned renowned and his contribution was diminished as more testing was undertaking by the Soviet Government.
in Moscow (1949), the first atomic reactor in Europe (1946), the first nuclear power plant
in the world (1954), the first nuclear reactor for submarine
s in the world (1959), and the icebreaker
Lenin, the world's first nuclear powered
surface ship and the first nuclear powered civilian vessel, (1959).
During the A-bomb programme, Kurchatov swore he would not cut his beard until the program succeeded, and he continued to wear a large beard (often cut into eccentric styles) for the remainder of his life, earning him the nickname "The Beard". Kurchatov died in Moscow in 1960 after suffering a series of strokes
, and his ashes were buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis
on Red Square
. Two towns bear his name: Kurchatov Township
, the headquarters of the STS
, and Kurchatov
near Kursk (the site of a nuclear power station), the Kurchatov Institute
is named in his honour, and bears a large monument dedicated to him at the entrance. The crater Kurchatov
on the Moon and the asteroid 2352 Kurchatov
are also named after him.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
nuclear physicist who is widely known as the director of the Soviet atomic bomb project
Soviet atomic bomb project
The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb , was a clandestine research and development program began during and post-World War II, in the wake of the Soviet Union's discovery of the United States' nuclear project...
. Along with Georgy Flyorov
Georgy Flyorov
Georgy Nikolayevich Flyorov was a prominent Soviet nuclear physicist.-Biography:Flyorov was born in Rostov-on-Don and attended the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute Georgy Nikolayevich Flyorov (March 2, 1913 – November 19, 1990) was a prominent Soviet nuclear physicist.-Biography:Flyorov was born...
and Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
, Kurchatov is widely remembered and dubbed as the "father of the Soviet atomic bomb" for his directorial role in the development of the Soviet nuclear program, in a clandestine program during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
formed in the wake of the USSR's discovery of the American efforts
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
to develop nuclear weapons. After nine years of covert development, the Soviet Union successfully tested its first nuclear weapon, codenamed First Lightning at the Semipalatinsk Test Range in 1949. In 1954 he was awarded the USSR State Prize
USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
in physics.
From 1940 onward, Kurchatov worked and contributed advancing the nuclear weapons program, and later advocated for the peaceful development of nuclear technology. In 1950, Kurchatov contributed in the development of the Hydrogen bomb with Andrei Sakharov who originated this development as Sakharov's Third Idea. Other projects completed under Kurchatov included the installation and development of Soviet Union's first particle accelerator, the Cyclotron
Cyclotron
In technology, a cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator. In physics, the cyclotron frequency or gyrofrequency is the frequency of a charged particle moving perpendicularly to the direction of a uniform magnetic field, i.e. a magnetic field of constant magnitude and direction...
, inauguration and established of Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant
Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant
Obninsk Nuclear Power Station, , was built in the "Science City" of Obninsk, about 110 km southwest of Moscow. It was the first civilian nuclear power station in the world...
, the first commercial nuclear power plant in Obninsk
Obninsk
Obninsk is a city in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located southwest of Moscow. Population: Obninsk is one of the major Russian science cities. The first nuclear power plant in the world for the large-scale production of electricity opened here on June 27, 1954, and it also doubled as a training...
, and the completion and launching of the Lenin, the first nuclear-power vessel, under his leadership, in 1959.
Biography
Kurchatov was born in Simsky Zavod, Ufa Governorate (now the town of SimSim, Chelyabinsk Oblast
Sim is a town in Ashinsky District of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Sim River, west of Chelyabinsk. Population: It was founded in 1759 as Simsky Zavod , a settlement around an ironworks. It was renamed Sim and granted town status on November 13, 1942.It is the birthplace of Igor...
, Chelyabinsk Oblast
Chelyabinsk Oblast
-External links:*...
). After completing Simferopol gymnasium №1, he enrolled at the Physics Physics Department
Academic department
An academic department is a division of a university or school faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. This article covers United States usage at the university level....
of the Crimea State University, earning his doctorate degree in Physics from there, under the supervision of Abram Fedorovich Ioffe. Kurchatov also studied at the Polytechnical Institute
Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University
Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University is a major Russian technical university situated in Saint Petersburg. Previously it was known as the Peter the Great Polytechnical Institute and Kalinin Polytechnical Institute .-Imperial Russia:...
in Petrograd where he earned his degrees in naval engineering
Naval architecture
Naval architecture is an engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction, maintenance and operation of marine vessels and structures. Naval architecture involves basic and applied research, design, development, design evaluation and calculations during all stages of the life of a...
.
After studying Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and Naval engineering, Kurchatov was a research assistant at the faculty of Physics of the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute
Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute
Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is one of Russia's largest research centers specialized in physics and technology. The institute was established in 1918 in Petrograd and run for several decades by Abram Fedorovich Ioffe...
in Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
and later he researched under Dr. Abram Fedorovich Ioffe at the Physico-Technical Institute
Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute
Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is one of Russia's largest research centers specialized in physics and technology. The institute was established in 1918 in Petrograd and run for several decades by Abram Fedorovich Ioffe...
on various problems connected with radioactivity. In 1932, he received funding for his own nuclear science research team, which built the Soviet Union's first cyclotron
Cyclotron
In technology, a cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator. In physics, the cyclotron frequency or gyrofrequency is the frequency of a charged particle moving perpendicularly to the direction of a uniform magnetic field, i.e. a magnetic field of constant magnitude and direction...
particle accelerator in 1939.
Academic research
Between 1931 and 1934 he worked in the Physical department of the Radium Institute at the LeningradLeningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
which was headed by Vitaly Khlopin where Kurchatov was researching as an senior scientist and took part in the creation of the Europe's first cyclotron
Cyclotron
In technology, a cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator. In physics, the cyclotron frequency or gyrofrequency is the frequency of a charged particle moving perpendicularly to the direction of a uniform magnetic field, i.e. a magnetic field of constant magnitude and direction...
(work was started in 1932, the cyclotron was completed in 1937). Then to 1943 he worked at the Ioffe Institute with Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov
Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov
Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov was a Russian physicist, director of the Kurchatov Institute, academician and the President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences...
. In that period (by November 1941) they devised a method of demagnetizing ships to protect them from German mines
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
, which was in active use through the end of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and afterwards. Kurchatov's laboratory separated from the Ioffe Institute and moved to Moscow in 1943 for the work on the Soviet atomic bomb project
Soviet atomic bomb project
The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb , was a clandestine research and development program began during and post-World War II, in the wake of the Soviet Union's discovery of the United States' nuclear project...
.
In 1932, George Gamow and Lev Mysovskii submitted a draft for consideration by the Academic Council of Radium Institute, which was approved by the Soviet government. Khlopin, under the guidance and direct participation of Igor Kurchatov, Lev Mysovskii and George Gamow
George Gamow
George Gamow , born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov , was a Russian-born theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He discovered alpha decay via quantum tunneling and worked on radioactive decay of the atomic nucleus, star formation, stellar nucleosynthesis, Big Bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic microwave...
, installed the Europe's first cyclotron particle accelerator . Installation was finished in 1937, and the research began to take place on 21 September 1939.
Kurchatov and his apprentice Georgy Flyorov
Georgy Flyorov
Georgy Nikolayevich Flyorov was a prominent Soviet nuclear physicist.-Biography:Flyorov was born in Rostov-on-Don and attended the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute Georgy Nikolayevich Flyorov (March 2, 1913 – November 19, 1990) was a prominent Soviet nuclear physicist.-Biography:Flyorov was born...
discovered the basic ideas of the uranium chain reaction
Nuclear chain reaction
A nuclear chain reaction occurs when one nuclear reaction causes an average of one or more nuclear reactions, thus leading to a self-propagating number of these reactions. The specific nuclear reaction may be the fission of heavy isotopes or the fusion of light isotopes...
and the nuclear reactor concept in the 1939. In 1942 Kurchatov declared: "At breaking up of kernels in a kilogram of uranium, the energy released must be equal to the explosion of 20,000 tons of trotyl." This announcement was practically verified during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Atom bomb project
In 1941, GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
commenced a large-scale military offensive against Soviet Union under codename Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
. During this time, Kurchatov was leading the research in nuclear physics and was widely known in Soviet Academy of Sciences for his wide research. Because of the war engaged with the Germany and her allies, Soviet Union did not undertake serious initiate to start the scientific research in nuclear weapons until 1942. In April of 1942, Georgii Flerov, who would later became a key figure in the nuclear program, directed a secret letter to Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
pointing out that nothing was being published in the physics journals by Americans, British, or even Germans, on nuclear fission since the year of its discovery in 1939, and that indeed many of the most prominent physicists in Allied countries seemed not to be publishing at all. This academic silence was high suspicious and Flerov urged Stalin to launch the program on immediate effct as he believed that other nations were already advancing their program clandestinely. In 1943, the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
obtained a copy of a secret British report by the MAUD Committee
MAUD Committee
The MAUD Committee was the beginning of the British atomic bomb project, before the United Kingdom joined forces with the United States in the Manhattan Project.-Frisch & Peierls:...
concerning the feasibility of atomic weapons, which led Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
to order the commencement of a Soviet nuclear programme (albeit with very limited resources).
Stalin turned to Soviet Academy of Sciences to find the best administrator to lead the program, and as its result, the Soviet Academy of Sciences chose Kurchatov for his wide experience in nuclear physics. Ioffe recommended Kurchatov to Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
who advised Stalin to appoint Kurchatov as the formal director of the nascent Soviet nuclear programme and the development of Soviet nuclear weapons were began in 1940s. Kurchatov switched his research first to protecting shipping from magnetic mines, and later to tank armour to nuclear physics.
During its formative years, the atomic bomb project
Soviet atomic bomb project
The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb , was a clandestine research and development program began during and post-World War II, in the wake of the Soviet Union's discovery of the United States' nuclear project...
remained a relatively low priority until information from spy Klaus Fuchs
Klaus Fuchs
Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who in 1950 was convicted of supplying information from the American, British and Canadian atomic bomb research to the USSR during and shortly after World War II...
and later the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki goaded Stalin into action. Stalin ordered Kurchatov to produce a bomb by 1948, and put the ruthless Lavrenty Beria in direct command of the project. The project took over the town of Sarov
Sarov
Sarov is a closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. Until 1995 it was known as Kremlyov ., while from 1946 to 1991 it was called Arzamas-16 . The town is off limits to foreigners as it is the Russian center for nuclear research. Population: -History:The history of the town can be divided...
in the Gorki Oblast (now Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod. Population: The oblast is crossed by the Volga River. Apart from Nizhny Novgorod's metropolitan area, the biggest city is Arzamas...
) on the Volga, and renamed it Arzamas-16. The team (which included other prominent Soviet nuclear scientists such as Julii Borisovich Khariton and Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich
Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich
Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich was a prolific Soviet physicist born in Belarus. He played an important role in the development of Soviet nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, and made important contributions to the fields of adsorption and catalysis, shock waves, nuclear physics, particle physics,...
) was assisted both by public disclosures made by the United States government and by further information supplied by Fuchs, but Kurchatov and Beria (fearing the intelligence was misinformation) insisted his scientists retest everything themselves. Beria in particular would use the intelligence as a third-party check on the conclusions of the teams of scientists.
First Lightning
Under the escalating pressures of the war, including the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Kurchatov's team successfully detonated its initial test device First Lightning (a plutonium implosion bomb) at the Semipalatinsk Test SiteSemipalatinsk Test Site
The Semipalatinsk Test Site was the primary testing venue for the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons. It is located on the steppe in northeast Kazakhstan , south of the valley of the Irtysh River...
on August 29, 1949. Kurchatov later remarked that his main feeling at the time was one of relief. After this test, Kurchatov earned renown and prestige by the Physics communities of the world. Following this test, Kurchatov was bestowed with national honors and prizes in the recognition of his work.
As a wake of successful detonation of world's first fusion device, codename Ivy Mike
Ivy Mike
Ivy Mike was the codename given to the first United States test of a thermonuclear weapon, in which a major part of the explosive yield came from nuclear fusion. It was detonated on November 1, 1952 by the United States at on Enewetak, an atoll in the Pacific Ocean, as part of Operation Ivy...
in 1952. Stalin ordered Soviet scientists to build the fusion device, a program that was launched in 1953. The directors of this project was Vitaly Ginzburg
Vitaly Ginzburg
Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg ForMemRS was a Soviet theoretical physicist, astrophysicist, Nobel laureate, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and one of the fathers of Soviet hydrogen bomb...
and Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
who originated this project as Sakharov's Third Idea. Kurchatov subsequently contributed in the calculations regarding to the Soviet's first hydrogen bomb. Kurchatov worked under Ginzburg and took participation on the calculations that was given to him by Ginzburg. Unlike Ginzburg, Sakharov, and Yakov Zel'dovich, Kurchatov was only seen in the small scale of calculations, applying the basic nuclear weapon principle used in the smaller nuclear weapons that were developed under his directorship. In 1953, Soviet Union detonated its first thermonuclear device, codename Joe 4
Joe 4
Joe 4 was an American nickname for the first Soviet test of a thermonuclear weapon on August 12, 1953. It utilized a scheme in which fission and fusion fuel were "layered", a design known as the Sloika model in the Soviet Union...
while other scientists, such as Ginzburg, Zel'dovich, Sakharov, earned renowned and his contribution was diminished as more testing was undertaking by the Soviet Government.
Other projects
In late 1950s, Kurchatov advocated against nuclear weapon's tests. Among the projects completed under Kurchatov's leadership was the first cyclotronCyclotron
In technology, a cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator. In physics, the cyclotron frequency or gyrofrequency is the frequency of a charged particle moving perpendicularly to the direction of a uniform magnetic field, i.e. a magnetic field of constant magnitude and direction...
in Moscow (1949), the first atomic reactor in Europe (1946), the first nuclear power plant
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
in the world (1954), the first nuclear reactor for submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s in the world (1959), and the icebreaker
Icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...
Lenin, the world's first nuclear powered
Nuclear marine propulsion
Nuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a ship by a nuclear reactor. Naval nuclear propulsion is propulsion that specifically refers to naval warships...
surface ship and the first nuclear powered civilian vessel, (1959).
Legacy and honors
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
, and his ashes were buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Burials in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow began in November 1917, when 240 pro-Bolshevik victims of the October Revolution were buried in mass graves on Red Square. It is centered on both sides of Lenin's Mausoleum, initially built in wood in 1924 and rebuilt in granite in 1929–1930...
on Red Square
Red Square
Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...
. Two towns bear his name: Kurchatov Township
Kurchatov, Kazakhstan
Kurchatov is a town in East Kazakhstan Province in northeast Kazakhstan. Named after Soviet nuclear physicist Igor Kurchatov, the town was once the centre of operations for the adjoining Semipalatinsk Test Site...
, the headquarters of the STS
Semipalatinsk Test Site
The Semipalatinsk Test Site was the primary testing venue for the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons. It is located on the steppe in northeast Kazakhstan , south of the valley of the Irtysh River...
, and Kurchatov
Kurchatov, Russia
Kurchatov is a town in Kursk Oblast, Russia, located on the Seym River west of Kursk. Population: Kurchatov was founded in 1968 due to the construction of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant and granted town status in 1983. It was named after a Soviet physisist Igor Kurchatov.-External links:*...
near Kursk (the site of a nuclear power station), the Kurchatov Institute
Kurchatov Institute
The Kurchatov Institute is Russia's leading research and development institution in the field of nuclear energy. In the Soviet Union it was known as I. V. Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy , abbreviated KIAE . It is named after Igor Kurchatov....
is named in his honour, and bears a large monument dedicated to him at the entrance. The crater Kurchatov
Kurchatov (crater)
Kurchatov is a lunar impact crater that is located on the Moon's far side. It is just to the southwest of the crater Wiener, and farther to the southeast of Bridgman...
on the Moon and the asteroid 2352 Kurchatov
2352 Kurchatov
2352 Kurchatov is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 10, 1969 by L. Chernykh at Nauchnyj.- External links :*...
are also named after him.