Igor Kurchatov
Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov (Russian: Игорь Васильевич Курчатов; 12 January 1903 – 7 February 1960), was a Soviet physicist who played a central role in organizing and directing the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons.
Igor Kurchatov | |
|---|---|
Игорь Курчатов | |
Kurchatov in 1948 | |
| Born | Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov January 12, 1903 |
| Died | 7 February 1960 (aged 57) |
| Resting place | Kremlin Wall Necropolis |
| Citizenship | Soviet Union |
| Alma mater | Leningrad Polytechnical Institute |
| Known for | Soviet atomic bomb project |
| Awards | Lenin Prize Stalin Prize Hero of Socialist Labour |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | Arzamas-16 Ioffel Physico-Technical Institute Azerbaijan Polytechnic Institute |
| Website | I.V. Kurchatov by PBS |
As many of his contemporaries in Russia, Kurchatov, initially educated as a naval architect, was an autodidact in nuclear physics and was brought by Soviet establishment to accelerate the feasibility of the "super bomb". Aided by effective intelligence management by Soviet agencies on American Manhattan Project, Kurchatov oversaw the quick development and testing of the first Soviet nuclear weapon, which was roughly based on the first American device, at Semipalatinsk in the Kazakh SSR in 1949.
Kurchatov, a recipient of many former Soviet honors, had an instrumental role in modern nuclear industry in Russia. His rapid decline in health is mainly attributed to a 1949 radiation accident in Chelyabinsk-40 (a more serious event than Chernobyl in 1986).: 107–108 Kurchatov died in Moscow in 1960, aged 57.