Viktor Adamsky | |
---|---|
Виктор Адамский | |
Born | Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union | 30 April 1923
Died | 14 December 2005 82) Sarov, Russia | (aged
Nationality | Ukrainian |
Citizenship | Russia (1991–2005) Soviet Union (1923–1991) |
Alma mater | Moscow State University |
Known for | Soviet atomic bomb project Thermonuclear weapon and explosives |
Awards | Lenin Prize Order of the Red Banner of Labor Medal "For Labour Valour" |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Institutions | VNIIEF |
Thesis | On the RDS-37 (1974) |
Viktor Borisovich Adamsky [lower-alpha 1] k.N (Russian : Ви́ктор Бори́сович Ада́мский; 30 April 1923 – 14 December 2005) was a Russian physicist of Ukrainian origin known for his work on the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons. [1]
Adamsky was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, on 30 April 1923. [1] He entered in the Moscow State University but was drafted in the Red Army and served as a radioman in the Battle of Stalingrad during the Eastern Front of the World War II. [1] In 1945, he went to attend the Moscow State University and earned specialist diploma in physics in 1949-1950. [1] He was sent to work in the VNIIEF in Arzamas-16, initially working as an engineer before working as a researcher. In 1974, Adamsky was successful in defending his thesis in physics and earned his Kandidat Nauk (Russian equivalent of PhD) from Moscow State University. [1]
Adamsky, a physicist, participated in development of thermonuclear charges, first being involved in the development of RDS-37— the first Soviet two-stage thermonuclear device. [1] He worked with Vyacheslav Feodoritov in the development of the RDS-220, involved in studies concerning the self-excitation of a thermonuclear reaction occurs at high compressions. [1] In his initial career, he knew little of what it was but understood he would be working on the hydrogen bomb; he was put up in a hotel, then a flat and was finally invited to share part of a cottage with Igor Tamm and Yuri Romanov. He found a collegial spirit amongst his workmates, who were very aware of the importance and personal limitations of their situation. [1] His experience in physics was first practised under the direction of Yakov Zeldovich and Andrei Sakharov. [1] Theoretical development of the RDS-220 began in July 1961 with a design team chosen by Sakharov (who had met with premier Nikita Khrushchev on 10 July). By October a report (authored by Sakharov, Adamsky, Yuri Babayev, Yuri Smirnov and Yuri Trutnev) including the design proposal and calculations had been completed and sent to the design engineers for construction. [1] Under huge political pressure and a strict timetable, the typical mathematical rigour associated with previous nuclear bomb development had been replaced by some omissions and the usage of estimates and approximations. As a result, fellow theoretical physicist Evsei Rabinovich suggested that the design might not work; Sakharov, Adamsky and Feodoritov argued otherwise, but Sakharov did ask the engineers to make some design changes to improve the level of confidence. [2] [3]
Sakharov once visited Adamsky in his office to show him a short story in English by Leo Szilard (the nuclear bomb patent-holder who conceived of nuclear chain reactions) called My Trial as a War Criminal . Szilard's tale of the aftermath of the usage of weapons of mass destruction affected them strongly. Later, both Sakharov and Adamsky provided warnings about the dangers to humanity of nuclear proliferation and the governments behind it. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Two years after the RDS-220 test, Adamsky made a key proposal in a memorandum which it is believed was used to overcome an impasse a few months later during negotiations leading to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty between the U.S.A., the U.K. and the U.S.S.R. in 1963. As a result of Khruschev's acceptance of Adamsky's proposal (it is not known if he actually read it) the ban was agreed upon in the atmosphere, underwater and outer space. [3] [9] [10] [11] [2] [12] Adamsky is buried in Sarov cemetery. [10]
The Tsar Bomba, also known by the alphanumerical designation "AN602", was a thermonuclear aerial bomb, and the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. The Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov oversaw the project at Arzamas-16, while the main work of design was by Sakharov, Viktor Adamsky, Yuri Babayev, Yuri Smirnov, and Yuri Trutnev. The project was ordered by Nikita Khrushchev in July 1961 as part of the Soviet resumption of nuclear testing after the Test Ban Moratorium, with the detonation timed to coincide with the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov, was a Soviet physicist who played a central role in organizing and directing the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons.
Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich, also known as YaB, D.S. was a leading Soviet physicist of Belarusian origin, who is known for his prolific contributions in physical cosmology, physics of thermonuclear reactions, combustion, and hydrodynamical phenomena.
Yulii Borisovich Khariton was a Russian physicist who was a leading scientist in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons.
The Soviet atomic bomb project was the classified research and development program that was authorized by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons during and after World War II.
RDS-6s was the first Soviet attempted test of a thermonuclear weapon that occurred on August 12, 1953, that detonated with a force equivalent to 400 kilotons of TNT.
RDS-37 was the Soviet Union's first two-stage hydrogen bomb, first tested on 22 November 1955. The weapon had a nominal yield of approximately 3 megatons. It was scaled down to 1.6 megatons for the live test.
The Teller–Ulam design is a technical concept behind modern thermonuclear weapons, also known as hydrogen bombs. The design – the details of which are military secrets and known to only a handful of major nations – is believed to be used in virtually all modern nuclear weapons that make up the arsenals of the major nuclear powers.
Yevgeny Ivanovich Zababakhin, was a Soviet physicist who was one of the senior chief designers of nuclear discharges of the Soviet nuclear weapons.
Yuri Alexeyevich Trutnev was a Russian physicist and a professor of engineering at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI.
Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentiev was a physicist who worked on the Soviet atomic bomb project and whose research contributions were fundamental to the understanding of thermonuclear fusion.
German Arsenyevich Goncharov was a Russian physicist whose career mostly spent in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons. Since 1952 until 2004, Goncharov developed and tested Soviet thermonuclear weapons and led a theoretical department at the Soviet nuclear research facility at Arzamas-16 from 1967 to 2004.
Vyacheslav Petrovich Feodoritov (February 28, 1928 - January 2, 2004), k.N, was a Russian physicist in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons. He was a co-designer of the first two-stage Soviet thermonuclear device, the RDS-37, and became a chief of laboratory at Arzamas-16, now known as the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics.
Yuri Nikolayevich Babayev, k.N, was a Soviet physicist who spent a long career in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons, and known as one of the principles who designed the Tsar Bomba, the largest-ever nuclear weapon.
Yuri Aleksandrovich Romanov was a Russian physicist who spent his career in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons.
Evsei Markovich RabinovichD.N, was a Russian physicist of Ukrainian origin who participated in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons, and was one of the designers of the two-stage RDS-37 thermonuclear discharges and its successor, the RDS-220, the largest ever bomb.
Valentin Nikolayevich Klimov was a Russian theoretical physicist and mathematician. He was a co-developer of the RDS-37 and worked on statistical mechanics, plasmas and nuclear reactors.
Viktor Aleksandrovich Davidenko was a Soviet engineer in the Soviet program of nuclear weapons, working mainly on military nuclear reactors for fissile materials.
Grigory Yemelyanovich Klinishov was a Soviet Russian physicist and recipient of the Lenin Prize. He was one of the creators of the Soviet hydrogen bomb RDS-37.