Igor Kurchatov

2026-01-21 09:30:30

Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov (Simsky Zavod, Ufa Governorate, January 8 [21], 1903 or December 30, 1902 [January 12, 1903] – February 7, 1960, Barvikha, Moscow Region) was a Soviet physicist, “father” of the Soviet atomic bomb. Three times Hero of Socialist Labor (1949, 1951, 1954). Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1943) and the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR (1959), Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (1933), Professor (1935). Founder and first director of the Institute of Atomic Energy (1943–1960). Chief scientific director of the atomic problem in the USSR, one of the founders of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. With his participation, the first cyclotron in Europe was created (1937). Under his leadership, the first cyclotron in Moscow (1944), the first nuclear reactor in Europe (1946), the first Soviet atomic bomb (RDS-1, 1949), the world's first thermonuclear bomb (RDS-6s, 1953), the world's first industrial nuclear power plant (Obninsk NPP, 1954), the first nuclear reactor for submarines in the USSR (1958) and the first in the world for nuclear icebreakers (Nuclear icebreaker Lenin, 1959), and the largest installation for conducting research on the implementation of controlled thermonuclear reactions (1958) were created. Laureate of the Lenin Prize (1956) and four Stalin Prizes (1942, 1949, 1951, 1953).