Khariton Yuli Borisovich (February 14 [27], 1904, Saint Petersburg — December 18, 1996, Sarov) was a Soviet and Russian physicist and physical chemist, one of the leaders of the Soviet atomic project.[3] From 1946 until the end of his life he worked in Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod Region, where he spent about 50 years.[2] He was a Full Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences (from 1953), a three-time Hero of Socialist Labor (1949, 1951, 1954), and a laureate of the Lenin Prize and three Stalin Prizes.[3]
Scientific Work Before the Atomic Project
Khariton was born into the family of the journalist Boris Iosifovich Khariton and the Moscow Art Theatre actress Mirra Yakovlevna Burovskaya. In 1920 he entered the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute, where he attended lectures by A. F. Ioffe, and from 1921, at the invitation of N. N. Semyonov, he worked in Semyonov's laboratory at the Physico-Technical Institute.[1] There he conducted his first experiments on the condensation of metal vapors and, together with Z. F. Walta, experimentally proved the existence of branching chain chemical reactions using the oxidation of phosphorus as an example — a discovery that became the foundation of Semyonov's theory, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1956.[1] In 1925 Khariton graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mechanics of the institute with the degree of engineer-physicist.[1]
In 1926–1928 he did an internship at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge under Rutherford and Chadwick, where he defended his dissertation and received a Doctor of Philosophy degree.[1] After returning to the USSR, in 1931 he headed the explosives laboratory at the Institute of Chemical Physics in Leningrad, which became a recognized school of explosion physics.[1] He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in 1935.[3]
In 1939, together with Ya. B. Zeldovich, Khariton published the article "On the Question of the Chain Decay of the Principal Isotope of Uranium," which demonstrated the necessity of enriching uranium with the light isotope in order to achieve a nuclear chain reaction. In 1940 he joined the "Uranium Commission" of the USSR Academy of Sciences.[1]
Work in Sarov and the Atomic Project
In 1943, Laboratory No. 2 of the USSR Academy of Sciences was established under the leadership of I. V. Kurchatov, who proposed that Khariton head the work on creating nuclear weapons.[3] In 1946, on the basis of a plant of the People's Commissariat of Ammunition in the settlement of Sarov, Design Bureau KB-11 was formed (later grown into RFNC-VNIIEF). Khariton was appointed its chief designer and scientific director and held this post until 1992, until the age of 88.[1][3]
Under his leadership, a system for the production, operation, and testing of nuclear weapons was created in Sarov, and the first requirements for their safety were formulated.[1] In 1949, the first Soviet nuclear bomb was successfully tested: Khariton received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and the State (Stalin) Prize. Following the 1951 tests came a second Gold Star of a Hero and another State Prize. In 1953, the world's first transportable combat hydrogen charge was tested: Khariton was awarded a third Gold Star of a Hero and a third State Prize.[3] From the end of 1992, he held the status of honorary scientific director of VNIIEF.[3]
Awards and recognition
Khariton was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1953.[3] Among his awards are five Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the I. V. Kurchatov Medal, the M. V. Lomonosov Grand Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1982), the Lenin Prize (1957), and three Stalin Prizes (1949, 1951, 1953).[3] The Bakhtyzino rural library of Voznesensky District, Nizhny Novgorod Region, included his name in the educational campaign "Great Scientists — Our Fellow Countrymen," timed to coincide with the Year of Science and Technology.[2]
Yuli Borisovich Khariton died on December 18, 1996, in Sarov.[3]
Links
- Official website (archive) (vniief.ru)
Sources
- biblioatom.ru — Khariton Yuly Borisovich / Personalities // Evolution of the Industry /// History of Rosatom (archive)
- dk568.esgms.ru — Voznesensky Centralized Library System, Voznesensky District, Nizhny Novgorod Region — Side Menu
- books.e-heritage.ru — E-Library "Scientific Heritage of Russia"