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From the history of physics


On the making of the Soviet hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb

 a,  a,  b
a All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics — Federal Nuclear Centre, prosp. Mira 37, Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod region, 607190, Russian Federation
b National Research Centre ‘Kurchatov Institute’, pl. akad. Kurchatova 1, Moscow, 123182, Russian Federation

The May 1991 issue of Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk (Physics-Uspekhi), devoted to the 70th birthday of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, included a translation of an article by D Hirsch and W Mathews, ’The H-bomb: Who Really Gave Away the Secret?’ It was the Editors’ hope that, prompted by this polemic and in many respects controversial publication, our physicists and nuclear weapons developers would speak out too. However, it is only now, five years later and with a number of formal restrictions lifted, that the Journal has received an article on the creation of the Soviet H-bomb written by Arzamas-16 (All-Union Research Institute of Experimental Physics) specialists (of whom Yu N Smirnov worked under A D Sakharov in the 1960s). The Editors are confident that this article will be of interest to our readers. What makes the article particularly authoritative is the co-authorship of Yulii Borisovich Khariton, a patriarch of national nuclear physicists. His brilliant debut dating back to the 1920s was made in the N N Semyonov group and at the famous Cavendsh Laboratory (then under E Rutherford); from 1946 to 1992 Yu B Khariton was a permanent scientific leader of the Arzamas-16 Nuclear Weapons Centre. It is primarily to I V Kurchatov and Yu B Khariton that we owe the creation of our nuclear weapons which laid the groundwork for the country’s powerful defence potential. Editorial Board.

Fulltext pdf (266 KB)
Fulltext is also available at DOI: 10.1070/PU1996v039n02ABEH000134
PACS: 01.65.+g
DOI: 10.1070/PU1996v039n02ABEH000134
URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/1996/2/f/
A1996UB80800006
Citation: Khariton Yu B, Adamskii V B, Smirnov Yu N "On the making of the Soviet hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb" Phys. Usp. 39 185–189 (1996)
BibTexBibNote ® (generic)BibNote ® (RIS)MedlineRefWorks

Îðèãèíàë: Õàðèòîí Þ Á, Àäàìñêèé Â Á, Ñìèðíîâ Þ Í «Î ñîçäàíèè ñîâåòñêîé âîäîðîäíîé (òåðìîÿäåðíîé) áîìáû» ÓÔÍ 166 201–205 (1996); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0166.199602f.0201

References (6) Cited by (16) Similar articles (20) ↓

  1. G.A. Goncharov “American and Soviet H-bomb development programmes: historical background” 39 1033–1044 (1996)
  2. G.A. Goncharov, L.D. Ryabev “The development of the first Soviet atomic bomb” 44 71–93 (2001)
  3. I.I. Gurevich, Ya.B. Zeldovich et al “Utilization of the nuclear energy of the light elements” 34 (5) 445–446 (1991)
  4. Yu.A. Romanov “A Memoir of the Teacher” 39 179–183 (1996)
  5. G.V. Kiselev “L D Landau in the Soviet Atomic Project: a documentary study” 51 911–954 (2008)
  6. V.I. Ritus “Tamm—Sakharov group in work on the first hydrogen bomb” 57 903–911 (2014)
  7. G.V. Kiselev, V.N. Konev “History of the realization of the thorium regime in the Soviet Atomic Project” 50 1259–1282 (2007)
  8. V.D. Shafranov “The initial period in the history of nuclear fusion research at the Kurchatov Institute” 44 835–843 (2001)
  9. D. Hirsch, W.G. Mathews “The H-bomb: Who really gave away the secret?” 34 (5) 437–443 (1991)
  10. G.A. Goncharov “The 50th anniversary of the beginning of research in the USSR on the potentialcreation of a nuclear fusion reactor” 44 851–858 (2001)
  11. S.S. Gershtein “From reminiscences about Ya. B. Zel’dovich” 34 (5) 444–444 (1991)
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  14. G.A. Goncharov “From the Archive of the President, Russian Federation (USSR Council of Ministers Resolution)” 44 859–861 (2001)
  15. N.A. Popov, V.A. Shcherbakov et al “Thermonuclear fusion in the explosion of a spherical charge (the problem of a gas-dynamic thermonuclear fusion)” 51 1047–1053 (2008)
  16. V.V. Ragulsky “About people with the same life attitude: 100th anniversary of Lebedev’s lecture on the pressure of light” 54 293–304 (2011)
  17. A.V. Tan’shina “A.I. Akhiezer Institute for Theoretical Physics at the National Science Center “Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology”, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: origins, events, facts, comments” 56 932–950 (2013)
  18. Yu.I. Krivonosov “S.I. Vavilov’s manuscript letter to Stalin” 43 949–952 (2000)
  19. G.M. Arutyunyan, V.I. Gol’danskii et al “Sergei Petrovich D’yakov and his contributions to science” 36 (9) 858–864 (1993)
  20. G.I. Marchuk, V.S. Imshennik, M.M. Basko “The physics of a thermonuclear explosion of a normal-density liquefied deuterium sphere (On the impossibility of a spherically symmetric thermonuclear explosion in liquid deuterium at normal density)” 52 267–273 (2009)

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