In the USA and the USSR, work on the atomic bomb projects began at the same time. In 1942, in August, the secret Laboratory No. 2 began to operate in one of the buildings located in the courtyard of Kazan University. Igor Kurchatov, the Russian "father" of the atomic bomb, became the head of this facility. At the same time in August, not far from Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the building of the former local school, the Metallurgical Laboratory, also secret, began to operate. It was led by Robert Oppenheimer, the "father" of the atomic bomb from America.
It took a total of three years to complete the task. The first US atomic bomb was detonated at the test site in July 1945. Two more were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. It took seven years for the birth of the atomic bomb in the USSR. The first explosion took place in 1949.
Igor Kurchatov: short biography
Igor Kurchatov, the "father" of the atomic bomb in the USSR, was born on January 12, 1903. This event took place in the Ufa province, in today's city of Sim. Kurchatov is considered one of the founders of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
He graduated with honors from the Simferopol Men's Gymnasium, as well as a craft school. Kurchatov in 1920 entered the Taurida University, in the department of physics and mathematics. After 3 years, he successfully graduated from this university ahead of schedule. The "father" of the atomic bomb in 1930 began working at the Physics and Technology Institute of Leningrad, where he headed the Physics Department.
The era before Kurchatov
Earlier in the 1930s, work related to atomic energy began in the USSR. Chemists and physicists from various scientific centers, as well as specialists from other countries, took part in all-Union conferences organized by the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Samples of radium were obtained in 1932. And in 1939 the chain reaction of fission of heavy atoms was calculated. The year 1940 became a landmark in the nuclear field: the design of the atomic bomb was created, and methods for the production of uranium-235 were also proposed. Conventional explosives were first proposed to be used as a fuse to initiate a chain reaction. Also in 1940, Kurchatov presented his report on the fission of heavy nuclei.
Research during the Great Patriotic War
After the Germans attacked the USSR in 1941, nuclear research was suspended. The main Leningrad and Moscow institutes,who de alt with the problems of nuclear physics were urgently evacuated.
The head of strategic intelligence, Beria, knew that Western physicists considered atomic weapons an achievable reality. According to historical data, back in September 1939, incognito Robert Oppenheimer, the head of work on the creation of an atomic bomb in America, came to the USSR. The Soviet leadership could have learned about the possibility of obtaining these weapons from the information provided by this "father" of the atomic bomb.
In the USSR in 1941, intelligence data from the UK and the USA began to arrive. According to this information, intensive work has been launched in the West, the purpose of which is the creation of nuclear weapons.
In the spring of 1943, Laboratory No. 2 was established to produce the first atomic bomb in the USSR. The question arose as to whom to entrust the leadership of it. The list of candidates initially included about 50 names. Beria, however, stopped his choice on Kurchatov. He was called in October 1943 to the bride in Moscow. Today, the scientific center that grew out of this laboratory bears his name - "Kurchatov Institute".
In 1946, on April 9, a decree was issued on the creation of a design bureau at Laboratory No. 2. It was only at the beginning of 1947 that the first production buildings were ready, which were located in the zone of the Mordovian Reserve. Some of the laboratories were located in monastic buildings.
RDS-1, the first Russian atomic bomb
They called the Soviet prototype RDS-1, which, according to one version, meant "reactivespecial engine". After some time, this abbreviation began to be deciphered a little differently - "Stalin's Jet Engine". In documents to ensure secrecy, the Soviet bomb was called a "rocket engine".
It was a device with a capacity of 22 kilotons. The development of atomic weapons was carried out in the USSR, but the need to catch up with the United States, which had gone ahead during the war, forced domestic science to use data obtained by intelligence. The basis of the first Russian atomic bomb was taken "Fat Man", developed by the Americans (pictured below).
It was on August 9, 1945 that the United States dropped it on Nagasaki. "Fat Man" worked on the decay of plutonium-239. The detonation scheme was implosive: the charges exploded along the perimeter of the fissile material and created an explosive wave that "compressed" the substance located in the center and caused a chain reaction. This scheme was later recognized as ineffective.
The Soviet RDS-1 was made in the form of a large diameter and mass of a free-falling bomb. Plutonium was used to make an explosive atomic device. Electrical equipment, as well as the RDS-1 ballistic body, were domestically developed. The bomb consisted of a ballistic body, a nuclear charge, an explosive device, as well as equipment for automatic detonation systems.
Uranium shortage
Soviet physics, based onplutonium bomb of the Americans, faced a problem that had to be solved in the shortest possible time: the production of plutonium at the time of development had not yet begun in the USSR. Therefore, captured uranium was originally used. However, the reactor required at least 150 tons of this substance. In 1945, mines in East Germany and Czechoslovakia resumed their work. Uranium deposits in the Chita region, Kolyma, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, the North Caucasus and Ukraine were found in 1946.
In the Urals, near the city of Kyshtym (not far from Chelyabinsk), they began to build "Mayak" - a radiochemical plant, and the first industrial reactor in the USSR. Kurchatov personally supervised the laying of uranium. Construction was launched in 1947 in three more places: two in the Middle Urals and one in the Gorky region.
Construction work went on at a fast pace, but uranium was still not enough. The first industrial reactor could not be launched even by 1948. Uranium was loaded only on June 7 this year.
Experiment to start a nuclear reactor
The "father" of the Soviet atomic bomb personally took over the duties of the chief operator at the nuclear reactor control panel. On June 7, between 11 and 12 am, Kurchatov began an experiment to launch it. The reactor on June 8 reached a capacity of 100 kilowatts. After that, the "father" of the Soviet atomic bomb drowned out the chain reaction that had begun. The next stage of preparation of the nuclear reactor continued for two days. After the cooling water was supplied, it became clear that the uranium available,not enough to carry out the experiment. The reactor reached a critical state only after loading the fifth portion of the substance. The chain reaction has become possible again. It happened at 8 am on June 10.
On the 17th of the same month, Kurchatov, the creator of the atomic bomb in the USSR, made an entry in the journal of shift supervisors in which he warned that the water supply should not be stopped in any case, otherwise an explosion would occur. On June 19, 1938, at 12:45, an industrial start-up of a nuclear reactor, the first in Eurasia, took place.
Successful bomb tests
In 1949, in June, 10 kg of plutonium was accumulated in the USSR - the amount that was put into the bomb by the Americans. Kurchatov, the creator of the atomic bomb in the USSR, following the decree of Beria, ordered the test of RDS-1 to be scheduled for August 29.
A section of the Irtysh waterless steppe, located in Kazakhstan, not far from Semipalatinsk, was set aside for a test site. In the center of this experimental field, whose diameter was about 20 km, a metal tower 37.5 meters high was constructed. RDS-1 was installed on it.
The charge used in the bomb was a multi-layered design. In it, the transition to the critical state of the active substance was carried out by compressing it using a spherical converging detonation wave, which was formed in the explosive.
The consequences of the explosion
The tower was completely destroyed after the explosion. A crater appeared in its place. However, the main damage was inflicted by shockwave. According to the description of eyewitnesses, when a trip to the explosion site took place on August 30, the experimental field was a terrible picture. Highway and railway bridges were thrown back to a distance of 20-30 m and mangled. Cars and wagons were scattered at a distance of 50-80 m from the place where they were located, residential buildings were completely destroyed. The tanks used to test the strength of the blow lay on their sides with their turrets knocked down, and the guns were a pile of mangled metal. Also, 10 Pobeda vehicles, specially brought here for the experiment, burned down.
In total, 5 RDS-1 bombs were made. They were not transferred to the Air Force, but were stored in Arzamas-16. Today in Sarov, which was formerly Arzamas-16 (the laboratory is shown in the photo below), a mock-up bomb is on display. It is in the local nuclear weapons museum.
"Fathers" of the atomic bomb
Only 12 Nobel laureates, future and present, participated in the creation of the American atomic bomb. In addition, they were assisted by a group of British scientists who were sent to Los Alamos in 1943.
In Soviet times, it was believed that the USSR completely independently solved the atomic problem. Everywhere it was said that Kurchatov, the creator of the atomic bomb in the USSR, was her "father". Although rumors of secrets stolen from the Americans occasionally leaked out. And only in the 1990s, 50 years later, Yuli Khariton, one of the main participants in the events of that time, spoke about the great role of intelligence in the creation of the Soviet project. Technical andthe scientific results of the Americans were mined by Klaus Fuchs, who arrived in the English group.
Therefore, Oppenheimer can be considered the "father" of bombs that were created on both sides of the ocean. We can say that he was the creator of the first atomic bomb in the USSR. Both projects, American and Russian, were based on his ideas. It is wrong to consider Kurchatov and Oppenheimer only outstanding organizers. We have already talked about the Soviet scientist, as well as about the contribution made by the creator of the first atomic bomb to the USSR. Oppenheimer's main achievements were scientific. It was thanks to them that he turned out to be the head of the atomic project, just like the creator of the atomic bomb in the USSR.
Brief biography of Robert Oppenheimer
This scientist was born in 1904, April 22, in New York. Robert Oppenheimer graduated from Harvard University in 1925. The future creator of the first atomic bomb was trained for a year at the Cavendish Laboratory at Rutherford. A year later, the scientist moved to the University of Göttingen. Here, under the guidance of M. Born, he defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1928 the scientist returned to the USA. The "father" of the American atomic bomb from 1929 to 1947 taught at two universities in this country - the California Institute of Technology and the University of California.
On July 16, 1945, the first bomb was successfully tested in the United States, and soon after that, Oppenheimer, along with other members of the Provisional Committee created under President Truman, was forced to choose objects for the future atomicbombing. Many of his colleagues by that time were actively opposed to the use of dangerous nuclear weapons, which was not necessary, since the surrender of Japan was a foregone conclusion. Oppenheimer did not join them.
Explaining his behavior later on, he said that he relied on politicians and the military, who were better acquainted with the real situation. In October 1945, Oppenheimer ceased to be director of the Los Alamos Laboratory. He began work in Preston, heading the local research institute. His fame in the United States, as well as outside this country, reached its climax. New York newspapers wrote about him more and more often. Oppenheimer was presented with the Medal of Merit by President Truman, the highest decoration in America.
Besides scientific papers, he wrote several popular science books: "The Open Mind", "Science and Everyday Knowledge" and others.
This scientist died in 1967, on February 18th. Oppenheimer has been a heavy smoker since his youth. In 1965 he was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. At the end of 1966, after an operation that did not bring results, he underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, the treatment had no effect, and on February 18, the scientist died.
So, Kurchatov is the "father" of the atomic bomb in the USSR, Oppenheimer - in the USA. Now you know the names of those who were the first to work on the development of nuclear weapons. Having answered the question: "Who is called the father of the atomic bomb?", we told only about the initial stages of the history of this dangerous weapon. It continues to this day. Moreover, today in thisnew developments are actively carried out in the area. The "father" of the atomic bomb, the American Robert Oppenheimer, as well as the Russian scientist Igor Kurchatov, were only pioneers in this matter.
