In the United States and the USSR, work began simultaneously on atomic bomb projects. In August 1942, in one of the buildings located in the courtyard of Kazan University, a classified Laboratory No. 2 began to operate. The head of this facility was Igor Kurchatov, the Russian "father" of the atomic bomb. At the same time, in August, near the Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the building of the former local school, the Metallurgical Laboratory, also a secret one, was launched. 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 a training ground in July 1945. Two more were dropped in August on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It took seven years for the birth of the atomic bomb in the USSR. The first explosion took place in 1949.
Igor Kurchatov: a brief biography
Igor Kurchatov, the "father" of the atomic bomb in the USSR, was born in 1903, January 12. This event took place in the Ufa province, in today's city of Sime. Kurchatov is considered one of the founders of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
He graduated with honors from Simferopol Men's Gymnasium, as well as a craft school. Kurchatov in 1920 entered the Tauride University, in the physical and mathematical department. After 3 years, he successfully completed 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.
Age to Kurchatov
Back in 1930, work related to atomic energy began in the USSR. Chemists and physicists from various scientific centers, as well as specialists from other states, took part in all-Union conferences organized by the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Radium samples 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 construction of an atomic bomb was created, and methods for producing 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 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 that dealt 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 1939, Robert Oppenheimer, the head of work on the creation of the atomic bomb in America, came to the USSR in incognito. The Soviet leadership could learn about the possibility of obtaining these weapons from the information that this "father" of the atomic bomb reported.
In 1941, intelligence data from Great Britain and the USA began to arrive in the USSR. According to this information, intensive work was launched in the West, the purpose of which is the creation of nuclear weapons.
In the spring of 1943, Laboratory No. 2 was created to produce the first atomic bomb in the USSR. The question arose of whom to entrust the leadership of it. The list of candidates initially included about 50 names. Beria, however, chose Kurchatov. He was summoned in October 1943 to the bride to Moscow. Today, the scientific center that grew out of this laboratory bears its name - Kurchatov Institute.
In 1946, on April 9, a decree was issued on the creation of a design bureau at Laboratory No. 2. Only at the beginning of 1947 the first production buildings were ready, which were located in the zone of the Mordovian Reserve. Some of the laboratories were located in the monastery buildings.
RDS-1, the first Russian atomic bomb
They called the Soviet prototype RDS-1, which, according to one version, meant " special jet engine ." After some time, this abbreviation began to decipher somewhat differently - "Stalin's Jet Engine". In the documents for secrecy, the Soviet bomb was called the "rocket engine."
It was a device whose power was 22 kilotons. Their development of atomic weapons was carried out in the USSR, however, the need to catch up with the United States, which went ahead during the war, forced domestic science to use the data obtained by intelligence. The first Russian atomic bomb was based on the Fat Man developed by the Americans (pictured below).
It was on August 9, 1945 that the United States dropped it on Nagasaki. The Fat Man worked on the decay of plutonium-239. The blasting scheme was implosive: charges exploded around the perimeter of fissile material and created a blast wave that “squeezed” the substance located in the center and caused a chain reaction. This scheme was further recognized as ineffective.
Soviet RDS-1 was made in the form of a large diameter and mass of a free-falling bomb. An explosive atomic charge was made from plutonium. The electrical equipment, as well as the ballistic housing RDS-1 were of domestic design. The bomb consisted of a ballistic corps, a nuclear charge, an explosive device, as well as equipment for charge detonation automation systems.
Uranium deficiency
Soviet physics, taking the plutonium bomb of the Americans as a basis, was faced with a problem that had to be solved in an extremely short time: plutonium production had not yet begun in the USSR at the time of development. Therefore, the trophy 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 (near Chelyabinsk), they began to build the Mayak, a radiochemical plant, and the first industrial reactor in the USSR. Kurchatov personally led 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 was proceeding rapidly, but there was still not enough uranium. The first industrial reactor, even by 1948, could not be started. Only on June 7 of this year, uranium was loaded.
Nuclear reactor launch experiment
The "father" of the Soviet atomic bomb personally took over the duties of the main operator on the control panel of a nuclear reactor. On June 7, between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., Kurchatov began an experiment to launch it. The reactor reached a power of 100 kilowatts on June 8. After that, the "father" of the Soviet atomic bomb drowned out the chain reaction that had begun. The next stage of the preparation of the nuclear reactor continued for two days. After the cooling water was supplied, it became clear that the uranium available was not enough for the experiment. The reactor only after loading the fifth portion of the substance reached a critical state. The chain reaction has become possible again. It happened at 8 am on June 10th.
On the 17th of the same month, Kurchatov, the creator of the atomic bomb in the USSR, made a note in the shift supervisor’s journal, in which he warned that the water supply should in no case be interrupted, otherwise there would be an explosion. On June 19, 1938 at 12:45, the industrial launch of the nuclear reactor, the first in Eurasia, took place.
Successful bomb tests
In 1949, in June, 10 kg of plutonium was accumulated in the USSR in June, the amount that was put into the bomb by the Americans. Kurchatov, the creator of the atomic bomb in the USSR, following Beria’s decree, ordered an RDS-1 test to be scheduled for August 29.
A plot of the Irtysh waterless steppe located in Kazakhstan, not far from Semipalatinsk, was set aside for a testing ground. 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-layer construction. In it, the active substance was transferred to a critical state by compressing it using a spherical converging detonation wave, which was formed in an explosive.
Aftermath of an explosion
The tower after the explosion was completely destroyed. A funnel arose in its place. However, the main damage was done by the shock wave. According to eyewitnesses, when the trip to the place of the explosion took place on August 30, the experimental field was a terrible picture. The highway and railway bridges were thrown back to a distance of 20-30 m and distorted. Cars and wagons are scattered at a distance of 50-80 m from the place where they were, residential buildings were completely destroyed. The tanks used to test the impact force lay with their towers down on their sides, and the guns became a pile of mangled metal. Also burned 10 cars "Victory", specially brought here for the experience.
A total of RDS-1 bombs were made 5. They were not transferred to the Air Force, but were stored in Arzamas-16. Today in Sarov, which was previously Arzamas-16 (the laboratory is shown in the photo below), a bomb model is exhibited. It is located in the local museum of nuclear weapons.
The "fathers" of the atomic bomb
In the creation of the American atomic bomb participated only 12 Nobel laureates, future and present. In addition, they were assisted by a group of scientists from the UK, which was 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 Americans occasionally leaked. And only in the 1990s, after 50 years, Julius Khariton - one of the main participants in the events of that time - spoke about the great role of intelligence in creating the Soviet project. The technical and scientific results of the Americans were obtained 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 as 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. The main achievements of Oppenheimer were scientific. He turned out to be the leader of the atomic project precisely thanks to them, like the creator of the atomic bomb in the USSR.
Short biography of Robert Oppenheimer
This scientist was born in 1904, on 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 Gottingen. Here, under the leadership of M. Bourne, he defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1928, the scientist returned to the United States. 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 in the United States was successfully tested, and shortly thereafter, Oppenheimer, along with other members of the Provisional Committee established under President Truman, was forced to choose sites for future atomic bombing. Many of his colleagues at that time actively opposed 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 in the future, 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 Priston, leading the local research institute. His fame in the USA, as well as outside this country, reached a climax. New York newspapers wrote about him more and more often. President Truman handed Oppenheimer the Medal of Merit, which was the highest order in America.
He wrote, in addition to scientific works, several popular science books: "Open Mind", "Science and Ordinary Knowledge" and others.
This scientist died in 1967, February 18. Oppenheimer has been a heavy smoker since his youth. He found laryngeal cancer in 1965. 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 is in the USA. Now you know the names of those who were the first to work on developing nuclear weapons. Answering the question: “Who is called the father of the atomic bomb?”, We talked only about the initial stages of the history of this dangerous weapon. It continues to this day. Moreover, today in this area new developments are actively being conducted. The "father" of the atomic bomb - American Robert Oppenheimer, as well as Russian scientist Igor Kurchatov were only pioneers in this matter.