The Good of Mankind

Kurchatov now spent more time working on peaceful uses of nuclear energy. He worked on constructing particle accelerators and research in fusion. But while voicing concerns about the dangers of nuclear war, he continued his work on improving the Soviet's arsenal.

In 1956, Khrushchev took Kurchatov with him to England. He toured research centers and talked to British scientists. It was a sign of new openness from the Soviets.

Kurchatov even surprised the British by sharing some of the research the Soviets had done on fusion. The information included work by Sakharov on the toroidal Tokamak fusion containment reactor. The West was still keeping its research on fusion secret.

After he returned to Russia, Kurchatov suffered a stroke and his health deteriorated. He looked older than his 50 years.