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Citizen Kurchatov: Stalin's Bomb Maker is the story of
an enigmatic scientist involved in one of the most important and dangerous
projects in history.
Resources
Credits
Revolution
Igor Kurchatov grew up during a time of great change in Russia. The
Tsar was overthrown, and communists led by Lenin took control and established
the Soviet Union.
V.I.
Lenin
Russian
Revolutions of 1917
Nuclear Secrets
Nuclear physics was in a golden age during the 1930's when Kurchatov
was a young scientist. Although a future in this new science was uncertain,
Kurchatov chose it as his career.
Nuclear
Physics
Quantum
Mechanics
Werner
Heisenberg
Josef
Stalin
A
New Science
Abram
Ioffe
Yuli
Khariton
International
Prestige
Cyclotrons
A New Weapon
In the 1930's, nuclear physicists realized the potential for
building an atomic bomb, but they knew it would take a tremendous effort
to produce such a weapon.
J.
Robert Oppenheimer
The
MAUD Committee
Suspicious
Absence
Lavrenti
Beria
Director
Kurchatov
Peter
Kapitsa
Sergei
Kaftonov
Vyacheslav
Molotov
Enormous
Effort Abroad
Manhattan
Project
Arzamas-16
Although he did not completely believe atomic weapons were
possible, Stalin instructed Kurchatov to work on building a Russian bomb.
Klaus
Fuchs
Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
Post-War
Tension
A
Russian Scale
Plutonium
Arzamas-16
Atomic Powers
When Kurchtov's bomb project was successful, a new era of atomic
diplomacy pitted the Soviet Union against the United States.
If
We Are Wrong...
Soviet
Test
Equivalent
Rewards
Super Bomb
The hydrogen bomb was the next step for Kurchatov's team.
They quickly shifted their attention to building a bomb over 100 times
more powerful than a plutonium bomb.
The
Thermonuclear Bomb
The
Layer Cake
America's
Hydrogen Bomb
Megaton
Stalin's
Regime Ends
Nikita
Khrushchev
Cold War
Both sides now possessed hydrogen bombs, and the danger of
a global war became more evident to many of the scientists.
Georgi
Malenkov
Savior
of Russia
Andrei
Sakharov
Hazards
of Nuclear Testing
Delivering
the Bomb
Semipalatinsk-21
The Good of Mankind
Kurchatov's health was failing, but before he died, he lobbied for
peaceful applications of nuclear power and a global halt to nuclear weapons
testing.
Stick
to Your Science!
Requiem
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