HELL. Sakharov“... armed our country with the most powerful weapons in history, which made the Soviet Union one of the two superpowers. Academician Sakharov alone did more for the country than the entire army of security officers and security officers who persecuted him for many years and shortened his life.
For many years there has been a debate: to whom do we owe the hydrogen bomb? Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov? Or is it Soviet intelligence, which has been stealing American atomic secrets for years?
The first to talk about the possibility of creating thermo nuclear weapons back in 1942, a Nobel laureate who fled from fascist Italy to America spoke Enrico Fermi. He shared his idea with the man who was destined to bring it to life, an American Edward Teller. And in scientific group Teller was employed by the German communist physicist Klaus Fuchs, who was an agent of Soviet intelligence.
Information about Teller’s work also reached Moscow. The study of these materials was commissioned Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich, future academician and three times Hero of Socialist Labor.
What is the principle of operation of thermonuclear weapons?
Atomic energy is released during the decay of the constituent parts of the atomic nucleus. To do this, the plutonium was shaped into a ball and surrounded with chemical explosives, which were detonated simultaneously at thirty-two points. A synchronized explosion instantly compressed nuclear materials, and a chain reaction of decay began atomic nuclei. The thermonuclear or hydrogen bomb is based on the reverse process - synthesis, the formation of nuclei of heavy elements by fusion of nuclei of lighter elements. In this case, incomparably greater energy is released. Such synthesis occurs on the Sun - however, at temperatures of tens of millions of degrees. the main problem was how to replicate such conditions on Earth. Edward Teller was the first to come to the idea that the energy of an atomic explosion could be used as a fuse for a hydrogen bomb. The gigantic temperatures that arise during thermonuclear reactions excluded the possibility of the experiment. This was a job for mathematicians. The first computers were already in full use in the United States. In Soviet Union cybernetics was recognized as a bourgeois pseudoscience, so all calculations were done on paper. Almost all Soviet mathematicians were occupied with this work.
Calculations showed Zeldovich that the proposed Edward Teller hydrogen bomb design does not work: Not It was possible to create such a temperature and compress hydrogen isotopes in such a way that a spontaneous fusion reaction began. The work could well have stopped at this point. Moreover, Klaus Fuchs had already been arrested for espionage, and Moscow was deprived of information about what was happening with the Americans. But then a young physicist Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was sent to Arzamas-16. He solved this problem. Such insights happen only to geniuses and only in at a young age. Moreover, Sakharov did not want to deal with nuclear weapons. He was only interested in theoretical physics. Andrei Sakharov with the help of the future academician Vitaly Ginzburg came up with a different design for a hydrogen bomb, which went down in the history of science as the “spherical puff”. For Sakharov, the hydrogen isotope was not located separately, but in layers inside the plutonium charge. Therefore, a nuclear explosion made it possible to achieve both the temperature and pressure necessary for a thermonuclear reaction to begin.
The hydrogen bomb was tested in August 1953.
The explosion was actually much stronger than an atomic one. The impression was terrible, the destruction was monstrous. But Sakharov’s “puff pastry” was limited in power. Therefore, soon Sakharov and Zeldovich came up with a new bomb. It was built on the same principle that, having become convinced of his initial mistake, the American Edward Teller followed.
Andrei Sakharov armed our country with the most destructive weapons in human history. The Soviet Union became a superpower, and a balance of fear was established in the world, which saved us from the third world war.
For his services, Sakharov was elected to the Academy of Sciences. He received three stars of the Hero of Socialist Labor, the Stalin and Lenin prizes - according to a closed list, of course. Twice the hero was supposed to have a monument erected in his homeland, three times the hero was also supposed to be erected in Moscow, but his very name was a big secret. He worked on the creation of hydrogen weapons as long as there were problems in this area for a physicist of his level. But when these problems were solved and the work at the technological level remained, his brilliant brain moved on to other problems.
After the creation of hydrogen weapons, Academician Sakharov found himself in narrow circle the most valuable scientists for the state. There were very few of these names - Kurchatov, Khariton, Keldysh, Korolev... The state provided these people with a fabulous life for those times, creating all the conditions for fruitful work. The highest officials of the state were polite, kind and helpful to them. They could easily call Khrushchev, and then Brezhnev and they knew that they would be listened to carefully, that they would be listened to.
At the end of the 30s of the last century, the laws of fission and decay were already discovered in Europe, and the hydrogen bomb moved from the category of fiction into reality. The history of the development of nuclear energy is interesting and still represents an exciting competition between scientific potential countries: Nazi Germany, USSR and USA. The most powerful bomb, which any state dreamed of owning, was not only a weapon, but also a powerful political tool. The country that had it in its arsenal actually became omnipotent and could dictate its own rules.
The hydrogen bomb has its own history of creation, which is based on physical laws, namely the thermonuclear process. Initially, it was incorrectly called atomic, and illiteracy was to blame. The scientist Bethe, who later became a Nobel Prize laureate, worked on artificial source energy - fission of uranium. This was the peak time scientific activity many physicists, and among them there was an opinion that scientific secrets should not exist at all, since initially the laws of science are international.
Theoretically, the hydrogen bomb had been invented, but now, with the help of designers, it had to acquire technical forms. All that remained was to pack it in a specific shell and test it for power. There are two scientists whose names will forever be associated with the creation of this powerful weapon: in the USA it is Edward Teller, and in the USSR it is Andrei Sakharov.
In the USA, a physicist began to study the thermonuclear problem back in 1942. By order of Harry Truman, then President of the United States, the best people worked on this problem scientists of the country, they created a fundamentally new weapon of destruction. Moreover, the government’s order was for a bomb with a capacity of at least a million tons of TNT. The hydrogen bomb was created by Teller and showed humanity in Hiroshima and Nagasaki its limitless but destructive capabilities.
A bomb was dropped on Hiroshima that weighed 4.5 tons and contained 100 kg of uranium. This explosion corresponded to almost 12,500 tons of TNT. Japanese city Nagasaki was destroyed by a plutonium bomb of the same mass, but equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT.
The future Soviet academician A. Sakharov in 1948, based on his research, presented the design of a hydrogen bomb under the name RDS-6. His research followed two branches: the first was called “puff” (RDS-6s), and its feature was an atomic charge, which was surrounded by layers of heavy and light elements. The second branch is the “pipe” or (RDS-6t), in which the plutonium bomb was contained in liquid deuterium. Subsequently, a very important discovery was made, which proved that the “pipe” direction is a dead end.
The principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb is as follows: first, the HB charge explodes inside the shell, which is the initiator of the thermo nuclear reaction, as a result, a neutron flash occurs. In this case, the process is accompanied by the release of high temperature, which is needed for further neutrons begin to bombard the lithium deuteride insert, and it, in turn, under the direct action of neutrons, splits into two elements: tritium and helium. The atomic fuse used forms the components necessary for fusion to occur in the already detonated bomb. This is the complicated operating principle of a hydrogen bomb. After this preliminary action, the thermonuclear reaction begins directly in a mixture of deuterium and tritium. At this time, the temperature in the bomb increases more and more, and everything participates in fusion. large quantity hydrogen. If you monitor the time of these reactions, then the speed of their action can be characterized as instantaneous.
Subsequently, scientists began to use not the synthesis of nuclei, but their fission. The fission of one ton of uranium creates energy equivalent to 18 Mt. This bomb has enormous power. The most powerful bomb created by mankind belonged to the USSR. She even got into the Guinness Book of Records. Her blast wave equated to 57 (approximately) megatons of TNT. It was blown up in 1961 in the area of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.
Sakharov Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov Andrey Dmitrievich
(1921-1989), theoretical physicist, public figure, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953). One of the creators of the hydrogen bomb (1953) in the USSR. Works on magnetic hydrodynamics, plasma physics, controlled thermonuclear fusion, elementary particles, astrophysics, gravitation. He proposed (together with I.E. Tamm) the idea of magnetic confinement of high-temperature plasma. Since the late 50s. actively advocated for an end to nuclear weapons testing. From the late 60s - early 70s. one of the leaders human rights movement(See Dissidents). In his work “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom” (1968), Sakharov examined the threats to humanity associated with its disunity and the confrontation between the socialist and capitalist systems: nuclear war, famine, environmental and demographic disasters, dehumanization of society, racism, nationalism, dictatorial terrorist regimes. In the democratization and demilitarization of society, the establishment of intellectual freedom, social and scientific and technological progress leading to the rapprochement of the two systems, Sakharov saw an alternative to the destruction of humanity. The publication of this work in the West served as a reason for Sakharov's removal from secret work; after protest against the introduction Soviet troops In Afghanistan, Sakharov in January 1980 was deprived of the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (1954, 1956, 1962), USSR State Prize (1953), Lenin Prize (1957) and other state awards and exiled to Gorky. Returned from exile in 1986, elected People's Deputy of the USSR in 1989; proposed the project new constitution countries. "Memoirs" published in 1990. In 1988, the European Parliament established International Prize them. Andrei Sakharov for humanitarian work in the field of human rights. Nobel Prize peace (1975).
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SAKHAROV Andrey DmitrievichSAKHAROV Andrey Dmitrievich (1921-89), Russian physicist and public figure, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953). One of the creators of the hydrogen bomb (1953) in the USSR. Works on magnetic hydrodynamics, plasma physics, controlled thermonuclear fusion, elementary particles, astrophysics, gravitation. He proposed (together with I.E. Tamm) the idea of magnetic confinement of high-temperature plasma. From the end 50s actively advocated for an end to nuclear weapons testing. From the late 60s - early. 70s one of the leaders of the human rights movement (see Dissidents (cm. DISSIDENTS)). In his work “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom” (1968), Sakharov examined the threats to humanity associated with its disunity and the confrontation between socialist and capitalist systems: nuclear war, famine, environmental and demographic disasters, dehumanization of society, racism, nationalism, dictatorial terrorist regimes. In the democratization and demilitarization of society, the establishment of intellectual freedom, social and scientific and technological progress leading to the rapprochement of the two systems, Sakharov saw an alternative to the destruction of humanity. The publication of this work in the West served as a reason for Sakharov's removal from secret work; after protesting against the introduction of troops into Afghanistan, Sakharov in January 1980 was deprived of all state awards (Hero of Socialist Labor (1954, 1956, 1962), Lenin Prize (1956), State Prize of the USSR (1953)) and exiled to Gorky, where he continued human rights activities. Returned from exile in 1986. Elected People's Deputy of the USSR in 1989; proposed a draft of a new Constitution for the country. "Memories" (1990). In 1988, the European Parliament established the International Prize named after. Andrei Sakharov for humanitarian work in the field of human rights. Nobel Peace Prize (1975).
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SAKHAROV Andrey Dmitrievich (May 21, 1921, Moscow - December 14, 1989, ibid.), Russian physicist and public figure, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953), Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1975), one of the authors of the first works on the implementation of thermonuclear reactions (hydrogen bomb) and the problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion.
Family. School years
Sakharov came from an intelligent family, in his own words, of fairly high income. Father, Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov (1889-1961), son famous lawyer, was a musically gifted person, received a musical and physics and mathematics education. He taught physics at Moscow universities. Professor of the Moscow Pedagogical Institute named after. V.I. Lenin, author of popular books and a problem book on physics. Mother, Ekaterina Alekseevna, nee Sofiano (1893-1963), of noble origin, was the daughter of a military man. From her Andrei Dmitrievich inherited not only appearance, but also some character traits, for example, perseverance, non-contact.
Sakharov spent his childhood in a large, crowded Moscow apartment, “imbued with a traditional family spirit.” For the first five years he studied at home. This contributed to the formation of independence and the ability to work, but led to unsociability, from which Sakharov suffered almost all his life. He was deeply influenced by Oleg Kudryavtsev, who studied with him, who introduced a humanitarian element into Sakharov’s worldview and opened up entire branches of knowledge and art for him. In the next five years of school, Andrei, under the guidance of his father, studied physics in depth and performed many physical experiments.
University. Evacuation. First invention
In 1938 Sakharov entered the physics department of the Moscow state university. The first attempt at independent scientific work in his second year ended unsuccessfully, but Sakharov did not feel disappointed in his abilities. After the start of the war, he and the university were evacuated to Ashgabat; seriously studied quantum mechanics (cm. QUANTUM MECHANICS) and theory of relativity (cm. RELATIVITY THEORY). After graduating with honors from Moscow State University in 1942, where he was considered best student who have ever studied Faculty of Physics, refused the offer of Professor A. A. Vlasov (cm. VLASOV Anatoly Alexandrovich) stay in graduate school. Having received a specialty in defense metallurgy, he was sent to a military plant, first in the city of Kovrov, Vladimir region, and then to Ulyanovsk. Working and living conditions were very difficult. However, Sakharov's first invention appeared here - a device for monitoring the hardening of armor-piercing cores.
Marriage
In 1943, Sakharov married Klavdiya Alekseevna Vikhireva (1919-1969), a native of Ulyanovsk, a laboratory chemist at the same plant. They had three children - two daughters and a son. Due to the war and then the birth of children, Klavdiya Alekseevna did not complete higher education and after the family moved to Moscow and later to the “object”, she was depressed that it was difficult for her to find suitable job. To some extent, this disorder, and perhaps also the nature of their characters, became the reason for some isolation of the Sakharovs from the families of their colleagues.
Postgraduate studies, fundamental physics
Returning to Moscow after the war, Sakharov entered graduate school in 1945 Physical Institute them. P. N. Lebedeva ( cm.) To famous physicist-theorist I.E. Tamm (cm. TAMM Igor Evgenievich) to deal with fundamental problems. In his PhD thesis on nonradiative nuclear transitions, presented in 1947, he proposed a new selection rule for charging parity and a method for taking into account the interaction of electron and positron during pair production. At the same time, he came to the idea (without publishing his research on this problem) that not a big difference energies of two levels of the hydrogen atom is caused by the difference in the interaction of the electron with its own field in the bound and free states. A similar fundamental idea and calculation was published by H. Bethe (cm. BETH Hans Albrecht) and awarded the Nobel Prize in 1967. The idea proposed by Sakharov and the calculation of mu-meson catalysis (cm. CATALYSIS) nuclear reaction in deuterium (cm. DEUTERIUM) saw the light of day and was published only as a secret report.
Working on a hydrogen bomb
Apparently, this report (and to some extent the need to improve living conditions) was the basis for Sakharov’s inclusion in 1948 in Tamm’s special group to verify a specific hydrogen bomb project (cm. H-BOMB), on which the group of Ya. B. Zeldovich worked (cm. ZELDOVICH Yakov Borisovich). Soon Sakharov proposed his own bomb design in the form of layers of deuterium and natural uranium around ordinary atomic charge. When an atomic charge explodes, ionized uranium significantly increases the density of deuterium and increases the rate of thermonuclear reaction (cm. THERMONUCLEAR REACTIONS) and fissile under the influence of fast neutrons (cm. FAST NEUTRONS). This “first idea” - ionization compression of deuterium - was significantly supplemented by V.L. Ginzburg (cm. GINZBURG Vitaly Lazarevich) The “second idea” was to use lithium-6 deuteride. Under the influence slow neutrons (cm. SLOW NEUTRONS) Lithium-6 produces tritium, a very active thermonuclear fuel. With these ideas in the spring of 1950, Tamm’s group, almost in full force, was sent to the “object” - a top-secret nuclear enterprise centered in Sarov, where it increased noticeably due to the influx of young theorists. Intensive work group and the entire enterprise ended with the successful test of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb on August 12, 1953. A month before the test, Sakharov defended his doctoral dissertation, in the same year he was elected academician, awarded a medal Hero of Socialist Labor and the Stalin (State) Prize.
Subsequently, the group led by Sakharov worked on the implementation of the collective “third idea” - compression thermonuclear fuel radiation from the explosion of an atomic charge. Successful test Such an improved hydrogen bomb in November 1955 was marred by the death of a girl and a soldier, as well as serious injuries to many people located far from the test site.
Awareness of the dangers of nuclear testing
This circumstance, as well as the mass resettlement of residents from the test site in 1953, forced Sakharov to seriously think about the tragic consequences of atomic explosions, about the possible outcome of this terrible power out of control. A tangible impetus for such thoughts was an episode at a banquet, when, in response to his toast - “so that bombs explode only over training grounds and never over cities” - he heard the words of a prominent military leader, Marshal M. I. Nedelin (cm. NEDELIN Mitrofan Ivanovich), the meaning of which was that the task of scientists is to “strengthen” weapons, and they (the military) themselves will be able to “direct” them. This was a sharp blow to Sakharov’s pride, and at the same time to his hidden pacifism. Success in 1955 brought Sakharov a second medal of the Hero of Socialist Labor and the Lenin Prize.
Controlled thermonuclear fusion
In parallel with his work on bombs, Sakharov, together with Tamm, put forward the idea of magnetic plasma confinement (cm. PLASMA)(1950) and carried out fundamental calculations of controlled thermonuclear fusion installations. He also owned the idea and calculations for creating super-strong magnetic fields by compression magnetic flux conductive cylindrical shell(1952). In 1961, Sakharov proposed using laser compression to produce a controlled thermonuclear reaction. These ideas laid the foundation for large-scale research into thermo nuclear power.
In 1958, two articles by Sakharov appeared on harmful effect radioactivity of nuclear explosions on heredity and, as a consequence, a decrease average duration life. According to the scientist, each megaton explosion leads to 10 thousand victims of cancer in the future. That same year, Sakharov tried unsuccessfully to influence the extension of the moratorium on atomic explosions declared by the USSR. The next moratorium was interrupted in 1961 by the testing of a super-powerful 50-megaton hydrogen bomb for political rather than military purposes, for the creation of which Sakharov was awarded the third medal of the Hero of Socialist Labor. This controversial activity to develop weapons and prohibit their testing, which led in 1962 to acute conflicts with colleagues and government authorities, had in 1963 and positive result- Moscow Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (cm. NUCLEAR WEAPONS TEST BAN TREATY) weapons in three environments.
Beginning of open public performances
Even then, Sakharov’s interests were not limited to nuclear physics. In 1958, he opposed N. S. Khrushchev’s plans to reduce secondary education, and a few years later he, together with other scientists, managed to rid Soviet genetics of the influence of T. D. Lysenko (cm. LYSENKO Trofim Denisovich). In 1964, Sakharov successfully spoke out at the Academy of Sciences against the election of biologist N. I. Nuzhdin as an academician, considering him, like Lysenko, responsible for “shameful, difficult pages in the development of Soviet science.” In 1966, he signed the “25 Celebrities” letter to the 23rd Congress of the CPSU against the rehabilitation of Stalin. The letter noted that any attempt to revive Stalin's policy of intolerance of dissent "would be the greatest disaster" for Soviet people. Acquaintance in the same year with R. A. Medvedev (cm. MEDVEDEV Roy Alexandrovich) and his book about Stalin significantly influenced the evolution of Andrei Dmitrievich’s views. In February 1967, Sakharov sent his first letter to L.I. Brezhnev in defense of four dissidents. The authorities’ response was to deprive him of one of the two positions held at the “facility”.
In June 1968, a large article appeared in the foreign press - Sakharov’s manifesto “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom” - about the dangers of thermonuclear destruction, environmental self-poisoning, dehumanization of humanity, the need to bring the socialist and capitalist systems closer together, the crimes of Stalin and the lack of democracy in the USSR. In his manifesto, Sakharov spoke out for the abolition of censorship, political courts, and against keeping dissidents in psychiatric hospitals. The reaction of the authorities was not long in coming: Sakharov was completely removed from work at the “facility” and dismissed from all posts related to military secrets. On August 26, 1968, he met with A.I. Solzhenitsyn (cm. SOLZHENITSYN Alexander Isaevich), which revealed the difference in their views on the necessary social transformations.
Death of his wife. Return to FIAN. Baryonic asymmetry peace
In March 1969, Andrei Dmitrievich’s wife died, leaving him in a state of despair, which was then replaced by prolonged spiritual devastation. After a letter from I. E. Tamm (at that time the head of the Theoretical Department of the Lebedev Physical Institute) to the President of the Academy of Sciences M. V. Keldysh (cm. KELDISH Mstislav Vsevolodovich) and, apparently, as a result of sanctions from above, Sakharov was enrolled on June 30, 1969 in the department of the institute where his scientific work began, to the position of senior research fellow- the lowest that a Soviet academician could occupy. From 1967 to 1980, he published more than 15 scientific papers: on the baryon asymmetry of the Universe with the prediction of proton decay (according to Sakharov, this is his best theoretical work, which influenced the formation scientific opinion in the next decade), about cosmological models of the Universe, about the connection between gravity and quantum fluctuations of the vacuum, about mass formulas for mesons (cm. MESONS) and baryons (cm. BARIONS) and etc.
Activation of social activities
During these same years, Sakharov’s social activities intensified, which increasingly diverged from the policies of official circles. He initiated appeals for the release of human rights activist P. G. Grigorenko from psychiatric hospitals (cm. GRIGORENKO Petr Grigorievich) and Zh. A. Medvedev. Together with physicist V. Turchin and R. A. Medvedev (cm. MEDVEDEV Roy Alexandrovich) wrote "Memorandum on Democratization and Intellectual Freedom." I went to Kaluga to participate in picketing the courtroom, where the trial of dissidents R. Pimenov and B. Weil was taking place. In November 1970, together with physicists V. Chalidze and A. Tverdokhlebov, he organized the Human Rights Committee, which was supposed to implement the principles Universal Declaration human rights (cm. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS). In 1971, together with academician M. A. Leontovich (cm. LEONTOVICH Mikhail Alexandrovich) actively opposed the use of psychiatry in political purposes and then - for the right to return of the Crimean Tatars, freedom of religion, freedom to choose the country of residence and, in particular, for Jewish and German emigration.
Second marriage. Further social activities
In 1972, Sakharov married E. G. Bonner (cm. BONNER Elena Georgievna)(b. 1923), whom he met in 1970 at a trial in Kaluga. Having become a loyal friend and ally of her husband, she focused Sakharov’s activities on protecting the rights specific people. Policy documents were now considered by him as a subject for discussion. However, in 1977 he signed a collective letter to the Presidium Supreme Council USSR about amnesty and abolition death penalty, in 1973 gave an interview to Swedish radio correspondent U. Stenholm about the nature of the Soviet system and, despite the warning of the Deputy Prosecutor General, held a press conference for 11 Western journalists, during which he condemned not only the threat of persecution, but also what he called “détente without democratization." The reaction to these statements was a letter published in the Pravda newspaper by 40 academicians, which caused a vicious campaign condemning Sakharov’s public activities, as well as statements on his side by human rights activists, Western politicians and scientists. A.I. Solzhenitsyn made a proposal to award Sakharov the Nobel Peace Prize.
Intensifying the fight for the right to emigrate, in September 1973 Sakharov sent a letter to the US Congress in support of the Jackson Amendment. In 1974, during the tenure of President R. Nixon (cm. NIXON Richard) in Moscow, held his first hunger strike and gave a television interview to draw the attention of the world community to the fate of political prisoners. On the basis of the French humanitarian prize received by Sakharov, E. G. Bonner organized a fund to help children of political prisoners. In 1975, Sakharov met with the German writer G. Bell, together with him he wrote an appeal in defense of political prisoners, and in the same year he published the book “On the Country and the World” in the West, in which he developed the ideas of convergence (see theory of convergence (cm. CONVERGENCE THEORY)), disarmament, democratization, strategic balance, political and economic reforms.
Nobel Peace Prize
In October 1975, Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which was received by his wife, who was being treated abroad. Bonner read out Sakharov's speech to the audience, which called for "true detente and genuine disarmament", for "general political amnesty in the world" and "the release of all prisoners of conscience everywhere." The next day, Bonner read her husband’s Nobel lecture “Peace, progress, human rights,” in which Sakharov argued that these three goals were “inextricably linked with one another” and demanded “freedom of conscience, the existence of an informed public opinion, pluralism in the education system, freedom of the press and access to sources of information,” and also put forward proposals for achieving detente and disarmament.
In April and August 1976, December 1977 and early 1979, Sakharov and his wife traveled to Omsk, Yakutia, Mordovia and Tashkent to support human rights activists. In 1977 and 1978, Bonner's children and grandchildren, whom Andrei Dmitrievich considered hostages of his human rights activities, emigrated to the United States. In 1979, Sakharov sent a letter to L. Brezhnev in defense of the Crimean Tatars and the removal of secrecy from the case of the explosion in the Moscow metro. 9 years before his deportation to Gorky, he received hundreds of letters asking for help and received more than a hundred visitors. Lawyer S.V. Kalistratova helped him in drawing up the answers.
Exile to Gorky
Despite his open opposition to the Soviet regime, Sakharov was not formally charged until 1980, when he sharply condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. On January 4, 1980, he gave an interview to a New York Times correspondent about the situation in Afghanistan and its correction, and on January 14, he gave a television interview to ABC. Sakharov was deprived of all government awards, including the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, and on January 22, without any trial, he was deported to the city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod), closed to foreigners, where he was placed under house arrest. At the end of 1981, Sakharov and Bonner went on a hunger strike for the right of E. Alekseeva to travel to the United States to meet her fiance, Bonner’s son. The departure was allowed by Brezhnev after a conversation with the President of the Academy of Sciences A.P. Alexandrov (cm. ALEXANDROV Anatoly Petrovich). However, even those close to Andrei Dmitrievich believed that “personal happiness cannot be bought at the price of the suffering of a great man.” In June 1983, Sakharov published a letter to the famous physicist S. Drell in the American magazine Foreign Affairs about the danger of thermonuclear war. The response to the letter was an article by four academics in the newspaper Izvestia, which portrayed Sakharov as a supporter of thermonuclear war and the arms race and sparked a noisy newspaper campaign against him and his wife. In the summer of 1984, Sakharov went on an unsuccessful hunger strike for his wife’s right to travel to the United States to meet her family and receive treatment. The hunger strike was accompanied by forced hospitalization and painful feeding. Sakharov reported the motives and details of this hunger strike in the fall in a letter to A.P. Alexandrov, in which he asked for assistance in obtaining permission for his wife to travel, and also announced his resignation from the Academy of Sciences in case of refusal.
April - September 1985 - Sakharov's last hunger strike with the same goals; again hospitalized and force-fed. Permission to leave Bonner was issued only in July 1985 after Sakharov’s letter to M. S. Gorbachev (cm. GORBACHEV Mikhail Sergeevich) with a promise to focus on scientific work and stop public appearances if the wife's travel is allowed. In a new letter to Gorbachev on October 22, 1986, Sakharov asks to stop his deportation and the exile of his wife, again promising to end his social activities. On December 16, 1986, M. S. Gorbachev announced to Sakharov by telephone about the end of his exile: “come back and start your patriotic activities.” A week later, Sakharov returned to Moscow with Bonner.
Last years
In February 1987, Sakharov spoke at international forum“For a nuclear-free world, for the survival of mankind” with a proposal to consider reducing the number of Euro-missiles separately from the problems of SDI (cm. SOI), about army reduction, about security nuclear power plants. In 1988 he was elected honorary chairman of the Memorial Society, and in March 1989 - people's deputy of the Supreme Council of the USSR. Thinking a lot about the reform of the political structure of the USSR, Sakharov in November 1989 presented a draft of a new constitution, based on the protection of individual rights and the right of all peoples to statehood.
Sakharov was a foreign member of the Academies of Sciences of the USA, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and an honorary doctor of many universities in Europe, America and Asia. He died on December 14, 1989, after a busy day of work at the Congress people's deputies. His heart, as shown by the autopsy, was completely worn out. Hundreds of thousands of people came to say goodbye to the great man. Sakharov is buried at the Vostryakovsky cemetery in Moscow.
| 10/23/2014 at 01:08
Who actually created the hydrogen bomb instead of Sakharov.
Creator of the hydrogen bomb Oleg Lavrentyev
Oleg Lavrentiev was born in 1926 in Pskov and was probably a child prodigy. In any case, having read the book “Introduction to nuclear physics“, he immediately caught fire with his “blue dream of working in the field of nuclear energy.” But the war began. Oleg volunteered for the front. He met victory in the Baltic states, but further studies had to be postponed again - the soldier had to continue his military service in South Sakhalin, which had just been liberated from the Japanese, in the small town of Poronaisk.
The unit had a library with technical literature and university textbooks, and Oleg also subscribed to the journal “Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk” with his sergeant’s allowance.
The idea of a hydrogen bomb and controlled thermonuclear fusion first occurred to him in 1948, when the command of the unit, distinguished by a capable sergeant, instructed him to prepare a lecture on the atomic problem for personnel.
Having several free days to prepare, I rethought all the accumulated material and found a solution to the issues that I had been struggling with for many years,” says Oleg Alexandrovich. - In 1949, in one year I completed the 8th, 9th and 10th grades of the evening school for working youth and received a certificate of maturity. In January 1950 American President, speaking before Congress, called on US scientists to quickly complete work on the hydrogen bomb. And I knew how to make a bomb.
Having access only to a school physics textbook, he alone, with the help of only his brains, did what huge teams of highly paid, high-brow scientists, with unlimited funds and opportunities on both sides of the ocean, were struggling with.
Having no contact with scientific world, a soldier, in full agreement with the norms of life at that time, writes a letter to Stalin. "I know the secret of the hydrogen bomb!" . And soon the command of the unit received an order from Moscow to create conditions for Sergeant Lavrentiev to work. He was given a guarded room at the unit's headquarters, where he wrote his first articles. In July 1950, he sent them by secret mail to the heavy engineering department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
Lavrentyev described the principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb, where solid lithium deuteride was used as fuel. This choice made it possible to make a compact charge - quite “on the shoulder” of the aircraft. Note that the first American hydrogen bomb, “Mike,” tested two years later, in 1952, contained liquid deuterium as fuel, was as tall as a house and weighed 82 tons.
Main question was how to isolate ionized gas heated to hundreds of millions of degrees, that is, plasma, from the cold walls of the reactor. No material can withstand such heat. The sergeant proposed a revolutionary solution at that time - a force field could act as a shell for high-temperature plasma. In the first version - electric.
He did not know that his message was very quickly sent for review to the then candidate of sciences, and subsequently to the academician and three times Hero of Socialist Labor A. Sakharov, who already in August spoke about the idea of controlled thermonuclear fusion in the following way: “... I believe that the author puts a very high emphasis on an important and not a hopeless problem... I consider it necessary to have a detailed discussion of Comrade’s project. Lavrentieva. Regardless of the outcome of the discussion, the author’s creative initiative must now be noted.”
On March 5, 1953, Stalin dies, on June 26, Beria is arrested and soon shot, and on August 12, 1953, a thermonuclear charge using lithium deuteride is successfully tested in the USSR. Participants in the creation of new weapons receive state awards, titles and bonuses, but Lavrentyev, for a reason completely incomprehensible to him, loses a lot overnight.
At the university they not only stopped giving me increased scholarship, but also “reversed” the tuition fees for last year, essentially leaving them without a livelihood,” says Oleg Aleksandrovich. “I made my way to an appointment with the new dean and, in complete confusion, heard: “Your benefactor has died. What do you want?
At the same time, in LIPAN (the only place in the country where managed thermonuclear fusion) my clearance was revoked, and I lost my permanent pass to the laboratory, where, according to a previous agreement, I was supposed to undergo pre-graduation practice, and subsequently work. If the scholarship was later reinstated, then I never received admission to the institute.
In other words, they were simply removed from their secret domain. They pushed him aside, fenced him off with secrecy. Naive Russian scientist! He couldn't even imagine that this could happen.
In the spring of 1956, a young specialist came to Kharkov with a report on the theory of electromagnetic traps, which he wanted to show to the director of the institute, K. Sinelnikov. Oleg did not know that even before his arrival in Kharkov, one of the LIPAN members had already called Kirill Dmitrievich, warning that a “scandalist” and “author of confused ideas” was coming to see him. They also called the head of the theoretical department of the institute, Alexander Akhiezer, recommending that Lavrentiev’s work be “cut down.” But Kharkov residents were in no hurry to make assessments. The influence of the powerful Moscow-Arzamas scientific clique could not spread over one and a half thousand kilometers. However, they took an active part - they called, spread rumors, and discredited the scientist. How to protect your feeder!
Application for opening
Oleg Aleksandrovich learned by chance that it was he who was the first to propose confining plasma by a field, having stumbled upon the memoirs of I. Tamm (Sakharov’s supervisor) in one of the books in 1968 (! 15 years later). There was no last name, just a vague phrase about “a military man from the Far East,”
The cat smells (Tamm) whose meat it has eaten! Tamm and Sakharov understood perfectly well what was happening. What Lavrentiev came up with is the key that opens access to the practical implementation of the hydrogen bomb. Everything else, the whole theory, was known to absolutely everyone for a long time, since it was described even in ordinary textbooks. And not only the “brilliant” Sakharov, but also any technician with unlimited access to material government resources could bring the idea to material embodiment.
Sakharov became famous for the fact that, under the influence of his beloved wife and her puppeteers, he began to actively destroy the Empire that nurtured him with his “human rights” activities. the great “humanist” Sakharov once suggested that the US President in ~1970 (who was it then, Nixon, it seems?) should inflict preventive nuclear attack in the USSR for... preventing emigration from the "damned Soviet Union". A. Sakharov, having waited for Gorbachev’s “pegestgoy”, from high stands treacherously called for breaking the USSR into 30-40 “small but civilized” states. It was then that human rights activists created the myth of the “father of the hydrogen bomb.”
It’s one thing when a famous human rights activist and dissident is just an unsuccessful scientist who can only “develop creatively.” And it’s a completely different matter when the “father of the hydrogen bomb” becomes the “father of Russian democracy.”
AND scientific merits Sakharov human rights activists, at the suggestion of overseas masters psychological warfare, began to artificially inflate, like a frog through a straw.
The hydrogen or thermonuclear bomb became the cornerstone of the arms race between the USA and the USSR. The two superpowers argued for several years about who would become the first owner of a new type of destructive weapon.
Thermonuclear weapon project
At the beginning of the Cold War, the test of a hydrogen bomb was the most important argument for the leadership of the USSR in the fight against the United States. Moscow wanted to achieve nuclear parity with Washington and invested huge amounts of money in the arms race. However, work on creating a hydrogen bomb began not thanks to generous funding, but because of reports from secret agents in America. In 1945, the Kremlin learned that the United States was preparing to create a new weapon. It was a superbomb, the project of which was called Super.
The source of valuable information was Klaus Fuchs, an employee of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the USA. He provided the Soviet Union with specific information regarding the secret American development of a superbomb. By 1950, the Super project was thrown into the trash, as it became clear to Western scientists that such a new weapon scheme could not be implemented. The director of this program was Edward Teller.
In 1946, Klaus Fuchs and John developed the ideas for the Super project and patented own system. The principle of radioactive implosion was fundamentally new in it. In the USSR, this scheme began to be considered a little later - in 1948. In general, we can say that at the starting stage it was completely based on American information received by intelligence. But by continuing research based on these materials, Soviet scientists were noticeably ahead of their Western colleagues, which allowed the USSR to obtain first the first, and then the most powerful thermonuclear bomb.
On December 17, 1945, at a meeting of a special committee created under the Council People's Commissars USSR, nuclear physicists Yakov Zeldovich, Isaac Pomeranchuk and Julius Hartion made a report “Use of nuclear energy of light elements.” This paper examined the possibility of using a deuterium bomb. This speech marked the beginning of the Soviet nuclear program.
In 1946 theoretical research began to be carried out at the Institute of Chemical Physics. The first results of this work were discussed at one of the meetings of the Scientific and Technical Council in the First Main Directorate. Two years later, Lavrentiy Beria instructed Kurchatov and Khariton to analyze materials about the von Neumann system, which were delivered to the Soviet Union thanks to secret agents in the West. Data from these documents gave additional impetus to the research that led to the birth of the RDS-6 project.
"Evie Mike" and "Castle Bravo"
On November 1, 1952, the Americans tested the world's first thermonuclear device. It was not yet a bomb, but already its most important component. The explosion occurred on Enivotek Atoll, in the Pacific Ocean. and Stanislav Ulam (each of them actually the creator of the hydrogen bomb) had recently developed a two-stage design, which the Americans tested. The device could not be used as a weapon, as it was produced using deuterium. In addition, it was distinguished by its enormous weight and dimensions. Such a projectile simply could not be dropped from an airplane.
The first hydrogen bomb was tested by Soviet scientists. After the United States learned about the successful use of the RDS-6s, it became clear that it was necessary to close the gap with the Russians in the arms race as quickly as possible. The American test took place on March 1, 1954. The Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was chosen as the test site. The Pacific archipelagos were not chosen by chance. There was almost no population here (and the few people who lived on the nearby islands were evicted on the eve of the experiment).
Most destructive explosion The Americans' hydrogen bomb became known as Castle Bravo. The charge power turned out to be 2.5 times higher than expected. The explosion led to radiation contamination of a large area (many islands and Pacific Ocean), which led to a scandal and a revision of the nuclear program.
Development of RDS-6s
The project of the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb was called RDS-6s. The plan was written outstanding physicist Andrey Sakharov. In 1950, the Council of Ministers of the USSR decided to concentrate work on the creation of new weapons in KB-11. According to this decision, a group of scientists led by Igor Tamm went to the closed Arzamas-16.
Specially for this grandiose project was prepared Semipalatinsk test site. Before the hydrogen bomb test began, numerous measuring, filming and recording instruments were installed there. In addition, on behalf of scientists, almost two thousand indicators appeared there. The area affected by the hydrogen bomb test included 190 structures.
The Semipalatinsk experiment was unique not only because of the new type of weapon. Unique intakes designed for chemical and radioactive samples were used. Only a powerful shock wave could open them. Recording and filming instruments were installed in specially prepared fortified structures on the surface and in underground bunkers.
Alarm Clock
Back in 1946, Edward Teller, who worked in the USA, developed a prototype of the RDS-6s. It's called Alarm Clock. The project for this device was originally proposed as an alternative to the Super. In April 1947, a series of experiments began at the Los Alamos laboratory designed to study the nature of thermonuclear principles.
Scientists expected the greatest energy release from Alarm Clock. In the fall, Teller decided to use lithium deuteride as fuel for the device. The researchers had not yet used this substance, but expected that it would improve efficiency. Interestingly, Teller already noted in his memos the dependence of the nuclear program on further development computers. This technique was necessary for scientists to make more accurate and complex calculations.
Alarm Clock and RDS-6s had much in common, but they also differed in many ways. The American version was not as practical as the Soviet one due to its size. It inherited its large size from the Super project. In the end, the Americans had to abandon this development. The last studies took place in 1954, after which it became clear that the project was unprofitable.
Explosion of the first thermonuclear bomb
The first test of a hydrogen bomb in human history occurred on August 12, 1953. In the morning, a bright flash appeared on the horizon, which was blinding even through protective glasses. The RDS-6s explosion turned out to be 20 times more powerful atomic bomb. The experiment was considered successful. Scientists were able to achieve an important technological breakthrough. For the first time, lithium hydride was used as a fuel. Within a radius of 4 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion, the wave destroyed all buildings.
Subsequent tests of the hydrogen bomb in the USSR were based on the experience gained using the RDS-6s. This destructive weapon was not only the most powerful. An important advantage of the bomb was its compactness. The projectile was placed in a Tu-16 bomber. Success allowed Soviet scientists to get ahead of the Americans. In the United States at that time there was a thermonuclear device the size of a house. It was not transportable.
When Moscow announced that the USSR's hydrogen bomb was ready, Washington disputed this information. The main argument of the Americans was the fact that the thermonuclear bomb should be made according to the Teller-Ulam scheme. It was based on the principle of radiation implosion. This project will be implemented in the USSR two years later, in 1955.
Physicist Andrei Sakharov made the greatest contribution to the creation of RDS-6s. The hydrogen bomb was his brainchild - it was he who proposed the revolutionary ones technical solutions, which made it possible to successfully complete tests at the Semipalatinsk test site. Young Sakharov immediately became an academician at the USSR Academy of Sciences, a Hero of Socialist Labor and a laureate Stalin Prize. Other scientists also received awards and medals: Yuli Khariton, Kirill Shchelkin, Yakov Zeldovich, Nikolai Dukhov, etc. In 1953, the test of a hydrogen bomb showed that Soviet science can overcome what until recently seemed like fiction and fantasy. Therefore, immediately after the successful explosion of the RDS-6s, the development of even more powerful projectiles began.
RDS-37
On November 20, 1955, the next tests of a hydrogen bomb took place in the USSR. This time it was two-stage and corresponded to the Teller-Ulam scheme. The RDS-37 bomb was about to be dropped from an airplane. However, when it took off, it became clear that the tests would have to be carried out in an emergency situation. Contrary to weather forecasters, the weather deteriorated noticeably, causing dense clouds to cover the training ground.
For the first time, experts were forced to land a plane with a thermonuclear bomb on board. Some time on Central command post there was a discussion about what to do next. A proposal to drop a bomb in the mountains nearby was considered, but this option was rejected as too risky. Meanwhile, the plane continued to circle near the test site, running out of fuel.
Zeldovich and Sakharov received the final word. A hydrogen bomb that exploded outside of the test site would have led to disaster. The scientists understood the full extent of the risk and their own responsibility, and yet they gave written confirmation that the plane would be safe to land. Finally, the commander of the Tu-16 crew, Fyodor Golovashko, received the command to land. The landing was very smooth. The pilots showed all their skills and did not panic critical situation. The maneuver was perfect. The Central Command Post breathed a sigh of relief.
The creator of the hydrogen bomb, Sakharov, and his team survived the tests. The second attempt was scheduled for November 22. On this day everything went without any emergency situations. The bomb was dropped from a height of 12 kilometers. While the shell was falling, the plane managed to move away safe distance from the epicenter of the explosion. In a few minutes nuclear mushroom reached a height of 14 kilometers, and its diameter was 30 kilometers.
The explosion was not without tragic incidents. From shock wave At a distance of 200 kilometers, windows were broken, causing several injuries. A girl who lived in a neighboring village also died when the ceiling collapsed on her. Another victim was a soldier who was in a special holding area. The soldier fell asleep in the dugout and died of suffocation before his comrades could pull him out.
Development of the Tsar Bomba
In 1954, the country's best nuclear physicists, under the leadership, began developing the most powerful thermonuclear bomb in the history of mankind. Andrei Sakharov, Viktor Adamsky, Yuri Babaev, Yuri Smirnov, Yuri Trutnev, etc. also took part in this project. Due to its power and size, the bomb became known as the “Tsar Bomba”. Project participants later recalled that this phrase appeared after famous saying Khrushchev about “Kuzka’s Mother” at the UN. Officially, the project was called AN602.
Over seven years of development, the bomb went through several reincarnations. At first, scientists planned to use components from uranium and the Jekyll-Hyde reaction, but later this idea had to be abandoned due to the danger of radioactive contamination.
Test on Novaya Zemlya
For some time, the Tsar Bomba project was frozen, since Khrushchev was going to the USA, and in cold war there was a short pause. In 1961, the conflict between the countries flared up again and in Moscow they again remembered thermonuclear weapons. Khrushchev announced the upcoming tests in October 1961 during the XXII Congress of the CPSU.
On the 30th, a Tu-95B with a bomb on board took off from Olenya and headed for New Earth. The plane took two hours to reach its destination. Another Soviet hydrogen bomb was dropped at an altitude of 10.5 thousand meters above nuclear test site"Dry Nose" The shell exploded while still in the air. Arose fire ball, which reached a diameter of three kilometers and almost touched the ground. According to scientists' calculations, the seismic wave from the explosion crossed the planet three times. The impact was felt a thousand kilometers away, and everything living at a distance of a hundred kilometers could receive third-degree burns (this did not happen, since the area was uninhabited).
At that time, the most powerful US thermonuclear bomb was four times less powerful than the Tsar Bomba. The Soviet leadership was pleased with the result of the experiment. Moscow got what it wanted from the next hydrogen bomb. The test demonstrated that the USSR had weapons much more powerful than the United States. Subsequently, the destructive record of the “Tsar Bomba” was never broken. Most powerful explosion The hydrogen bomb was a major milestone in the history of science and the Cold War.
Thermonuclear weapons of other countries
British development of the hydrogen bomb began in 1954. The project manager was William Penney, who had previously been a participant in the Manhattan Project in the USA. The British had crumbs of information about the structure of thermonuclear weapons. American allies did not share this information. In Washington, they referred to the atomic energy law passed in 1946. The only exception the British were given permission to observe the tests. They also used aircraft to collect samples left behind by American shell explosions.
At first, London decided to limit itself to creating a very powerful atomic bomb. Thus began the Orange Messenger trials. During them, the most powerful of the non- thermonuclear bombs in the history of mankind. Its disadvantage was its excessive cost. On November 8, 1957, a hydrogen bomb was tested. The history of the creation of the British two-stage device is an example of successful progress in conditions of lagging behind two superpowers that were arguing among themselves.
The hydrogen bomb appeared in China in 1967, in France in 1968. Thus, today there are five states in the club of countries possessing thermonuclear weapons. Information about the hydrogen bomb in North Korea remains controversial. The head of the DPRK stated that his scientists were able to develop such a projectile. During the tests, seismologists different countries recorded seismic activity caused by a nuclear explosion. But there is still no concrete information about the hydrogen bomb in the DPRK.