Who first invented nuclear weapons. Who actually created the atomic bomb

The appearance of atomic (nuclear) weapons was due to a mass of objective and subjective factors. Objectively, the creation of atomic weapons came about thanks to the rapid development of science, which began with fundamental discoveries in the field of physics in the first half of the twentieth century. The main subjective factor was the military-political situation, when the states of the anti-Hitler coalition began an unspoken race to develop such powerful weapons. Today we will find out who invented the atomic bomb, how it developed in the world and the Soviet Union, and also get acquainted with its device and the consequences of its use.

Creation of the atomic bomb

From a scientific point of view, the distant 1896 was the year of the creation of the atomic bomb. It was then that the French physicist A. Becquerel discovered the radioactivity of uranium. Subsequently, the uranium chain reaction came to be seen as a source of tremendous energy, and easy to develop the most dangerous weapons in the world. Nevertheless, Becquerel is rarely mentioned when talking about who invented the atomic bomb.

Over the next few decades, alpha, beta and gamma rays were discovered by scientists from all over the Earth. At the same time, a large number of radioactive isotopes were discovered, the law of radioactive decay was formulated, and the beginning of the study of nuclear isomerism was laid.

In the 1940s, scientists discovered the neuron and the positron, and for the first time performed the fission of the nucleus of the uranium atom, accompanied by the absorption of neurons. It was this discovery that became a turning point in history. In 1939, the French physicist Frédéric Joliot-Curie patented the world's first nuclear bomb, which he developed with his wife out of purely scientific interest. It is Joliot-Curie who is considered the creator of the atomic bomb, despite the fact that he was a staunch defender of world peace. In 1955, he, along with Einstein, Born and a number of other famous scientists, organized the Pugwash Movement, whose members advocated peace and disarmament.

Rapidly developing, atomic weapons have become an unprecedented military-political phenomenon that allows you to ensure the safety of its owner and reduce to a minimum the capabilities of other weapons systems.

How is a nuclear bomb made?

Structurally, an atomic bomb consists of a large number of components, the main of which are the case and automation. The case is designed to protect automation and a nuclear charge from mechanical, thermal, and other influences. Automation controls the time parameters of the explosion.

It consists of:

1. Emergency demolition.
2. Arming and safety devices.
3. Power supply.
4. Various sensors.

Transportation of atomic bombs to the place of attack is carried out with the help of missiles (anti-aircraft, ballistic or cruise). Nuclear ammunition can be part of a land mine, torpedo, aerial bomb and other elements. For atomic bombs, various detonation systems are used. The simplest is a device in which a projectile hitting a target, causing the formation of a supercritical mass, stimulates an explosion.

Nuclear weapons can be of large, medium and small caliber. The power of the explosion is usually expressed in terms of TNT. Small-caliber atomic shells have a capacity of several thousand tons of TNT. Medium-caliber ones already correspond to tens of thousands of tons, and the capacity of large-caliber reaches millions of tons.

Principle of operation

The principle of operation of a nuclear bomb is based on the use of energy released during a nuclear chain reaction. During this process, heavy particles are divided and light particles are synthesized. When an atomic bomb explodes, a huge amount of energy is released in a short period of time over a small area. That is why such bombs are classified as weapons of mass destruction.

In the area of ​​a nuclear explosion, two key areas are distinguished: the center and the epicenter. In the center of the explosion, the process of energy release takes place directly. The epicenter is the projection of this process onto the earth or water surface. The energy of a nuclear explosion, projected onto the earth, can lead to seismic tremors that spread over a considerable distance. These shocks bring harm to the environment only within a radius of several hundred meters from the point of explosion.

Affecting factors

Nuclear weapons have the following damage factors:

1. radioactive contamination.
2. Light emission.
3. shock wave.
4. electromagnetic impulse.
5. penetrating radiation.

The consequences of an atomic bomb explosion are detrimental to all living things. Due to the release of a huge amount of light and heat energy, the explosion of a nuclear projectile is accompanied by a bright flash. In terms of power, this flash is several times stronger than the sun's rays, so there is a danger of being hit by light and thermal radiation within a radius of several kilometers from the point of explosion.

Another most dangerous damaging factor of atomic weapons is the radiation generated during the explosion. It acts only a minute after the explosion, but has a maximum penetrating power.

The shock wave has the strongest destructive effect. She literally erases everything that stands in her way from the face of the earth. Penetrating radiation poses a danger to all living beings. In humans, it causes the development of radiation sickness. Well, the electromagnetic pulse harms only technology. Taken together, the damaging factors of an atomic explosion carry a huge danger.

First tests

Throughout the history of the atomic bomb, America has shown the greatest interest in its creation. At the end of 1941, the country's leadership allocated a huge amount of money and resources for this direction. The project manager was Robert Oppenheimer, who is considered by many to be the creator of the atomic bomb. In fact, he was the first who was able to bring the idea of ​​scientists to life. As a result, on July 16, 1945, the first test of an atomic bomb took place in the desert of New Mexico. Then America decided that in order to completely end the war, it needed to defeat Japan, an ally of Nazi Germany. The Pentagon quickly chose the targets for the first nuclear attacks, which were supposed to be a vivid illustration of the power of American weapons.

On August 6, 1945, the US atomic bomb, cynically called "Baby", was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. The shot turned out to be just perfect - the bomb exploded at a height of 200 meters from the ground, due to which its blast wave caused terrifying damage to the city. In areas far from the center, charcoal stoves were overturned, causing severe fires.

The bright flash was followed by a heat wave, which, in 4 seconds of action, managed to melt the tiles on the roofs of houses and incinerate telegraph poles. The heat wave was followed by a shock wave. The wind, which swept through the city at a speed of about 800 km / h, demolished everything in its path. Of the 76,000 buildings located in the city before the explosion, about 70,000 were completely destroyed. A few minutes after the explosion, it began to rain from the sky, large drops of which were black. The rain fell due to the formation in the cold layers of the atmosphere of a huge amount of condensate, consisting of steam and ash.

People who were hit by the fireball within a radius of 800 meters from the point of explosion turned into dust. Those who were a little further from the explosion had burned skin, the remnants of which were torn off by the shock wave. Black radioactive rain left incurable burns on the skin of the survivors. Those who miraculously managed to escape soon began to show signs of radiation sickness: nausea, fever and bouts of weakness.

Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, America attacked another Japanese city - Nagasaki. The second explosion had the same disastrous consequences as the first.

In a matter of seconds, two atomic bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people. The shock wave practically wiped Hiroshima off the face of the earth. More than half of the local residents (about 240 thousand people) died immediately from their injuries. In the city of Nagasaki, about 73 thousand people died from the explosion. Many of those who survived were exposed to severe radiation, which caused infertility, radiation sickness and cancer. As a result, some of the survivors died in terrible agony. The use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki illustrated the terrible power of these weapons.

You and I already know who invented the atomic bomb, how it works and what consequences it can lead to. Now we will find out how things were with nuclear weapons in the USSR.

After the bombing of Japanese cities, I.V. Stalin realized that the creation of the Soviet atomic bomb was a matter of national security. On August 20, 1945, a committee on nuclear energy was created in the USSR, headed by L. Beria.

It is worth noting that work in this direction has been carried out in the Soviet Union since 1918, and in 1938, a special commission on the atomic nucleus was created at the Academy of Sciences. With the outbreak of World War II, all work in this direction was frozen.

In 1943, intelligence officers of the USSR handed over from England materials of closed scientific works in the field of nuclear energy. These materials illustrated that the work of foreign scientists on the creation of an atomic bomb has seriously advanced. At the same time, the American residents facilitated the introduction of reliable Soviet agents into the main centers of US nuclear research. Agents transmitted information about new developments to Soviet scientists and engineers.

Technical task

When in 1945 the issue of creating a Soviet nuclear bomb became almost a priority, one of the project leaders, Yu. Khariton, drew up a plan to develop two versions of the projectile. On June 1, 1946, the plan was signed by the top leadership.

According to the task, the designers had to build a RDS (Special Jet Engine) of two models:

1. RDS-1. A bomb with a plutonium charge that is detonated by spherical compression. The device was borrowed from the Americans.
2. RDS-2. A cannon bomb with two uranium charges converging in the cannon barrel before reaching a critical mass.

In the history of the notorious RDS, the most common, albeit humorous, formulation was the phrase "Russia does it itself." It was invented by Yu. Khariton's deputy, K. Shchelkin. This phrase very accurately conveys the essence of the work, at least for the RDS-2.

When America found out that the Soviet Union possessed the secrets of creating nuclear weapons, it became eager to escalate preventive war as soon as possible. In the summer of 1949, the Troyan plan appeared, according to which on January 1, 1950, it was planned to start hostilities against the USSR. Then the date of the attack was moved to the beginning of 1957, but on the condition that all NATO countries join it.

Tests

When information about America's plans came to the USSR through intelligence channels, the work of Soviet scientists accelerated significantly. Western experts believed that in the USSR atomic weapons would be created no earlier than in 1954-1955. In fact, the tests of the first atomic bomb in the USSR took place already in August 1949. On August 29, the RDS-1 device was blown up at the training ground in Semipalatinsk. A large team of scientists took part in its creation, led by Kurchatov Igor Vasilyevich. The design of the charge belonged to the Americans, and the electronic equipment was created from scratch. The first atomic bomb in the USSR exploded with a power of 22 kt.

Due to the likelihood of a retaliatory strike, the Troyan plan, which involved a nuclear attack on 70 Soviet cities, was thwarted. Tests at Semipalatinsk marked the end of the American monopoly on the possession of atomic weapons. The invention of Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov completely destroyed the military plans of America and NATO and prevented the development of another world war. Thus began the era of peace on Earth, which exists under the threat of absolute annihilation.

"Nuclear club" of the world

To date, not only America and Russia have nuclear weapons, but also a number of other states. The set of countries that own such weapons is conditionally called the "nuclear club".

It includes:

1. America (since 1945).
2. USSR, and now Russia (since 1949).
3. England (since 1952).
4. France (since 1960).
5. China (since 1964).
6. India (since 1974).
7. Pakistan (since 1998).
8. Korea (since 2006).

Israel also has nuclear weapons, although the country's leadership refuses to comment on their presence. In addition, on the territory of NATO countries (Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada) and allies (Japan, South Korea, despite the official refusal), there are American nuclear weapons.

Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, which owned some of the nuclear weapons of the USSR, transferred their bombs to Russia after the collapse of the Union. She became the sole heir to the nuclear arsenal of the USSR.

Conclusion

Today we learned who invented the atomic bomb and what it is. Summarizing the above, we can conclude that today nuclear weapons are the most powerful tool of global politics, firmly embedded in relations between countries. On the one hand, it is an effective deterrent, and on the other hand, it is a convincing argument for preventing military confrontation and strengthening peaceful relations between states. Nuclear weapons are a symbol of an entire era, which requires especially careful handling.

Oleg Lavrentiev

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" in the 7th grade, he immediately caught fire with "the blue dream of working in the field of nuclear energy." But the war began. Oleg volunteered for the front. He met the victory in the Baltic states, but further studies again had to be postponed - the soldier had to continue military service in South Sakhalin, just liberated from the Japanese, in the small town of Poronaysk.

In the unit there was a library with technical literature and university textbooks, and Oleg, on his sergeant's allowance, subscribed to the journal "Advances in Physical Sciences". The idea of ​​a hydrogen bomb and controlled thermonuclear fusion first came to him in 1948, when the command of the unit, which distinguished a capable sergeant, instructed him to prepare a lecture on the atomic problem for the personnel.
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The world's first hydrogen bomb - "RDS-6s"
“Having a few free days for preparation, I rethought all the accumulated material and found a solution to issues that I had been struggling with for more than one year,” says Oleg Aleksandrovich. - In 1949, in one year, I completed the 8th, 9th and 10th grades of the evening school for working youth and received a matriculation certificate. In January 1950, the American president, speaking before Congress, called on US scientists to complete work on the hydrogen bomb as soon as possible. And I knew how to make a bomb.

We read slowly and meaningfully:
a simple Russian guy, while on active military service, completed the 8th, 9th and 10th grades of the evening school for working youth in one year. Having access only to a school textbook on physics, he alone, with the help of only his brains, did what huge teams of highly paid highbrow Jewish scientists struggled with, with unlimited means and opportunities on both sides of the ocean.

Having no contact with the scientific world, the soldier, in full agreement with the norms of life at that time, wrote a letter to Stalin."I know the secret of the hydrogen bomb!"No answer. In the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). And soon the command of the unit received an order from Moscow to create working conditions for Sergeant Lavrentiev. He was given a guarded room at the headquarters of the unit, where he wrote his first articles. In July 1950, he sent them by secret mail to the department of heavy engineering of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.

Lavrentiev described the principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb, where solid lithium deuteride was used as a 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 a fuel, was as high as a house and weighed 82 tons.

Oleg Aleksandrovich also owns the idea of ​​using controlled thermonuclear fusion in the national economy for the production of electricity. The chain reaction of the synthesis of light elements should not proceed in an explosive manner, as in a bomb, but slowly and in a controlled manner. The main question was how to isolate the ionized gas heated to hundreds of millions of degrees, that is, the 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.The first option is electric.

In the atmosphere of secrecy that surrounded everything related to atomic weapons, Lavrentiev not only understood the structure and principle of operation of the atomic bomb, which in his project served as the fuse that initiated a thermonuclear explosion, but also anticipated the idea of ​​compactness, proposing to use solid lithium deuteride as fuel - 6.

He did not know that his message was very quickly sent for review to the then Candidate of Sciences, and later Academician and three times Hero of Socialist Labor A. Sakharov, who already in August commented on the idea of ​​controlled thermonuclear fusion: “... I believe that the author puts a very an important and not hopeless problem... I consider it necessary to discuss in detail the draft of Comrade. Lavrentiev. Regardless of the results of the discussion, it is necessary to note the creative initiative of the author right now.”

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 prizes, but Lavrentyev, for a reason completely incomprehensible to him, loses a lot overnight.

- At the university, they not only stopped giving me an increased scholarship, but also “turned out” the tuition fee for the past year, in fact, leaving me without a livelihood, - says Oleg Aleksandrovich. “I made my way to an appointment with the new dean and, in complete confusion, I heard: “Your benefactor has died. What do you want?" At the same time, my admission to LIPAN was withdrawn, and I lost my permanent pass to the laboratory, where, according to an earlier agreement, I had to undergo undergraduate practice, and subsequently work. If the scholarship was later restored,I never got admission to the institute.
In other words, they were simply removed from the secret fiefdom. Pushed back, fenced off from him with secrecy. Naive Russian scientist! He could not even imagine that this could be so.

A fifth-year student had to write a graduation project contrary to all university canons - without an internship and without a supervisor. Well, Oleg took as a basis the theoretical work he had already done on the TCB, successfully defended himself and received a diploma with honors.

However, he was not hired to work at LIPAN, the only place in the country where controlled thermonuclear fusion was then carried out.

Oleg was not going to abandon the "blue dream" chosen once and for all. At the suggestion of Panasenkov, Khrushchev's scientific assistant and a physicist by education, he decided to go to Kharkov, to the Institute of Physics and Technology, where a new department of plasma research was to be created.

In the spring of 1956, a young specialist arrived in 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, Kirill Dmitrievich had already been called by one of the LIPANites, warning that a “scandalist” and “author of confused ideas” were coming to see him. They also called the head of the theoretical department of the institute, Alexander Akhiezer, recommending that Lavrentiev’s work be “hacked to death”.

But Kharkiv residents were in no hurry with their assessments. Akhiezer asked the young theorists Konstantin Stepanov and Vitaly Aleksin to essentially understand the work. Boris Rutkevich, who worked with Sinelnikov, also read the report independently. Experts, without saying a word, gave the work a positive assessment.

Well, thank God! 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, discredited the scientist. How to protect your feeder!

Application for opening

Oleg Alexandrovich found out by chance that he was the first to propose to hold the plasma by the field, having stumbled in 1968 (! 15 years later) in one of the books on the memoirs of I. Tamm (Head Sakharov). His last name was not, only an indistinct phrase about "one military man from the Far East",

who proposed a method for the synthesis of hydrogen, by which “... even in principle it was impossible to do anything

". Lavrentiev had no choice but to defend his scientific authority.

The cat smells, (Tamm) whose meat she ate! Tamm and Sakharov understood perfectly well what was happening. What Lavrentiev came up with is the key that opens access to the implementation of the hydrogen bomb in practice. Everything else, the whole theory, has long been known to absolutely everyone, since it was described even in ordinary textbooks. And not only the "brilliant" Sakharov could bring the idea to a material embodiment, but also any techie who has unlimited access to material state resources.

And another interesting piece, in which the invisible bony hand of saboteurs with American money is well felt: This is already about the "period of stagnation", when the advanced thoughts and developments of Russian scientists were forcibly "stagnated" ...

Lavrentiev was confident in his idea of ​​electromagnetic traps. By 1976, his group had prepared a technical proposal for a large multi-slot unit "Jupiter-2T". Everything worked out extremely well. The topic was supported by the leadership of the institute and the immediate head of the department, Anatoly Kalmykov (Russian). The State Committee for the Use of Atomic Energy allocated three hundred thousand rubles for the design of Jupiter-2T. The FTINT of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR undertook to manufacture the installation.

- I was in seventh heaven with happiness, - recalls Oleg Alexandrovich. “We can build a facility that will take us on a direct road to thermonuclear Eldorado!” I had no doubt that high plasma parameters would be obtained on it.

The trouble came from a completely unexpected direction. While on an internship in England, Anatoly Kalmykov accidentally received a large dose of radiation, fell ill and died.

And the new head of the department offered Lavrentiev to design ... something smaller and cheaper.

It took two years to complete the project of the Jupiter-2 installation, where the linear dimensions were halved. But while his group received positive feedback on this project from Moscow, from the Institute of Atomic Energy,

the reserved site was given over to other projects, funding was cut, and the group was asked to… further reduce the size of the plant.

“This is how the Jupiter-2M project was born, already one-third of the natural size of Jupiter-2,” states Oleg Aleksandrovich. - It is clear that this was a step back, but there was no choice. The production of a new installation was delayed for several years. Only in the mid-1980s were we able to start experiments that fully confirmed our predictions. But there was no longer any talk about the development of works. TCB funding began to decline, and from 1989 it stopped altogether. I still believe that electromagnetic traps are one of the few thermonuclear systems where it was possible to completely suppress the hydrodynamic and kinetic instabilities of the plasma and obtain particle and energy transfer coefficients close to the classical ones.

The work of saboteurs from science is clearly visible, exactly the same situation was in the 1970-80s with domestic developments of microprocessors and Soviet computers (see the message "Soviet computers, betrayed and forgotten") When the relevant ministries and some academicians, the most advanced domestic development.

I began to think, as I wrote, about this range of questions as early as 1949, but without any reasonable concrete ideas. In the summer of 1950, a letter sent from the secretariat of Beria came to the facility with a proposal from a young sailor of the Pacific Fleet, Oleg Lavrentiev. In the introductory part, the author wrote about the importance of the problem of a controlled thermonuclear reaction for the energy of the future. What followed was the proposal itself. The author proposed to implement a high-temperature deuterium plasma using an electrostatic thermal insulation system. Specifically, a system of two (or three) metal meshes surrounding the reactor volume was proposed. A potential difference of several tens of KeV had to be applied to the grids, so that the escape of deuterium ions was delayed or (in the case of three grids) the escape of ions was delayed in one of the gaps, and electrons were delayed in the other. In my review, I wrote that the idea put forward by the author of a controlled thermonuclear reaction is very important. The author raised a problem of colossal importance, which indicates that he is a very enterprising and creative person who deserves all kinds of support and help. On the essence of Lavrentiev's specific scheme, I wrote that it seems to me unrealizable, since direct contact of the hot plasma with the grids is not excluded in it, and this will inevitably lead to a huge heat removal and, thus, to the impossibility of achieving temperatures sufficient for the occurrence of thermonuclear reactions in this way. It probably should have also been written that perhaps the author's idea would be fruitful in combination with some other ideas, but I had no thoughts about this, and I did not write this phrase. While reading the letter and writing a review, I had the first, still unclear thoughts about magnetic thermal insulation. The fundamental difference between a magnetic field and an electric field is that its lines of force can be closed (or form closed magnetic surfaces) outside of material bodies, thereby, in principle, the "contact problem" can be solved. Closed magnetic lines of force arise, in particular, in the internal volume of a toroid when current is passed through a toroidal winding located on its surface. This is the system I decided to consider.

This time I drove alone. In the waiting room of Beria, however, I saw Oleg Lavrentiev - he was recalled from the fleet. Both of us were invited to Beria. Beria, as always, sat at the head of the table, wearing a pince-nez and a light cape draped over his shoulders, something like a cloak. Sitting next to him was Makhnev, his permanent assistant, formerly head of the Kolyma camp. After the elimination of Beria, Makhnev moved to our Ministry as head of the information department; in general, then they said that MSM was a “reserve” for former employees of Beria.

Beria, even with some insinuatingness, asked me what I thought of Lavrentiev's proposal. I repeated my review. Beria asked several questions to Lavrentiev, then let him go. I didn't see him again. I know that he entered the Faculty of Physics or some radiophysical institute in Ukraine and after graduation came to LIPAN. However, after a month of being there, he had big disagreements with all the employees. He went back to Ukraine.

I wonder what disagreements a Russian scientist could have in a team led by two laureates who clearly knew whose idea they were using?

In the 1970s, I received a letter from him in which he said that he was working as a senior researcher at some applied research institute and asked me to send documents confirming the fact of his 1950 proposal and my review of that time. He wanted to issue a certificate of invention. I didn’t have anything on hand, I wrote from memory and sent it to him, having officially certified my letter in the office of the FIAN.

For some reason my first letter didn't get through.

At Lavrentiev's request, I sent him a second letter. I don't know anything more about him. Maybe then, in the mid-1950s, Lavrentiev should have been given a small laboratory and given him freedom of action. But all the LIPAN people were convinced that nothing but trouble, including for him, would come of it.

How clearly the mental suffering of the great "inventor of the hydrogen bomb" is seen from this passage! At first, he still hoped to sit out, maybe he would blow through. Lavrentiev sent a second letter. After all, no one except Sakharov can confirm his authorship! The letters were either hidden in the distant Beriev archives or destroyed. Well, Sakharov nevertheless confirmed, after much thought. And imagine that Landau would have been in his place? We know his moral character well.

And here is what Oleg Lavrentiev himself writes. http://www.zn.ua/3000/3760/41432/

“A heavy man in pince-nez got up from the table and went to meet me,” recalls Oleg Alexandrovich. He extended his hand and offered to sit down. I waited and prepared to answer questions related to the development of the hydrogen bomb, but no such questions came. Beria wanted to look at me, and perhaps at Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, to see what kind of people we are. The screenings were successful.

Then Sakharov and I walked to the subway, talked for a long time, both were excited after such a meeting. Then I heard many kind words from Andrey Dmitrievich. He assured me that everything would be fine now and offered to work together.

Of course, I agreed to the proposal of a man I liked very much.

Lavrentiev did not suspect that A. Sakharov liked his idea of ​​controlled thermonuclear fusion so much that he decided to use it

and by that time, together with I. Tamm, he had already begun to work on the problem of CTS. True, in their version of the reactor, the plasma was held not by an electric, but by a magnetic field. (Subsequently, this direction resulted in reactors called "tokamak".)

And a few years later:

“It was a big surprise for me,” recalls Oleg Aleksandrovich. - When meeting with me, Andrei Dmitrievich did not say a single word about his work on the magnetic thermal insulation of plasma. Then I thought that Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov and I came up with the idea of ​​plasma isolation by a field independently of each other, only I chose an electrostatic thermonuclear reactor as the first option, and he chose a magnetic one.

Help from the Internet:
In the 1950s in the USSR, Andrei Sakharov and Igor Tamm proposed a fundamentally new idea for generating energy in the legendary tokamaks, donut-shaped magnetic chambers that hold plasma heated to several hundred million degrees. In 1956, in England, Igor Kurchatov announced thermonuclear research in the USSR. Now the leading countries, including Russia, are implementing the ITER project. A site in France has been chosen for the construction of a fusion reactor. The reactor will be maintained at a temperature of 150 million degrees - the temperature in the center of the Sun is 20 million degrees.

And where is Lavrentiev? Can ask on the site http://www.sem40.ru?

FATHERS OF THE HYDROGEN BOMB SUGAR AND TELLER?

In August 1942, in the building of a former school in the town of Los Alamos, New Mexico, not far from Santa Fe, a secret "Metallurgical Laboratory" was launched. Robert Oppenheimer was appointed head of the laboratory.

It took the Americans three years to solve the problem. In July 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated at the test site, and in August two more bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It took seven years for the birth of the Soviet atomic bomb - the first explosion was carried out at the test site in 1949.

The American team of physicists was initially stronger. Only 12 Nobel laureates, present and future, took part in the creation of the atomic bomb. And the only future Soviet Nobel laureate, who was in Kazan in 1942 and who was invited to take part in the work, refused. In addition, a group of British scientists, sent in 1943 to Los Alamos, helped the Americans.

Nevertheless, in Soviet times, it was argued that the USSR solved its atomic problem completely independently, and Kurchatov was considered the "father" of the domestic atomic bomb. Although there were rumors about some secrets stolen from the Americans. And only in the 90s, 50 years later, one of the main actors of that time - - spoke about the essential role of intelligence in accelerating the backward Soviet project. And the American scientific and technical results were obtained by those who arrived in the English group.

So Robert Oppenheimer can be called the "father" of bombs created on both sides of the ocean - his ideas fertilized both projects. It is wrong to consider Oppenheimer (as well as Kurchatov) only an outstanding organizer. His main achievements are scientific. And it was thanks to them that he turned out to be the scientific director of the project to create an atomic bomb.

Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York on April 22, 1904. In 1925 he received a diploma from Harvard University. During the year he trained with Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory. In 1926 he moved to the University of Göttingen, where in 1927, under the guidance of Max Born, he defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1928 he returned to the USA. From 1929 to 1947, Oppenheimer taught at two leading American universities - the University of California and the California Institute of Technology.

Oppenheimer was engaged in quantum mechanics, relativity theory, elementary particle physics, performed a number of works on theoretical astrophysics. In 1927, he created the theory of the interaction of free electrons with atoms. Together with Born, he developed the theory of the structure of diatomic molecules. In 1930 he predicted the existence of the positron.

In 1931, together with Ehrenfest, he formulated the Ehrenfest-Oppenheimer theorem, according to which nuclei consisting of an odd number of particles with spin ½ must obey Fermi-Dirac statistics, and from an even number - Bose-Einstein. Investigated the internal conversion of gamma rays.

In 1937 he developed the cascade theory of cosmic showers, in 1938 he first calculated the model of a neutron star, in 1939 in his work “Regarding the irreversible gravitational contraction”, he predicted the existence of “black holes”.

Oppenheimer wrote several popular science books: Science and Common Knowledge (1954), The Open Mind (1955), Some Reflections on Science and Culture (1960).

The Germans took over first. In December 1938, their physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, for the first time in the world, carried out artificial fission of the uranium atom nucleus. In April 1939, the military leadership of Germany received a letter from professors of the University of Hamburg P. Harteck and V. Groth, which indicated the fundamental possibility of creating a new type of highly effective explosive. The scientists wrote: "The country that is the first to be able to practically master the achievements of nuclear physics will gain absolute superiority over others." And now, in the Imperial Ministry of Science and Education, a meeting is being held on the topic "On a self-propagating (that is, a chain) nuclear reaction." Among the participants is Professor E. Schumann, head of the research department of the Third Reich Arms Administration. Without delay, we moved from words to deeds. Already in June 1939, the construction of Germany's first reactor plant began at the Kummersdorf test site near Berlin. A law was passed to ban the export of uranium outside Germany, and a large amount of uranium ore was urgently purchased in the Belgian Congo.

The American uranium bomb that destroyed Hiroshima was of a cannon design. Soviet nuclear scientists, creating RDS-1, were guided by the "Nagasaki bomb" - Fat Boy, made of plutonium according to the implosion scheme.

Germany starts and… loses

On September 26, 1939, when war was already raging in Europe, it was decided to classify all work related to the uranium problem and the implementation of the program, called the "Uranium Project". The scientists involved in the project were initially very optimistic: they considered it possible to create nuclear weapons within a year. Wrong, as life has shown.

22 organizations were involved in the project, including such well-known scientific centers as the Physical Institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the University of Hamburg, the Physical Institute of the Higher Technical School in Berlin, the Physical and Chemical Institute of the University of Leipzig and many others. The project was personally supervised by the Imperial Minister of Armaments Albert Speer. The IG Farbenindustri concern was entrusted with the production of uranium hexafluoride, from which it is possible to extract the uranium-235 isotope capable of maintaining a chain reaction. The same company was entrusted with the construction of an isotope separation facility. Such venerable scientists as Heisenberg, Weizsacker, von Ardenne, Riehl, Pose, Nobel laureate Gustav Hertz and others directly participated in the work.

Within two years, the Heisenberg group carried out the research needed to create an atomic reactor using uranium and heavy water. It was confirmed that only one of the isotopes, namely, uranium-235, contained in very small concentrations in ordinary uranium ore, can serve as an explosive. The first problem was how to isolate it from there. The starting point of the bombing program was an atomic reactor, which required either graphite or heavy water as a reaction moderator. German physicists chose water, thereby creating a serious problem for themselves. After the occupation of Norway, the only heavy water plant in the world at that time passed into the hands of the Nazis. But there, the stock of the product needed by physicists by the beginning of the war was only tens of kilograms, and the Germans did not get them either - the French stole valuable products literally from under the noses of the Nazis. And in February 1943, the British commandos abandoned in Norway, with the help of local resistance fighters, disabled the plant. The implementation of Germany's nuclear program was in jeopardy. The misadventures of the Germans did not end there: an experimental nuclear reactor exploded in Leipzig. The uranium project was supported by Hitler only as long as there was hope of obtaining a super-powerful weapon before the end of the war unleashed by him. Heisenberg was invited by Speer and asked bluntly: "When can we expect the creation of a bomb capable of being suspended from a bomber?" The scientist was honest: "I think it will take several years of hard work, in any case, the bomb will not be able to affect the outcome of the current war." The German leadership rationally considered that there was no point in forcing events. Let scientists work quietly - by the next war, you see, they will have time. As a result, Hitler decided to concentrate scientific, industrial and financial resources only on projects that would give the fastest return in the creation of new types of weapons. State funding for the uranium project was curtailed. Nevertheless, the work of scientists continued.

Manfred von Ardenne, who developed a method for gas diffusion purification and separation of uranium isotopes in a centrifuge.

In 1944, Heisenberg received cast uranium plates for a large reactor plant, under which a special bunker was already being built in Berlin. The last experiment to achieve a chain reaction was scheduled for January 1945, but on January 31, all equipment was hastily dismantled and sent from Berlin to the village of Haigerloch near the Swiss border, where it was deployed only at the end of February. The reactor contained 664 cubes of uranium with a total weight of 1525 kg, surrounded by a graphite neutron moderator-reflector weighing 10 tons. In March 1945, an additional 1.5 tons of heavy water was poured into the core. On March 23, it was reported to Berlin that the reactor had started working. But the joy was premature - the reactor did not reach a critical point, the chain reaction did not start. After recalculations, it turned out that the amount of uranium must be increased by at least 750 kg, proportionally increasing the mass of heavy water. But there were no reserves left. The end of the Third Reich was inexorably approaching. On April 23, American troops entered Haigerloch. The reactor was dismantled and taken to the USA.

Meanwhile across the ocean

In parallel with the Germans (with only a slight lag), the development of atomic weapons was taken up in England and the USA. They began with a letter sent in September 1939 by Albert Einstein to US President Franklin Roosevelt. The initiators of the letter and the authors of most of the text were émigré physicists from Hungary Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller. The letter drew the president's attention to the fact that Nazi Germany was conducting active research, as a result of which it could soon acquire an atomic bomb.

In 1933, the German communist Klaus Fuchs fled to England. After receiving a degree in physics from the University of Bristol, he continued to work. In 1941, Fuchs reported his involvement in atomic research to Soviet intelligence agent Jurgen Kuchinsky, who informed Soviet ambassador Ivan Maisky. He instructed the military attache to urgently establish contact with Fuchs, who, as part of a group of scientists, was going to be transported to the United States. Fuchs agreed to work for Soviet intelligence. Many illegal Soviet spies were involved in working with him: the Zarubins, Eitingon, Vasilevsky, Semyonov and others. As a result of their active work, already in January 1945, the USSR had a description of the design of the first atomic bomb. At the same time, the Soviet residency in the United States reported that it would take the Americans at least one year, but no more than five years, to create a significant arsenal of atomic weapons. The report also said that the explosion of the first two bombs might be carried out in a few months. Pictured is Operation Crossroads, a series of atomic bomb tests conducted by the United States on Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1946. The goal was to test the effect of atomic weapons on ships.

In the USSR, the first information about the work carried out by both the allies and the enemy was reported to Stalin by intelligence as early as 1943. It was immediately decided to deploy similar work in the Union. Thus began the Soviet atomic project. Tasks were received not only by scientists, but also by intelligence officers, for whom the extraction of nuclear secrets has become a super task.

The most valuable information about the work on the atomic bomb in the United States, obtained by intelligence, greatly helped the promotion of the Soviet nuclear project. The scientists participating in it managed to avoid dead-end search paths, thereby significantly accelerating the achievement of the final goal.

Experience of Recent Enemies and Allies

Naturally, the Soviet leadership could not remain indifferent to German nuclear developments. At the end of the war, a group of Soviet physicists was sent to Germany, among whom were the future academicians Artsimovich, Kikoin, Khariton, Shchelkin. All were camouflaged in the uniform of colonels of the Red Army. The operation was led by First Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Ivan Serov, which opened any door. In addition to the necessary German scientists, the “colonels” found tons of metallic uranium, which, according to Kurchatov, reduced work on the Soviet bomb by at least a year. The Americans also took out a lot of uranium from Germany, taking the specialists who worked on the project with them. And in the USSR, in addition to physicists and chemists, they sent mechanics, electrical engineers, glassblowers. Some were found in POW camps. For example, Max Steinbeck, the future Soviet academician and vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR, was taken away when he was making a sundial at the whim of the head of the camp. In total, at least 1000 German specialists worked on the atomic project in the USSR. From Berlin, the von Ardenne laboratory with a uranium centrifuge, equipment of the Kaiser Institute of Physics, documentation, reagents were completely taken out. Within the framework of the atomic project, laboratories "A", "B", "C" and "G" were created, the scientific supervisors of which were scientists who arrived from Germany.

K.A. Petrzhak and G. N. Flerov In 1940, in the laboratory of Igor Kurchatov, two young physicists discovered a new, very peculiar type of radioactive decay of atomic nuclei - spontaneous fission.

Laboratory "A" was headed by Baron Manfred von Ardenne, a talented physicist who developed a method for gaseous diffusion purification and separation of uranium isotopes in a centrifuge. At first, his laboratory was located on the Oktyabrsky field in Moscow. Five or six Soviet engineers were assigned to each German specialist. Later, the laboratory moved to Sukhumi, and over time, the famous Kurchatov Institute grew up on the Oktyabrsky field. In Sukhumi, on the basis of the von Ardenne laboratory, the Sukhumi Institute of Physics and Technology was formed. In 1947, Ardenne was awarded the Stalin Prize for the creation of a centrifuge for the purification of uranium isotopes on an industrial scale. Six years later, Ardenne became twice a Stalin laureate. He lived with his wife in a comfortable mansion, his wife played music on a piano brought from Germany. Other German specialists were not offended either: they came with their families, brought with them furniture, books, paintings, were provided with good salaries and food. Were they prisoners? Academician A.P. Alexandrov, himself an active participant in the atomic project, remarked: "Of course, the German specialists were prisoners, but we ourselves were prisoners."

Nikolaus Riehl, a native of St. Petersburg who moved to Germany in the 1920s, became the head of Laboratory B, which conducted research in the field of radiation chemistry and biology in the Urals (now the city of Snezhinsk). Here Riehl worked with his old acquaintance from Germany, the outstanding Russian biologist-geneticist Timofeev-Resovsky (“Zubr” based on the novel by D. Granin).

In December 1938, German physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann for the first time in the world carried out artificial fission of the uranium atom nucleus.

Recognized in the USSR as a researcher and talented organizer, able to find effective solutions to the most complex problems, Dr. Riehl became one of the key figures in the Soviet atomic project. After the successful testing of the Soviet bomb, he became a Hero of Socialist Labor and a laureate of the Stalin Prize.

The work of laboratory "B", organized in Obninsk, was headed by Professor Rudolf Pose, one of the pioneers in the field of nuclear research. Under his leadership, fast neutron reactors were created, the first nuclear power plant in the Union, and the design of reactors for submarines began. The object in Obninsk became the basis for the organization of the A.I. Leipunsky. Pose worked until 1957 in Sukhumi, then at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna.

Gustav Hertz, the nephew of the famous physicist of the 19th century, himself a famous scientist, became the head of the laboratory "G", located in the Sukhumi sanatorium "Agudzery". He received recognition for a series of experiments that confirmed Niels Bohr's theory of the atom and quantum mechanics. The results of his very successful activities in Sukhumi were later used on an industrial plant built in Novouralsk, where in 1949 the filling for the first Soviet atomic bomb RDS-1 was developed. For his achievements in the framework of the atomic project, Gustav Hertz was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1951.

German specialists who received permission to return to their homeland (of course, to the GDR) signed a non-disclosure agreement for 25 years about their participation in the Soviet atomic project. In Germany, they continued to work in their specialty. Thus, Manfred von Ardenne, twice awarded the National Prize of the GDR, served as director of the Physics Institute in Dresden, created under the auspices of the Scientific Council for the Peaceful Applications of Atomic Energy, led by Gustav Hertz. Hertz also received a national prize as the author of a three-volume textbook on nuclear physics. In the same place, in Dresden, at the Technical University, Rudolf Pose also worked.

The participation of German scientists in the atomic project, as well as the successes of intelligence officers, in no way detract from the merits of Soviet scientists, who ensured the creation of domestic atomic weapons with their selfless work. However, it must be admitted that without the contribution of both, the creation of the atomic industry and atomic weapons in the USSR would have dragged on for many years.

There are many different political clubs in the world. Big, now already, seven, G20, BRICS, SCO, NATO, European Union, to some extent. However, none of these clubs can boast a unique function - the ability to destroy the world as we know it. The "nuclear club" possesses similar possibilities.

To date, there are 9 countries with nuclear weapons:

• Russia;
• Great Britain;
• France;
• India
• Pakistan;
• Israel;
• DPRK.

Countries are ranked according to the appearance of nuclear weapons in their arsenal. If the list were built by the number of warheads, then Russia would be in first place with its 8,000 units, 1,600 of which can be launched right now. The states are only 700 units behind, but "at hand" they have 320 more charges. "Nuclear club" is a purely conditional concept, in fact there is no club. There are a number of agreements between the countries on non-proliferation and the reduction of stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

The first tests of the atomic bomb, as you know, were carried out by the United States back in 1945. This weapon was tested in the "field" conditions of the Second World War on the inhabitants of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They operate on the principle of division. During the explosion, a chain reaction is started, which provokes the fission of the nuclei into two, with the accompanying release of energy. Uranium and plutonium are mainly used for this reaction. It is with these elements that our ideas about what nuclear bombs are made of are connected. Since uranium occurs in nature only as a mixture of three isotopes, of which only one is capable of supporting such a reaction, it is necessary to enrich uranium. The alternative is plutonium-239, which does not occur naturally and must be produced from uranium.

If a fission reaction takes place in a uranium bomb, then a fusion reaction occurs in a hydrogen bomb - this is the essence of how a hydrogen bomb differs from an atomic bomb. We all know that the sun gives us light, warmth, and one might say life. The same processes that take place in the sun can easily destroy cities and countries. The explosion of a hydrogen bomb was born by the fusion reaction of light nuclei, the so-called thermonuclear fusion. This "miracle" is possible thanks to hydrogen isotopes - deuterium and tritium. That is why the bomb is called a hydrogen bomb. You can also see the name "thermonuclear bomb", from the reaction that underlies this weapon.

After the world saw the destructive power of nuclear weapons, in August 1945, the USSR began a race that continued until its collapse. The United States was the first to create, test and use nuclear weapons, the first to detonate a hydrogen bomb, but the USSR can be credited with the first production of a compact hydrogen bomb that can be delivered to the enemy on a conventional Tu-16. The first US bomb was the size of a three-story house, a hydrogen bomb of this size is of little use. The Soviets received such weapons as early as 1952, while the first "adequate" US bomb was adopted only in 1954. If you look back and analyze the explosions in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, you can conclude that they were not so powerful. . Two bombs in total destroyed both cities and killed, according to various sources, up to 220,000 people. Carpet bombing Tokyo in a day could take the lives of 150-200,000 people without any nuclear weapons. This is due to the low power of the first bombs - only a few tens of kilotons of TNT. Hydrogen bombs were tested with an eye to overcoming 1 megaton or more.

The first Soviet bomb was tested with a claim of 3 Mt, but in the end 1.6 Mt was tested.

The most powerful hydrogen bomb was tested by the Soviets in 1961. Its capacity reached 58-75 Mt, while the declared 51 Mt. "Tsar" plunged the world into a slight shock, in the literal sense. The shock wave circled the planet three times. There was not a single hill left at the test site (Novaya Zemlya), the explosion was heard at a distance of 800 km. The fireball reached a diameter of almost 5 km, the “mushroom” grew by 67 km, and the diameter of its cap was almost 100 km. The consequences of such an explosion in a large city are hard to imagine. According to many experts, it was the test of a hydrogen bomb of such power (the States had four times less bombs at that time) that was the first step towards signing various treaties to ban nuclear weapons, test them and reduce production. The world for the first time thought about its own security, which was really under threat.

As mentioned earlier, the principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb is based on a fusion reaction. Thermonuclear fusion is the process of fusion of two nuclei into one, with the formation of a third element, the release of a fourth and energy. The forces that repel the nuclei are colossal, so for the atoms to get close enough to merge, the temperature must be simply enormous. Scientists have been puzzling over cold thermonuclear fusion for centuries, trying to bring the fusion temperature down to room temperature, ideally. In this case, humanity will have access to the energy of the future. As for the fusion reaction at the present time, to start it you still need to light a miniature sun here on Earth - usually bombs use a uranium or plutonium charge to start the fusion.

In addition to the consequences described above from the use of a bomb of tens of megatons, a hydrogen bomb, like any nuclear weapon, has a number of consequences from its use. Some people tend to think that the hydrogen bomb is a "cleaner weapon" than a conventional bomb. Perhaps it has something to do with the name. People hear the word "water" and think that it has something to do with water and hydrogen, and therefore the consequences are not so dire. In fact, this is certainly not the case, because the action of the hydrogen bomb is based on extremely radioactive substances. It is theoretically possible to make a bomb without a uranium charge, but this is impractical due to the complexity of the process, so the pure fusion reaction is "diluted" with uranium to increase power. At the same time, the amount of radioactive fallout grows to 1000%. Everything that enters the fireball will be destroyed, the zone in the radius of destruction will become uninhabitable for people for decades. Radioactive fallout can harm people's health hundreds and thousands of kilometers away. Specific figures, the area of ​​infection can be calculated, knowing the strength of the charge.

However, the destruction of cities is not the worst thing that can happen "thanks" to weapons of mass destruction. After a nuclear war, the world will not be completely destroyed. Thousands of large cities, billions of people will remain on the planet, and only a small percentage of territories will lose their status as “livable”. In the long term, the whole world will be at risk due to the so-called "nuclear winter". Undermining the nuclear arsenal of the "club" can provoke the release into the atmosphere of a sufficient amount of matter (dust, soot, smoke) to "diminish" the brightness of the sun. A veil that can spread across the planet will destroy crops for several years to come, provoking famine and inevitable population decline. There has already been a “year without a summer” in history, after a major volcanic eruption in 1816, so a nuclear winter looks more than real. Again, depending on how the war proceeds, we can get the following types of global climate change:

• cooling by 1 degree, will pass unnoticed;
• nuclear autumn - cooling by 2-4 degrees, crop failures and increased formation of hurricanes are possible;
• an analogue of "a year without summer" - when the temperature dropped significantly, by several degrees per year;
• the little ice age - the temperature can drop by 30 - 40 degrees for a considerable time, will be accompanied by depopulation of a number of northern zones and crop failures;
• ice age - the development of a small ice age, when the reflection of sunlight from the surface can reach a certain critical level and the temperature will continue to fall, the difference is only in temperature;
• irreversible cooling is a very sad version of the ice age, which, under the influence of many factors, will turn the Earth into a new planet.

The nuclear winter theory is constantly being criticized, and its implications seem a little overblown. However, one should not doubt its imminent offensive in any global conflict with the use of hydrogen bombs.

The Cold War is long over, and therefore, nuclear hysteria can only be seen in old Hollywood films and on the covers of rare magazines and comics. Despite this, we may be on the verge of a serious nuclear conflict, if not a big one. All this thanks to the lover of rockets and the hero of the fight against the imperialist habits of the United States - Kim Jong-un. The DPRK hydrogen bomb is still a hypothetical object, only circumstantial evidence speaks of its existence. Of course, the North Korean government constantly reports that they have managed to make new bombs, so far no one has seen them live. Naturally, the States and their allies, Japan and South Korea, are a little more concerned about the presence, even if hypothetical, of such weapons in the DPRK. The reality is that at the moment, the DPRK does not have enough technology to successfully attack the United States, which they announce to the whole world every year. Even an attack on neighboring Japan or the South may not be very successful, if at all, but every year the danger of a new conflict on the Korean peninsula is growing.