Georgy Nikolayevich Flerov (born 2.03.1913) was a Soviet experimental physicist and an academician (1968; corresponding member 1953). He was born in Rostov-on-Don. He graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1938) and began work in I. V. Kurchatov's laboratory at the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute. In 1943-60 he was head of a sector at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, and from 1960 he has been director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna).
His work was in the field of nuclear physics, nuclear power and cosmic-ray physics. In 1940, together with K. A. Petrzhak, he discovered a new type of radioactive transformation — the spontaneous fission of uranium nuclei; with L. I. Rusinov he proved (1939) that more than two secondary neutrons are emitted in the fission of uranium nuclei. From the end of 1942, when work on the atomic problem was begun in the Soviet Union, Flerov was in the group of physicists headed by I. V. Kurchatov that began the analysis and development of the whole complex of this problem. He took an active part in laying the foundations of nuclear power, in particular he studied how the cross-sections for radiative capture of slow neutrons depend on their energy.
In the post-war years he continued his work on the physics of nuclear fission, carried out a number of experiments on the study of cosmic rays, used the methods of nuclear physics in geological prospecting, in particular improved (1951) the methods of neutron logging, and did a great deal of work on applying the methods of nuclear physics in the national economy.
From 1953 he began research in a new direction of nuclear physics — the synthesis of new transuranium elements: he developed methods of obtaining and accelerating multiply charged heavy ions, created sources of such ions and improved the heavy-ion accelerator, and developed physico-chemical methods of rapid separation of unknown reaction products and their identification, especially by spontaneous fission. Together with his colleagues he synthesised a whole series of new isotopes of transfermium elements with atomic numbers 102, 103, 104, 105, 106 and 107, and studied their physical and chemical properties. For the synthesis and study of the properties of transuranium elements Flerov was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1967. Together with his colleagues he discovered a new kind of nuclear isomerism — spontaneously fissioning isomers, delayed fission (after beta decay) and the phenomenon of the emission of delayed protons, and carried out experiments with neutron-rich isotopes. In 1971 he was the first to accelerate xenon ions in a system of two cyclotrons. He investigates the possibility of the existence of superheavy elements, searches for superheavy elements under natural conditions, and carries out experiments on their synthesis in reactions with heavy ions.
USSR State Prizes (1946, 1949, 1975). Hero of Socialist Labour (1949).