Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov (12.01.1903—7.02.1960) was a Soviet physicist and an academician (1943). He was born in the town of Sim (now in the Chelyabinsk region). He graduated from the Crimean University (1923). In 1925-42 he worked at the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute (from 1930 as head of a laboratory). In 1943 he organised Laboratory No. 2 of the USSR Academy of Sciences, in which research on atomic energy, in particular on bringing about a chain nuclear reaction, was developed on a large scale. In 1955 the laboratory was transformed into the Institute of Atomic Energy, of which Kurchatov was director until the last days of his life and which now bears his name.
His first work concerned the physics of dielectrics, in particular the electrical conductivity of solids, the formation of a space charge when a current passes through dielectric crystals, the mechanism of the breakdown of solid dielectrics and the study of Rochelle salt. He laid the foundations of the study of ferroelectricity and made a substantial contribution to the study of the electrical properties of crystals. In 1931-32, together with K. D. Sinelnikov, he carried out a number of studies in the physics of semiconductors, examining photocells with a barrier layer.
In 1932 Kurchatov's scientific interests moved into the field of nuclear physics. Together with his colleagues he built in 1933 a high-voltage installation and an accelerating tube for accelerating protons to an energy of 350 keV, took part in the design of high-voltage installations at the Kharkov Physico-Technical Institute and in the construction and starting up (1937) of a large Soviet cyclotron. In 1934 he began research in neutron physics. Together with L. I. Rusinov, B. V. Kurchatov and L. V. Mysovsky he discovered (1935) the phenomenon of nuclear isomerism in artificially radioactive bromine. He studied nuclear reactions caused by fast and slow neutrons, and together with L. A. Artsimovich he was the first (1935) to prove clearly the capture of a neutron by a proton and to obtain a value for the cross-section of this process, which was important for the theory of the structure of the deuteron. In 1939 he began work on the problem of the fission of heavy nuclei. In 1940, under his direction, G. N. Flerov and K. A. Petrzhak discovered the spontaneous decay of uranium nuclei. In 1940 Kurchatov proved that a chain nuclear reaction was possible in a system with uranium and heavy water. In 1941, together with A. P. Alexandrov, he worked on the problem of protecting Soviet ships against mines.
From 1943 he headed the research on the mastery of nuclear energy and took part in carrying out the experiments. He performed (1943) the so-called “exponential experiments”, which yielded the data needed to develop a nuclear reactor and to create methods of calculating nuclear reactors. Together with his colleagues he brought about (December 1946) the starting up of the first Soviet uranium-graphite reactor. He took a direct part in the development and starting up of the later, more powerful nuclear reactors, remaining the scientific head of the work on creating an atomic industry and technology in this country. Under his direction research in various fields of nuclear physics was developed in the USSR, the atomic (1949) and the hydrogen (1953) bombs were created and the world's first nuclear power station was brought into operation (1954). At the beginning of the 1950s research on the problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion was begun in the USSR, and it was under Kurchatov's constant supervision.
He founded a school of atomic physicists (G. N. Flerov, G. I. Budker, I. I. Gurevich, V. P. Dzhelepov, M. G. Meshcheryakov, P. E. Spivak, L. M. Nemenov, L. I. Rusinov, E. N. Babulevich, I. N. Golovin, V. V. Goncharov, I. S. Panasyuk, K. A. Petrzhak, S. M. Feinberg and others). Three times Hero of Socialist Labour (1949, 1951, 1954), the Lenin Prize (1957), USSR State Prizes (1942, 1949, 1951, 1954) and the F. Joliot-Curie Gold Medal (1959). The Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences established a gold medal and a prize in the name of I. V. Kurchatov.