PHYSICIST

Igor Kurchatov

1903 - 1960

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Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov (Russian: Игорь Васильевич Курчатов; 12 January 1903 – 7 February 1960), was a Soviet physicist who played a central role in organizing and directing the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons, and has been referred to as "father of the Russian atomic bomb". As many of his contemporaries in Russia, Kurchatov, initially educated as a naval architect, was an autodidact in nuclear physics and was brought by Soviet establishment to accelerate the feasibility of the "super bomb". Aided by effective intelligence management by Soviet agencies on the American Manhattan Project, Kurchatov oversaw the quick development and testing of the first Soviet nuclear weapon, which was roughly based on the first American device, at Semipalatinsk in the Kazakh SSR in 1949. Kurchatov, a recipient of many former Soviet honors, had an instrumental role in modern nuclear industry in Russia. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Igor Kurchatov is the 256th most popular physicist (down from 166th in 2019), the 265th most popular biography from Russia (down from 187th in 2019) and the 13th most popular Russian Physicist.

Igor Kurchatov is most famous for his work in the field of nuclear physics. He was part of the Soviet team that worked on the first atomic bomb.

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Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Igor Kurchatov ranks 256 out of 851. Before him are C. P. Snow, Jim Peebles, Benjamin Thompson, Leon M. Lederman, John L. Hall, and John Archibald Wheeler. After him are Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Abdus Salam, Chien-Shiung Wu, Serge Haroche, Julian Schwinger, and Toshihide Maskawa.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1903, Igor Kurchatov ranks 43. Before him are John Eccles, The French Angel, Alec Douglas-Home, Bing Crosby, Jiro Horikoshi, and Haldan Keffer Hartline. After him are Matthias Sindelar, Claudette Colbert, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Julius Fučík, Abul A'la Maududi, and Eliot Ness. Among people deceased in 1960, Igor Kurchatov ranks 20. Before him are Fausto Coppi, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, Walter Baade, Antonie Pannekoek, and Aloysius Stepinac. After him are Ernst von Dohnányi, J. L. Austin, Ana Pauker, Clara Haskil, August Kopff, and Henri Guisan.

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In Russia

Among people born in Russia, Igor Kurchatov ranks 265 out of 3,761. Before him are Vasily Blyukher (1889), Algirdas Julien Greimas (1917), Johann Georg Hamann (1730), Viktor Korchnoi (1931), Viktor Vasnetsov (1848), and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia (1891). After him are Viktor Chernomyrdin (1938), Duke Alexander of Württemberg (1804), Vladimir Ashkenazy (1937), Nikolai Yudenich (1862), Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia (1553), and Alexander Blok (1880).

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Among PHYSICISTS In Russia

Among physicists born in Russia, Igor Kurchatov ranks 13. Before him are Ilya Frank (1908), Igor Tamm (1895), Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov (1928), Pyotr Kapitsa (1894), Vitaly Ginzburg (1916), and Nikolay Basov (1922). After him are Yuri Oganessian (1933), Andre Geim (1958), Alexey Ekimov (1945), Vladimir Shukhov (1853), Vladimir Fock (1898), and Georgy Flyorov (1913).

Russian born Physicists

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