Abstract
After the end of the war in 1945 he got the opportunity to get down to scientific work and return to Landau. L.D. Landau had moved from Kharkov to Moscow. He had spent a year in Lubyanka prison, then started working at the Institute of Physical Problems founded by P.L. Kapitsa after his return from Cambridge, where he was gathering talented theorists.
The work on the atomic project began. Kapitsa was removed from his role as head of the Institute. Landau was put in charge of the atomic bomb calculations, where the author played a crucial role.
Stalin died. Landau left the atomic project explaining his participation in the project as being due to his fear of Stalin only. The work continued under the author’s direction for some time. When the work on the hydrogen bomb development was completed, the author returned to the Institute of Physical Problems, where he continued his studies in the fields of low-temperature physics and quantum electrodynamics, which was rapidly developing at the time, together with Landau.
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Notes
- 1.
V.P. Peshkov (1913–1980) a Soviet physicist. See N.E. Alekseevskii et al., “Vasilii Petrovich Peshkov (Obituary),” Sov. Phys. Usp., v. 24: 1013 (1981).
- 2.
E.L. Andronikashvili (1910–1989), a Georgian Soviet physicist (he descends from the family of Georgian nobility).
- 3.
L.P. Beria (1899–1953) was a Soviet leader and the chief of secret police and security under Stalin. Executed in 1953.
- 4.
I.V. Kurchatov (1903–1960) was a Soviet physicist, later the leader of the Soviet Atomic Project.
- 5.
Council of Ministers of the USSR was the executive branch of the State power.
- 6.
A.N. Babkin (1906–1950) was one of the NKVD and KGB leaders.
- 7.
A.P. Aleksandrov (1903–1994) was a Soviet physicist, subsequently the President of the Academy of Sciences.
- 8.
In Soviet times, one of the first settled country-cottages on Moskva river just west of the City of Moscow.
- 9.
A.P. Aleksandrov.
- 10.
The Communist Party member.
- 11.
Currently, N.N. Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
- 12.
In Soviet times the Kurchatov Institute was also known as I.V. Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy. Located in Moscow.
- 13.
That is, KGB.
- 14.
A.A. Abrikosov (b. 1928) is a Soviet and American physicist, the recipient of 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 15.
A mandatory form, required by Departments of Human Resources everywhere.
- 16.
A.I. Abrikosov (1875–1955) was a Russian and Soviet anatomic pathologist, Lenin’s embalmer.
- 17.
K. Choibalsan (1895–1952) was the Mongolian Communist leader.
- 18.
The official newspaper of the Communist Party.
- 19.
Show trials and Gulag sentences of predominantly Jewish doctors launched by J. Stalin in 1952. This process affected other areas, and not only medicine.
- 20.
The Central Clinical Hospital is an exclusive and heavily guarded medical facility in Kuntsevo, City of Moscow.
- 21.
Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls (1907–1995) was a British physicist and played a major role in the UK nuclear program.
- 22.
The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge.
- 23.
Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) was a British Conservative politician and statesman.
- 24.
P.L. Kapitsa.
- 25.
A.A. Krylova (1903–1996) was Kapitsa’s spouse (and daughter of A.N. Krylov).
- 26.
A.I. Leypunsky (1903–1972) was an physicist and experimentalist.
- 27.
N.K. Krupskaya (1869–1939) was a Russian revolutionary, V.I. Lenin’s spouse.
- 28.
Vyborg is a city 80 miles northwest of St. Petersburg.
- 29.
Council of People’s Commissars, the supreme government authority.
- 30.
Main Administration of the Oxygen Industry.
- 31.
People’s Commissars were statesmen serving in the Council of the People’s Commissars.
- 32.
V.M. Molotov (1890–1986) was one of the leaders of the Soviet government.
- 33.
Highest recognition of achievement in economy or culture.
- 34.
[Author’s footnote] Based on the resolution of the Government Defense Committee on 20 August 1945, an affiliated Special Committee was formed, consisting of L.P. Beria (head), G.M. Malenkov, N.A. Voznesensky, B.L. Vannikov, A.P. Zavenyagin, I.V. Kurchatov, P.L. Kapitsa, V.A. Makhnev, and M.G. Pervukhin. The Committee objective was to “supervise all works on using the inter-atomic energy of uranium” (Izvestia of the Central Committee of KPSS, 1991, No. 1, p. 145).
- 35.
[Author’s footnote] On 22 August 1945, i.e., only two days after the creation of the Special Committee on the Atomic Bomb, M.K. Sukov, the head of the Glavavtogen at the People’s Commissariat of Construction of Heavy Industry, sent a complain letter about P.L. Kapitsa to Stalin. This letter was motivated first of all by the fact that Glavavtogen’s existence was about to be terminated by a Government decree, and all the plants under management were to be transferred to Glavkislorod. In particular, Sukov’s letter was saying “… the system of Glavkislorod activity has a clearly capitalistic character …” Excerpts from this snitch letter were read out by L.P. Beria at the meeting of Sovnarkom Bureau on 26 September 1945. After that Beria suggested to nominate Sukov as Kapitsa’s Deputy in Glavkislorod! (P.L. Kapitsa, “Letters on Science”, Moscow, 1989, pp. 231–233).
- 36.
G.M. Malenkov (1902–1988) was a Communist Party leader, Premier of the Soviet Union in 1953–1955.
- 37.
N.S. Khrushchev (1894–1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR in 1953–1964 and a Premier-Minister in 1958–1964.
- 38.
L.I. Brezhnev (1906–1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1964–1982.
- 39.
Yu.V. Andropov (1914–1984) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1982–1984.
- 40.
[Author’s footnote] Quoted from memory. This was the letter of 15 June 1935. Here is a what author was referring to, “Our idiots has gotten so accustomed that, regardless of what they propose to the scientists, they hear in response ‘So good!’, ‘So smart!’, etc., that when I scold and criticize them, they tell me directly that this is not how one is supposed to talk to the superiors here. Of course, after all this, I am now left by myself, and only a handful of my friends, such as Kolya (N.N. Semenov—tr.), just because of their fear for me, are trying to convince me to change my tone. They are fools, because almost surely I love and value our idiots more than [they] do. More than anybody else I am trying to make sure that our science is good, or the best. For this, I am ready to risk my head, my nerves, to be separated from my family, etc. This is what they do not want to understand, but see only some kind of a whim.”
- 41.
P.A. Sudoplatov (1907–1996) worked in the intelligence services of the USSR. He and L.P. Vasilevsky (see below) were involved in Leon Trotsky’s assassination.
- 42.
The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the secret police of the USSR.
- 43.
In Russia, Germany, and some other countries, the Doctor of Sciences is the next scientific rank after a Candidate of Sciences; the latter is approximately equivalent to PhD.
- 44.
N. Bohr (1885–1962) was a Danish physicist, one of the founders of quantum mechanics.
- 45.
W. Churchill (1874–1965) was a British statesman who led the United Kingdom during the World War II.
- 46.
L.P. Vasilevsky (1904–1979) worked in the intelligence services of the USSR.
- 47.
A.N. Bohr (1922–2009) was a Danish nuclear physicist. Nobel laureate of 1975.
- 48.
L.A. Artsimovich (1909–1973) was a Soviet physicist.
- 49.
I.K. Kikoin (1908–1984) was a Soviet physicist-experimentalist.
- 50.
The nickname of L.D. Landau.
- 51.
S.I. Vavilov (1891–1951) was a Soviet physicist.
- 52.
A lower rank as compared to the Full Member, or Academician.
- 53.
H.D. Smyth, “Atomic Energy for Military Purposes; the Official Report on the Development of the Atomic Bomb Under the Auspices of the United States Government,” 1940–1945 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1945). Russian translation by Transzheldorizdat, a State Publishing House focused on transportation industry, which existed in 1923–1964.
- 54.
L.R. Groves, Jr. (1896–1970) was a United States Army officer who directed the Manhattan Project.
- 55.
The nomenklatura was a class of high administrative position holders.
- 56.
[Author’s footnote] There is one curious detail. Over the years, in the course of letter exchange between Stalin and Kapitsa, fifty letters were written without a response. After leaving the Special Committee Kapitsa continued to write letters, and namely during the times which were dimly for him, on 4 April 1946, Kapitsa received a single letter from Stalin, where he was confirmed that the letters were received, and even a wish was expressed to meet some day.
- 57.
E.M. Lifshitz (1915–1985) was a leading Soviet physicist (and a co-author of L.D. Landau in “Course of Theoretical Physics”).
- 58.
Lomonosov Moscow State University, the main university in the country.
- 59.
MIPT is located in Dolgoprudny, just north of the Moscow Belt Highway.
- 60.
S.A. Khristianovich (1908–2000) was a Soviet scientist, who worked in mechanics.
- 61.
A.S. Yakovlev (1906–1989) was a Soviet scientist and the founder of the airplane design bureau which carries his name, currently Yak Aircraft Co.
- 62.
A.I. Mikhailov (?–?).
- 63.
Here, S.I. Vavilov.
- 64.
A.I. Nesmeyanov (1899–1980) left his post as the Rector of MSU in 1951 to become the President of the Academy of Sciences.
- 65.
I.Ya. Pomeranchuk (1913–1966) was a Soviet physicist.
- 66.
There might be a relation to one of the protagonists of the children book “Chuck and Geck” (1939) by the Soviet writer A.I. Gaidar.
- 67.
This is also Russian for “robe.”
- 68.
A.I. Shalnikov (1905–1986) was a Soviet physicist-experimentalist. See A.F. Andreev et al., “Aleksandr Iosifovich Shal’nikov (Obituary)”, Sov. Phys. Usp. v. 30: 346 (1987).
- 69.
A.I. Shalnikov.
- 70.
I.M. Maisky (1884–1975) was a Soviet diplomat (aka Maysky).
- 71.
In the original, there is only a word play with the word “осел,” Russian for donkey or ass.
- 72.
N.N. Semenov (1896–1986) was a Soviet chemist and physicist (aka Semyonov). In 1956 he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
- 73.
Askania-Nova is a Ukrainian southern steppe preserve in Kherson district, near Crimea peninsula.
- 74.
I.M. Lifshitz (1917–1982) was a leading Soviet physicist.
- 75.
In the original “lifchik,” Russian for bra.
- 76.
Slang for Kapitsa’s Institute.
- 77.
A mass youth league of the USSR for children of ages from 10 to 15. Its main symbols included parades, red ties, drums, bugles, etc.
- 78.
A.F. Andreev (b. 1939) is a Soviet and Russian physicist. “Aleksandr Fedorovich Andreev (on his 70th birthday)” Phys. Usp. v. 53: 103–104 (2010).
- 79.
Translated by L. Pesis.
- 80.
Yu.P. Gaidukov (1930–2007) was a Soviet and Russian physicist.
- 81.
V.F. Gantmakher (b. 1935) is a Soviet and Russian physicist.
- 82.
M.S. Khaikin (1921–1990) was a Soviet physicist.
- 83.
V.M. Molotov (1890–1986) was one of the leaders of the Soviet government.
- 84.
B.Z. Kobulov (1904–1953) was a Soviet politician and a secret service member. Executed in 1953 following Beria’s trial and execution.
- 85.
“The Government Inspector” is a play by N.V. Gogol published in 1836. At the end of the play there is a dramatic moment when arrival of a government inspector is announced following turmoil upon the departure of a young involuntary impostor.
- 86.
Russian “мотив” originated from Old French “motif” at the end of the 18th century and remained a narrow term.
- 87.
Here, personal guarantee of P.L. Kapitsa.
- 88.
N.S. Meiman (1911–2001) was a Soviet and Israeli mathematician and a refusenik. See D.V. Anosov et al., “Naum Natanovich Meiman (Obituary),” Russ. Math. Surv. v. 57: 399 (2002). Before emigration, N.S. Meiman was Naum Natanovich (N.N.).
- 89.
Russian for “efficiency” is literally “the coefficient of useful action.”
- 90.
Here and below “manual” refers to using arithmometers instead of computers.
- 91.
S.L. Sobolev (1908–1989) was a Soviet mathematician.
- 92.
Here, Candidates and Doctors of Sciences.
- 93.
Here, the work on the bomb project.
- 94.
I.E. Tamm (1895–1971) was a Soviet physicist. In 1958 he received a Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 95.
A.D. Sakharov (1921–1989) was a Soviet theoretical physicist and a human rights activist.
- 96.
V.L. Ginzburg (1916–2009) was a Soviet theoretical physicist and scientific organizer. Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003.
- 97.
L.P. Beria.
- 98.
Ya.B. Zeldovich (1914–1987) was a Soviet theoretical physicist.
- 99.
A.N. Tikhonov (1906–1993) was a Soviet mathematician and the founder of the Department of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics at MSU.
- 100.
Also known as Calculation Bureau, where most calculations related to nuclear weapons design were performed. In 1953 it became a Department of Applied Mathematics at the Steklov Institute of Mathematics and later was separated as the Institute for Applied Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Located in Moscow.
- 101.
M.V. Keldysh (1911–1978) was a Soviet mathematician. He played a key role in the Soviet nuclear and space programs.
- 102.
In English: “Andrei Sakharov: Memoirs,” New York: Alfred Knopf, 1990.
- 103.
At the time, the First Department could be found in every Soviet institution. They controlled political and security issues and reported directly to the KGB.
- 104.
The town of Sarov, Russia, where A.D. Sakharov moved in 1950.
- 105.
Here, finite difference schemes in applied mathematics.
- 106.
N.N. Bogoliubov (1909–1992) was a Soviet theoretical physicist.
- 107.
G.N. Flerov (1913–1990) was a Soviet physicist.
- 108.
Here, the Heroes of Socialist Labor.
- 109.
Stalin stipends were established in 1939 for university students.
- 110.
Yu.B. Khariton (1904–1996) was a Soviet physicist. See Avrorin E.N. et al. “In memory of Yulii Borisovich Khariton,” Phys. Usp. v. 40: 261 (1997). “His unique feature was that not only he was a theoretical physicist, but also an outstanding experimentalist, a designer and production engineer, creator of a novel production system, exploitation and testing of nuclear weapons.” See http://min-atom.ru/News/Main/view?id=991&idChannel=341.
- 111.
Currently, N.N. Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
- 112.
A popular card game, also know as “fool.”
- 113.
That is, Kostikov.
- 114.
Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Chernogolovka, Moscow province.
- 115.
Since medical care was free of charge for everyone, many prescription drugs were scarce.
- 116.
Admission to resorts, sanatoria was controlled by vouchers, the latter were inexpensive but in short supply.
- 117.
On that day the so-called August coup d’etat began, which is associated with the dissolution of the USSR.
- 118.
J. von Neumann (1903–1957) was a famous Hungarian-born American mathematician.
- 119.
Certification of the materials on Academician L.D. Landau, submitted by KGB Chair to the Central Committee of the KPSS on 20 December 1957. “Landau is a rather prominent scientist, and his name is recognized around the world in the field of theoretical physics. According to many specialists, he is capable to do new discoveries in science. However, his scientific and especially his practical work is chiefly reduced to performing specific tasks, which he does conscientiously.”
- 120.
See footnote on p. 44.
- 121.
Kazan is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia.
- 122.
N.G. Chebotarev (1894–1947) was a Soviet mathematician.
- 123.
Ivanovo is a regional center 150 miles north-east of Moscow, also known as “City of Brides”.
- 124.
V.I. Lenin (1870–1924) passed away on January 21st.
- 125.
Here, the Ministry of Medium Machine-Building Industry of the USSR or MinSredMash.
- 126.
In those Soviet years an apartment could not have been legally purchased but only “distributed” by the authorities.
- 127.
B.L. Vannikov (1897–1962) was a general-colonel, Head of the First Main Directorate of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, co-head of the Atomic Project jointly with I.V. Kurchatov.
- 128.
A.P. Zavenyagin (1901–1956) was a general-lieutenant, Beria’s Deputy in the Atomic Project.
- 129.
V.A. Malyshev (1902–1957) was a general-colonel, People’s Commissar, Minister of the MinSredMash.
- 130.
M.G. Pervukhin (1904–1978) was a general-lieutenant, Vannikov’s Deputy in the First Main Directorate.
- 131.
A local Committee of the Communist Party.
- 132.
The author does not disclose the last name of the Secretary.
- 133.
See footnote on p. 29.
- 134.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- 135.
M.A. Suslov (1902–1982) was a Soviet statesman and Party leader, known as one of the “gray cardinals.”
- 136.
The author refers here to collective letters which were advancing or defending a certain action or person, in contrast to self-binding collective letters which covered a whole spectrum, from workers writing about their self-binding commitments, to measures of the last resort. For example, in 1930 Stalin received a letter from the workers of the Izhevsk factory (Izhevskaya Pravda, 51, 2 March). In 1948 accused Soviet composers sent a letter to Stalin where they promised to “vivid realistic music that reflects the life and the struggles of the Soviet people.” N. Slonimsky, “The changing style of Soviet music,” Journal of the American Musicological Society v. 3: 240 (1950).
- 137.
A.I. Akhiezer (1911–2000) was a Soviet physicist. See V.G. Bar’yakhtar et al., Physics-Uspekhi, v. 43: 859 (2000).
- 138.
A.I. Alikhanian (1908–1978) was a Soviet Armenian physicist, also regarded as a “father of Armenian physics.”
- 139.
M.A. Leontovich (1903–1981) was a Soviet theoretical physicist.
- 140.
A.V. Shubnikov (1887–1970) was a Russian and Soviet physicist.
- 141.
In the original, Kurchatov addresses Khalatnikov using singular Russian pronoun “тебя,” which is similar to old English objective “thee” instead of usual respectful plural “вас,” i.e., “you.” Then the author remarks that Kurchatov was using “ты” with many people, on the borderline between familiarity and disrespect.
- 142.
A Theoretical Department.
- 143.
That is, at the Institute for Physical Problems.
- 144.
The accident took place in the same year 1962. Landau was severely injured and could not work.
- 145.
A central prison in the City of Moscow, affiliated with KGB is Soviet times.
- 146.
See footnote on p. 56.
- 147.
One of the diminutive names for Artem, common in Russian, indicating close friendship.
- 148.
G.A. Gamow (1904–1968) was a Soviet American theoretical physicist.
- 149.
The phrase “A country should know her heroes” is a popular Soviet slogan, first appeared in Pravda on 6 March 1931, in the article entitled “Best of the best,” which was devoted to awards received by front-rank workers.
- 150.
Created by mathematician V.A. Steklov in 1921, this institute was subsequently moved to Moscow. A spin-off of the Lebedev Physical Institute led to formation of the Steklov Mathematical Institute.
- 151.
M.P. Bronstein (1906–1938) was a Soviet physicist. Arrested and executed by NKVD.
- 152.
D.D. Ivanenko (1904–1994) was a Soviet theoretical physicist.
- 153.
V.A. Fok (1898–1974) was a Soviet theoretical physicist. Arrested twice by NKVD, but saved by P.L. Kapitsa.
- 154.
E.N. Kannegisser (1908–1986), also Lady Genia Peierls.
- 155.
L.I. Kannegisser (1896–1918) was a poet and revolutionary socialist.
- 156.
An acronym for Extraordinary Commission in Russian was the first Soviet state security, predecessor of NKVD and KGB.
- 157.
M.S. Uritsky (1873–1918) was a Russian revolutionary activist, Chairman of Cheka in Petrograd (St. Petersburg at the time when the German word “burg” was replaced by the Slavic “grad,” following World War I).
- 158.
See footnote on p. 30.
- 159.
K. Fuchs (1911–1988) was a German theoretical physicist.
- 160.
D. Bedny (1883–1945) or “Damian the Poor” was a pen name of E.A. Pridvorov, a Russian and Soviet poet and satirist.
- 161.
D. Bedny, “Do atomov dobralis,” Pravda, 25 November 1928. See “The World of Andrey Sakharov: A Russian Physicist Path to Freedom” by G. Gorelik, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. The translation given here is by L. Pesis.
- 162.
In Soviet times, traveling abroad required obtaining special permissions.
- 163.
N.I. Bukharin (1888–1938) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. Executed during the Great Purge.
- 164.
See footnote on p. 9.
- 165.
In 1932, Gamow and his wife, Luba Vokhmintseva (a graduate of the Department of Physics and Mathematics of MSU) tried to cross the Black Sea in a baydarka, a type of kayak, using boiled eggs as food. They got disoriented and almost perished due to dehydration.
- 166.
An industrialist, E. Solvay, founded an Institute in his name in Brussels in 1922. Conceils Solvay occur every three years, with some interruptions.
- 167.
In December 1933 Sovnarkom issued a decree regarding mandatory internal passports, to be used within the country borders (birth certificates and identity cards were used prior to that). Traveling abroad required an “international” or exit passport and exit visa from the USSR in addition to the regular entrance visa for the country of destination.
- 168.
A.M. Orlov (1898–1940) was an intelligence officer of NKVD, mostly.
- 169.
[Author’s footnote] He used the name of his deceased friend. His real name was Willie Fischer.
- 170.
W.A. Fischer (1903–1971) was a Soviet intelligence officer. He was captured in USA, tried, and exchanged for a CIA U2 pilot, G. Powers.
- 171.
E. Teller (1908–2003) was an American theoretical physicist, also known as a “father of the hydrogen bomb.”
- 172.
At the University of Colorado in Boulder.
- 173.
R.A. Alpher, H. Bethe, G. Gamow, “The origin of chemical elements,” Phys. Rev. v. 73(7): 803–804 (1948). In his book “The Creation of the Universe,” New York: Viking Press, 1952, Gamow writes “This was signed Alpher, Bethe, and Gamow, and is often referred to as the ‘alphabetical article.’” It seemed unfair to the Greek alphabet to have the article signed by Alpher and Gamow only, and so the name of Dr. Hans A. Bethe (in absentia) was inserted in preparing the manuscript for print. Dr. Bethe, who received a copy of the manuscript, did not object and, as a matter of fact, was quite helpful in subsequent discussions. There was, however, a rumor that later, when the alpha, beta, gamma theory went temporarily on the rocks, Dr. Bethe seriously considered changing his name to Zacharias … The close fit of the calculated curve and the observed abundances is shown in Fig. 15, which represents the results of later calculations carried out on the electronic computer of the National Bureau of Standards by Ralph Alpher and R.C. Herman (who stubbornly refuses to change his name to Delter).”
- 174.
A.A. Penzias and R.W. Wilson shared a Nobel Prize “for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation” (here and below, as per official Nobel website, www.nobelprize.org).
- 175.
R.W. Holley, H.G. Khorana, and M.W. Nirenberg shared a Nobel Prize “for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis” in 1968.
- 176.
I.A. Bunin (1870–1935) was a Russian writer and poet.
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Khalatnikov, I.M. (2012). The Superproblem at the Institute for Physical Problems. In: From the Atomic Bomb to the Landau Institute. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27561-6_3
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