Editing Igor Kurchatov (section)

==Biography==

Kurchatov was born in a small village in Simsky Zavod in [[Ufa Governorate|Ufa]], [[Russian Empire|Russia]] (now it is a town of [[Sim, Chelyabinsk Oblast|Sim]], [[Chelyabinsk Oblast]]), on 12 January 1903.{{rp|2039}}<ref name="Routledge, Magill, 2014">{{cite book |last1=Magill |first1=Frank N. |title=The 20th Century Go-N: Dictionary of World Biography, Volume 8 |date=5 March 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-74060-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3sBAwAAQBAJ&dq=igor+kurchatov+born&pg=PA2039 |access-date=5 November 2022 |language=en |archive-date=17 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230917065455/https://books.google.com/books?id=I3sBAwAAQBAJ&dq=igor+kurchatov+born&pg=PA2039 |url-status=live }}</ref> His father, Vasily Alekseyevich Kurchatov, was a surveyor and former forester's assistant in the [[Ural Mountains]]; his mother, Mariya Vasilyevna Ostroumova, a daughter of the parish priest at Sim, was a school teacher.<ref>Dictionary of World Biography, volume VIII- The 20th Century, Go-N, ed. Frank N. Magill, Routledge, p. 2039</ref><ref name=brit/> He was the second of three children of Vasily Kurchatov, and the family moved to [[Simferopol]] in [[Crimea]] in 1912.<ref name="Mir, Golovin, 1969">Golovin, Igorʹ Nikolaevich. Academician, Igor Kurchatov. Russia, Mir Publishers, 1969.</ref> The Kurchatovs were of [[Russians|Russian]] ethnicity.<ref>[http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=10493 Курчатов Игорь Васильевич] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814021107/https://warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=10493 |date=14 August 2021 }}. warheroes.ru</ref> 
[[File:Igor Kurchatov 1929.jpg|left|thumb|186x186px|Igor Kurchatov in [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]], 1929]]
After his older sister, Antonina, passed away in Crimea, Igor grew up with his younger brother, Boris, where they both attended the Simferopol gymnasium №1, and was a [[Mandolin]] player at his school's orchestra.<ref name="Mir, Golovin, 1969"/> During [[World War I]], Igor and Boris had to work to support the family, becoming a skilled [[welder]] and developing interests in [[steam engine]]s, wishing to become an engineer.<ref name="Mir, Golovin, 1969"/>

Kurchatov attended the [[Crimea State University]] where he studied physics and had built a reputation for his mechanical ability to perform physics experiments, for which he was titled as a ''doctorate''.{{rp|13}}<ref name="Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc., 1967">{{cite book |last1=Inc |first1=Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science |title=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: The Father of Soviet Atomic Bomb |date=December 1967 |publisher=Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-AYAAAAAMBAJ&dq=igor+kurchatov+ioffe+azer&pg=PA13 |access-date=5 November 2022 |language=en |archive-date=17 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230917065528/https://books.google.com/books?id=-AYAAAAAMBAJ&dq=igor+kurchatov+ioffe+azer&pg=PA13 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Mir, Golovin, 1969"/><ref>''The doctorate in Russia is not a degree but an honorary degree given after several years of independent work in science''</ref> Kurchatov soon moved to [[Baku]] in Azerbaijan after securing physics assistance job at the [[Azerbaijan Polytechnic Institute]].{{rp|449}}<ref name="ABC-CLIO, Dowling, 2014">{{cite book |last1=Dowling |first1=Timothy C. |title=Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond [2 volumes] |date=2 December 2014 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-948-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KTq2BQAAQBAJ&dq=igor+kurchatov+azer&pg=PA449 |access-date=5 November 2022 |language=en |archive-date=17 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230917065532/https://books.google.com/books?id=KTq2BQAAQBAJ&dq=igor+kurchatov+azer&pg=PA449 |url-status=live }}</ref> There, he presented his experiments in [[Electrical conduction in gases|electrical conduction]], which impressed Dr. [[Abram Ioffe]] who was there as a guest, and invited him to [[Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute|Physico-Technical Institute]] in Saint Petersburg, Russia.<ref name="Mir, Golovin, 1969"/><ref name=":0">{{cite journal|doi=10.1134/1.1540651|author=Gaponov, Yu. V.|title=Igor' Vasil'Evich Kurchatov: The Scientist And Doer (January 12, 1903 – February 7, 1960)|journal=Physics of Atomic Nuclei|volume=66|issue=1|year=2003|pages=3–7|url=https://ir.stonybrook.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11401/70590/ATNv66i1final.pdf?sequence=2|bibcode=2003PAN....66....1G|s2cid=119603044|access-date=21 February 2024|archive-date=21 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121194157/https://ir.stonybrook.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11401/70590/ATNv66i1final.pdf?sequence=2|url-status=live}}</ref> Kurchatov married Marina Sinelnikova in 1927 and they did not have children.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Josephson |first1=Paul R. |title=Red Atom: Russia's Nuclear Power Program from Stalin to Today |date=June 10, 2005 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |isbn=0822958813 |page=13 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3MJq8w8sKsC&pg=PA13 |access-date=12 May 2019 |archive-date=21 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221231400/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3MJq8w8sKsC&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

While working under Ioffe on [[ferroelectricity]] and [[semiconductor]]s, Kurchatov entered in [[Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University|Leningrad Polytechnic Institute]] to study engineering and secured his [[engineer's degree]] in [[naval architecture]] in 1930s.<ref name="brit" /><ref name=":0" /> Between 1931 and 1934, Kurchatov worked in the [[V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute|Radium Institute]] which was headed by {{Interlanguage link|Vitaly Khlopin|2=ru|3=Хлопин, Виталий Григорьевич|preserve=1}}. In 1937, Kurchatov was a part of the team that designed and built the first [[cyclotron]] particle accelerator in Russia, which was installed in [[V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute|Radium Institute]].<ref name="Oxford University Press, Braithwaite, 2018">{{cite book |last1=Braithwaite |first1=Rodric |title=Armageddon and Paranoia: The Nuclear Confrontation since 1945 |date=9 February 2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-087031-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iyJLDwAAQBAJ&dq=igor+kurchatov+naval&pg=PT65 |language=en |access-date=21 February 2024 |archive-date=17 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230917065447/https://books.google.com/books?id=iyJLDwAAQBAJ&dq=igor+kurchatov+naval&pg=PT65 |url-status=live }}</ref> Installation was finished in 1937, and research began to take place on 21 September 1939.<ref>[http://www.khlopin.ru/english/memorial.php Radium Institute named Vitaly Khlopin] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426033005/http://www.khlopin.ru/english/memorial.php |date=26 April 2011 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.khlopin.ru/english/hronology.php Radium Institute named Vitaly Khlopin. Chronology] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426033000/http://www.khlopin.ru/english/hronology.php |date=26 April 2011}}</ref> During this time, Kurchatov considered studying physics abroad at the [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]] in the [[United States]] but the plan fell apart due to political reasons.<ref name="Oxford University Press, Braithwaite, 2018"/> Until 1933, Kurchatov did not go into the nuclear physics and his work was primarily focused on electromagnetism but did an important work on [[nuclear isomer]] and radioactivity in 1935.{{rp|449}}<ref name="ABC-CLIO, Dowling, 2014" />

In 1940, Kurchatov moved to [[Kazan]] and raised objection on [[spontaneous fission]] when [[Georgy Flyorov]] directed a letter about the discovery.{{rp|47–57}}<ref name="Mir, Golovin, 1969" /> In 1942–43, Kurchatov found a project with the [[Soviet Navy]] and moved to [[Murmansk]] where he worked with fellow physicist [[Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov|Anatoly Alexandrov]].<ref name="Lulu.com, Marcovici, 2019" /> By November 1941, they had devised a method of [[demagnetizing]] ships to protect them from German [[Mining|mines]], which was in active use until the end of World War II and thereafter.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Aleksandrov, A. P.|title=Годы с Курчатовым|journal=[[Nauka i Zhizn]]|year=1983|volume=2|url=http://vivovoco.astronet.ru/VV/PAPERS/BIO/BORODA/BORODA.HTM|author-link=Anatoly Alexandrov (physicist)|access-date=21 February 2024|archive-date=5 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405214737/http://vivovoco.astronet.ru/VV/PAPERS/BIO/BORODA/BORODA.HTM|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Koptev, Yu. I. (2008) "Виза безопасности". St. Petersburg. Изд-во Политехнического Университета. {{in lang|ru}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Regel, V. R.|title=Размагничивание кораблей в годы Великой Отечественной войны|journal=Priroda|year=1975|volume=4|url=http://kvant.mccme.ru/1980/05/razmagnichivanie_korablej_v_go.htm|access-date=21 February 2024|archive-date=19 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319030007/http://kvant.mccme.ru/1980/05/razmagnichivanie_korablej_v_go.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The job with Soviet Navy solved Kurchatov's objection on spontaneous fission when he wrote in 1944: "Uranium must be separated into two parts at the moment of detonation. Upon the breaking up of the nuclei in a kilogram of uranium, the energy released must be equal to the explosion of 20,000 tons of [[TNT equivalent]]."{{rp|152}}<ref name="World Scientific, Pondrom, 2018">{{cite book |last1=Pondrom |first1=Lee G. |title=Soviet Atomic Project, The: How The Soviet Union Obtained The Atomic Bomb |date=25 July 2018 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-981-323-557-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vlZoDwAAQBAJ&dq=igor+kurchatov+soviet+navy+flyorov&pg=PA152 |language=en |access-date=21 February 2024 |archive-date=17 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230917065456/https://books.google.com/books?id=vlZoDwAAQBAJ&dq=igor+kurchatov+soviet+navy+flyorov&pg=PA152 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|30–32}}<ref>Gubarev, Vladimir, ''Atomnaya Bomba''</ref>