Who is the father of the atomic bomb? Igor Kurchatov: short biography

American Robert Oppenheimer and Soviet scientist Igor Kurchatov are officially recognized as the fathers of the atomic bomb. But in parallel, deadly weapons were also being developed in other countries (Italy, Denmark, Hungary), so the discovery rightfully belongs to everyone.

The first to tackle this issue were German physicists Fritz Strassmann and Otto Hahn, who in December 1938 were the first to artificially split the atomic nucleus of uranium. And six months later, the first reactor was already being built at the Kummersdorf test site near Berlin and uranium ore was urgently purchased from the Congo.

“Uranium Project” - the Germans start and lose

In September 1939, the “Uranium Project” was classified. 22 reputable research centers were invited to participate in the program, and the research was supervised by Minister of Armaments Albert Speer. The construction of an installation for separating isotopes and the production of uranium to extract the isotope from it that supports the chain reaction was entrusted to the IG Farbenindustry concern.

For two years, a group of the venerable scientist Heisenberg studied the possibility of creating a reactor with and heavy water. A potential explosive (uranium-235 isotope) could be isolated from uranium ore.

But an inhibitor is needed to slow down the reaction - graphite or heavy water. Choosing the latter option created an insurmountable problem.

The only plant for the production of heavy water, which was located in Norway, was disabled by local resistance fighters after the occupation, and small reserves of valuable raw materials were exported to France.

The rapid implementation of the nuclear program was also hindered by the explosion of an experimental nuclear reactor in Leipzig.

Hitler supported the uranium project as long as he hoped to obtain a super-powerful weapon that could influence the outcome of the war he started. After government funding was cut, the work programs continued for some time.

In 1944, Heisenberg managed to create cast uranium plates, and a special bunker was built for the reactor plant in Berlin.

It was planned to complete the experiment to achieve a chain reaction in January 1945, but a month later the equipment was urgently transported to the Swiss border, where it was deployed only a month later. IN nuclear reactor there were 664 cubes of uranium weighing 1525 kg. It was surrounded by a graphite neutron reflector weighing 10 tons, and one and a half tons of heavy water were additionally loaded into the core.

On March 23, the reactor finally started working, but the report to Berlin was premature: the reactor did not reach a critical point, and the chain reaction did not occur. Additional calculations showed that the mass of uranium must be increased by at least 750 kg, proportionally adding the amount of heavy water.

But supplies of strategic raw materials were at their limit, as was the fate of the Third Reich. On April 23, the Americans entered the village of Haigerloch, where the tests were carried out. The military dismantled the reactor and transported it to the United States.

The first atomic bombs in the USA

A little later, the Germans began developing the atomic bomb in the USA and Great Britain. It all started with a letter from Albert Einstein and his co-authors, emigrant physicists, sent in September 1939 to US President Franklin Roosevelt.

The appeal emphasized that Nazi Germany was close to creating an atomic bomb.

Stalin first learned about work on nuclear weapons (both allied and adversary) from intelligence officers in 1943. They immediately decided to create a similar project in the USSR. Instructions were issued not only to scientists, but also to intelligence services, for which obtaining any information about nuclear secrets became a major task.

The invaluable information about the developments of American scientists that Soviet intelligence officers were able to obtain significantly advanced the domestic nuclear project. It helped our scientists avoid ineffective search paths and significantly speed up the time frame for achieving the final goal.

Serov Ivan Aleksandrovich - head of the bomb creation operation

Of course, the Soviet government could not ignore the successes of German nuclear physicists. After the war, a group of Soviet physicists, future academicians, were sent to Germany in the uniform of colonels of the Soviet army.

Ivan Serov, the first deputy people's commissar of internal affairs, was appointed head of the operation, this allowed scientists to open any doors.

In addition to their German colleagues, they found reserves of uranium metal. This, according to Kurchatov, shortened the development time of the Soviet bomb by at least a year. More than one ton of uranium and leading nuclear specialists were taken out of Germany by the American military.

Not only chemists and physicists were sent to the USSR, but also qualified labor– mechanics, electricians, glassblowers. Some of the employees were found in prison camps. In total, about 1,000 German specialists worked on the Soviet atomic project.

German scientists and laboratories on the territory of the USSR in the post-war years

A uranium centrifuge and other equipment, as well as documents and reagents from the von Ardenne laboratory and the Kaiser Institute of Physics, were transported from Berlin. As part of the program, laboratories “A”, “B”, “C”, “D” were created, headed by German scientists.

The head of Laboratory “A” was Baron Manfred von Ardenne, who developed a method for gas diffusion purification and separation of uranium isotopes in a centrifuge.

For the creation of such a centrifuge (only on an industrial scale) in 1947 he received the Stalin Prize. At that time, the laboratory was located in Moscow, on the site of the famous Kurchatov Institute. Each German scientist’s team included 5-6 Soviet specialists.

Later, laboratory “A” was taken to Sukhumi, where a physical and technical institute was created on its basis. In 1953, Baron von Ardenne became a Stalin laureate for the second time.

Laboratory B, which conducted experiments in the field of radiation chemistry in the Urals, was headed by Nikolaus Riehl, a key figure in the project. There, in Snezhinsk, the talented Russian geneticist Timofeev-Resovsky, with whom he had been friends back in Germany, worked with him. The successful test of the atomic bomb brought Riehl the star of Hero of Socialist Labor and the Stalin Prize.

Research at Laboratory B in Obninsk was led by Professor Rudolf Pose, a pioneer in the field of nuclear testing. His team managed to create fast neutron reactors, the first nuclear power plant in the USSR, and projects for reactors for submarines.

On the basis of the laboratory, the Physics and Energy Institute named after A.I. was later created. Leypunsky. Until 1957, the professor worked in Sukhumi, then in Dubna, at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Technologies.

Laboratory “G”, located in the Sukhumi sanatorium “Agudzery”, was headed by Gustav Hertz. The nephew of the famous 19th century scientist gained fame after a series of experiments that confirmed the ideas of quantum mechanics and the theory of Niels Bohr.

The results of his productive work in Sukhumi were used to create an industrial installation in Novouralsk, where in 1949 the first Soviet bomb RDS-1 was filled.

The uranium bomb that the Americans dropped on Hiroshima was a cannon type. When creating the RDS-1, domestic nuclear physicists were guided by the Fat Boy - the “Nagasaki bomb”, made of plutonium according to the implosive principle.

In 1951, Hertz was awarded the Stalin Prize for his fruitful work.

German engineers and scientists lived in comfortable houses; they brought their families, furniture, paintings from Germany, they were provided with decent salaries and special food. Did they have the status of prisoners? According to Academician A.P. Aleksandrov, an active participant in the project, they were all prisoners in such conditions.

Having received permission to return to their homeland, the German specialists signed a non-disclosure agreement about their participation in the Soviet nuclear project for 25 years. In the GDR they continued to work in their specialty. Baron von Ardenne was a two-time winner of the German National Prize.

The professor headed the Physics Institute in Dresden, which was created under the auspices of the Scientific Council for the Peaceful Applications of Atomic Energy. The Scientific Council was headed by Gustav Hertz, who received the National Prize of the GDR for his three-volume textbook on atomic physics. Here, in Dresden, at the Technical University, Professor Rudolf Pose also worked.

The participation of German specialists in the Soviet atomic project, as well as the achievements of Soviet intelligence, do not diminish the merits of Soviet scientists who, with their heroic work, created domestic atomic weapons. And yet, without the contribution of each participant in the project, the creation of the nuclear industry and nuclear bomb would stretch on indefinitely

The emergence of atomic (nuclear) weapons was due to a mass of objective and subjective factors. Objectively, the creation of atomic weapons came thanks to the rapid development of science, which began with fundamental discoveries in the field of physics in the first half of the twentieth century. The main subjective factor was the military-political situation, when the states of the anti-Hitler coalition began a secret race to develop such powerful weapons. Today we will find out who invented the atomic bomb, how it developed in the world and the Soviet Union, and also get acquainted with its structure and the consequences of its use.

Creation of the atomic bomb

From a scientific point of view, the year 1896 was the year the atomic bomb was created. It was then that the French physicist A. Becquerel discovered the radioactivity of uranium. Subsequently, the chain reaction of uranium began to be seen as a source of enormous energy, and is easily the basis for the development of the most dangerous weapons in the world. However, Becquerel is rarely remembered when talking about who invented the atomic bomb.

Over the next few decades, scientists with different corners Alpha, beta and gamma rays were detected on Earth. At the same time, a large number of radioactive isotopes were discovered, and the law was formulated radioactive decay and the beginning of the study of nuclear isomerism was laid.

In the 1940s, scientists discovered the neuron and the positron and for the first time carried out the fission of the nucleus of a uranium atom, accompanied by the absorption of neurons. It was this discovery that became turning point in history. In 1939, French physicist Frédéric Joliot-Curie patented the world's first nuclear bomb, which he developed with his wife out of purely scientific interest. It was Joliot-Curie who is considered the creator of the atomic bomb, despite the fact that he was a staunch defender of world peace. In 1955, he, along with Einstein, Born and a number of other famous scientists, organized the Pugwash movement, whose members advocated peace and disarmament.

Rapidly developing, atomic weapons have become an unprecedented military-political phenomenon, which makes it possible to ensure the safety of its owner and reduce to a minimum the capabilities of other weapons systems.

How does a nuclear bomb work?

Structurally, an atomic bomb consists of a large number of components, the main ones being the body and automation. The housing is designed to protect automation and nuclear charge from mechanical, thermal, and other influences. Automation controls the timing of the explosion.

It includes:

Emergency explosion.
Cocking and safety devices.
Power supply.
Various sensors.

Transportation of atomic bombs to the site of attack is carried out using missiles (anti-aircraft, ballistic or cruise). Nuclear ammunition can be part of a landmine, torpedo, aviation bombs and other elements. Various detonation systems are used for atomic bombs. The simplest is a device in which a projectile hitting a target, causing the formation of a supercritical mass, stimulates an explosion.

Nuclear weapons can be of large, medium and small caliber. The power of the explosion is usually expressed in TNT equivalent. Small-caliber atomic shells have a yield of several thousand tons of TNT. Medium-caliber ones already correspond to tens of thousands of tons, and the power large caliber reaches millions of tons.

Operating principle

The principle of operation of a nuclear bomb is based on the use of energy released during a nuclear chain reaction. During this process, heavy particles are divided and light particles are synthesized. When an atomic bomb explodes, a huge amount of energy is released over a small area in the shortest period of time. That is why such bombs are classified as weapons of mass destruction.

There are two key areas in the area of a nuclear explosion: the center and the epicenter. At the center of the explosion, the process of energy release directly occurs. The epicenter is the projection of this process onto the earth or water surface. The energy of a nuclear explosion, projected onto the ground, can lead to seismic tremors that spread over a considerable distance. Harm environment These shocks occur only within a radius of several hundred meters from the point of explosion.

Damaging factors

Atomic weapons have the following destruction factors:

Radioactive contamination.
Light radiation.
Shock wave.
Electromagnetic pulse.
Penetrating radiation.

The consequences of an atomic bomb explosion are disastrous for all living things. Due to the release of a huge amount of light and heat energy, the explosion of a nuclear projectile is accompanied by a bright flash. The power of this flash is several times stronger than sun rays, therefore, there is a danger of damage from light and thermal radiation within a radius of several kilometers from the point of explosion.

Another dangerous damaging factor of atomic weapons is the radiation generated during the explosion. It lasts only a minute after the explosion, but has maximum penetrating power.

The shock wave has a very strong destructive effect. She literally wipes out everything that stands in her way. Penetrating radiation poses a danger to all living beings. In humans, it causes the development of radiation sickness. Well electromagnetic pulse only harms technology. In total damaging factors atomic explosions carry enormous danger.

First tests

Throughout the history of the atomic bomb, America showed the greatest interest in its creation. At the end of 1941, the country's leadership allocated a huge amount of money and resources to this area. Robert Oppenheimer, who is considered by many to be the creator of the atomic bomb, was appointed project manager. In fact, he was the first who was able to bring the scientists' idea to life. As a result, on July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb test took place in the desert of New Mexico. Then America decided that in order to completely end the war it needed to defeat Japan, an ally of Nazi Germany. The Pentagon quickly selected targets for the first nuclear attacks, which were supposed to become a vivid illustration of the power of American weapons.

On August 6, 1945, the US atomic bomb, cynically called "Little Boy", was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. The shot turned out to be simply perfect - the bomb exploded at an altitude of 200 meters from the ground, thanks to which it blast wave caused terrible damage to the city. In areas far from the center, coal stoves were overturned, leading to severe fires.

The bright flash was followed by a heat wave, which in 4 seconds managed to melt the tiles on the roofs of houses and incinerate telegraph poles. The heat wave was followed by a shock wave. The wind, which swept through the city at a speed of about 800 km/h, demolished everything in its path. Of the 76,000 buildings located in the city before the explosion, about 70,000 were completely destroyed. A few minutes after the explosion, rain began to fall from the sky, large drops of which were black. The rain fell due to the formation in the cold layers of the atmosphere of a huge amount of condensation, consisting of steam and ash.

People who were affected by the fireball within a radius of 800 meters from the point of the explosion turned to dust. Those who were a little further from the explosion had burned skin, the remains of which were torn off by the shock wave. Black radioactive rain left incurable burns on the skin of survivors. Those who miraculously managed to escape soon began to show signs of radiation sickness: nausea, fever and attacks of weakness.

Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, America attacked another Japanese city - Nagasaki. The second explosion had the same disastrous consequences as the first.

In a matter of seconds, two atomic bombs destroyed hundreds of thousands of people. The shock wave practically wiped Hiroshima off the face of the earth. More than half of the local residents (about 240 thousand people) died immediately from their injuries. In the city of Nagasaki, about 73 thousand people died from the explosion. Many of those who survived were subjected to severe radiation, which caused infertility, radiation sickness and cancer. As a result, some of the survivors died in terrible agony. The use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki illustrated the terrible power of these weapons.

You and I already know who invented the atomic bomb, how it works and what consequences it can lead to. Now we will find out how things were with nuclear weapons in the USSR.

After the bombing of Japanese cities, J.V. Stalin realized that the creation of a Soviet atomic bomb was a matter of national security. On August 20, 1945, a committee on nuclear energy was created in the USSR, and L. Beria was appointed head of it.

It is worth noting that work in this direction has been carried out in the Soviet Union since 1918, and in 1938, a special commission on the atomic nucleus was created at the Academy of Sciences. With the outbreak of World War II, all work in this direction was frozen.

In 1943, USSR intelligence officers transferred from England materials from closed scientific works in the field of nuclear energy. These materials illustrated that the work of foreign scientists on the creation of an atomic bomb had made serious progress. At the same time, American residents contributed to the introduction of reliable Soviet agents into the main US nuclear research centers. The agents passed on information about new developments to Soviet scientists and engineers.

Terms of reference

When in 1945 the issue of creating a Soviet nuclear bomb became almost a priority, one of the project leaders, Yu. Khariton, drew up a plan for the development of two versions of the projectile. On June 1, 1946, the plan was signed by senior management.

According to the assignment, the designers needed to build an RDS (special jet engine) of two models:

RDS-1. A bomb with a plutonium charge that is detonated by spherical compression. The device was borrowed from the Americans.
RDS-2. A cannon bomb with two uranium charges converging in the gun barrel before reaching a critical mass.

In the history of the notorious RDS, the most common, albeit humorous, formulation was the phrase “Russia does it itself.” It was invented by Yu. Khariton’s deputy, K. Shchelkin. This phrase very accurately conveys the essence of the work, at least for RDS-2.

When America learned that the Soviet Union had the secrets of creating nuclear weapons, she developed a desire for a speedy escalation of preventive war. In the summer of 1949, the “Troyan” plan appeared, according to which it was planned to begin on January 1, 1950 fighting against the USSR. Then the date of the attack was moved to the beginning of 1957, but with the condition that all NATO countries join it.

Tests

When information about America's plans arrived through intelligence channels in the USSR, the work of Soviet scientists accelerated significantly. Western experts believed that atomic weapons would be created in the USSR no earlier than 1954-1955. In fact, the tests of the first atomic bomb in the USSR took place already in August 1949. On August 29, an RDS-1 device was blown up at a test site in Semipalatinsk. A large team of scientists took part in its creation, headed by Igor Vasilievich Kurchatov. The design of the charge belonged to the Americans, and the electronic equipment was created from scratch. The first atomic bomb in the USSR exploded with a power of 22 kt.

Due to the likelihood of a retaliatory strike, the Trojan plan, which involved a nuclear attack on 70 Soviet cities, was thwarted. The tests at Semipalatinsk marked the end of the American monopoly on the possession of atomic weapons. The invention of Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov completely destroyed the military plans of America and NATO and prevented the development of another world war. Thus began an era of peace on Earth, which exists under the threat of absolute destruction.

"Nuclear Club" of the world

Today, not only America and Russia have nuclear weapons, but also a number of other states. The collection of countries that own such weapons is conventionally called the “nuclear club.”

It includes:

America (since 1945).
USSR, and now Russia (since 1949).
England (since 1952).
France (since 1960).
China (since 1964).
India (since 1974).
Pakistan (since 1998).
Korea (since 2006).

Israel also has nuclear weapons, although the country's leadership refuses to comment on their presence. In addition, there are American nuclear weapons on the territory of NATO countries (Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada) and allies (Japan, South Korea, despite the official refusal).

Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, which owned part of the USSR's nuclear weapons, transferred their bombs to Russia after the collapse of the Union. She became the sole heir to the USSR's nuclear arsenal.

Conclusion

Today we learned who invented the atomic bomb and what it is. Summarizing the above, we can conclude that nuclear weapons today are the most powerful instrument of global politics, firmly entrenched in relations between countries. On the one hand, it is an effective means of deterrence, and on the other, a convincing argument for preventing military confrontation and strengthening peaceful relations between states. Atomic weapon is a symbol an entire era, which requires especially careful handling.

Truth in the penultimate instance

There are not many things in the world that are considered indisputable. Well, I think you know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. And that the Moon revolves around the Earth, too. And about the fact that the Americans were the first to create the atomic bomb, ahead of both the Germans and the Russians.

That’s what I thought too, until about four years ago when an old magazine came into my hands. He left my beliefs about the sun and moon alone, but faith in American leadership has been shaken quite seriously. It was a plump volume on German— file of the journal “Theoretical Physics” for 1938. I don’t remember why I went there, but quite unexpectedly I came across an article by Professor Otto Hahn.

The name was familiar to me. It was Hahn, the famous German physicist and radiochemist, who in 1938, together with another prominent scientist, Fritz Straussmann, discovered the fission of the uranium nucleus, essentially giving rise to work on the creation of nuclear weapons. At first I just skimmed the article diagonally, but then completely unexpected phrases forced me to become more attentive. And, ultimately, I even forget about why I initially picked up this magazine.

Hahn's article was devoted to a review of nuclear developments in different countries ah peace. Strictly speaking, there was nothing special to see: everywhere except Germany, nuclear research was in the background. They weren't seen special meaning. « This abstract matter has nothing to do with state needs“,” said British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain around the same time, when he was asked to support British atomic research with budget money.

« Let these bespectacled scientists look for money themselves, the state is full of other problems!” — this is what most world leaders thought in the 1930s. With the exception, of course, of the Nazis, who financed the nuclear program.
But it was not Chamberlain's passage, carefully quoted by Hahn, that attracted my attention. The author of these lines is not particularly interested in England at all. Much more interesting was what Hahn wrote about the state of nuclear research in the United States. And he literally wrote the following:

If we talk about a country in which the least attention is paid to nuclear fission processes, then we should undoubtedly name the USA. Of course, I'm not considering Brazil or the Vatican right now. However among developed countries even Italy and communist Russia are significantly ahead of the US. Little attention is paid to the problems of theoretical physics on the other side of the ocean; priority is given to applied developments that can provide immediate profit. Therefore, I can confidently say that during the next decade the North Americans will not be able to do anything significant for the development of atomic physics.

At first I just laughed. Wow, how wrong my compatriot was! And only then did I think: whatever one may say, Otto Hahn was not a simpleton or an amateur. He was well informed about the state of atomic research, especially since before the outbreak of World War II this topic was freely discussed in scientific circles.

Maybe the Americans misinformed the whole world? But for what purpose? No one had yet thought about atomic weapons in the 1930s. Moreover, most scientists considered its creation impossible in principle. That is why, until 1939, the whole world instantly learned about all new achievements in atomic physics - they were published completely openly in scientific journals. No one hid the fruits of their labor; on the contrary, there was open competition between various groups of scientists (almost exclusively Germans) - who would move forward faster?

Maybe scientists in the States were ahead of the rest of the world and therefore kept their achievements secret? Not a bad guess. To confirm or refute it, we will have to consider the history of the creation of the American atomic bomb - at least as it appears in official publications. We are all accustomed to taking it for granted. However, upon closer examination, there are so many oddities and inconsistencies in it that you are simply amazed.

From the world by thread - Bomb to the States

The year 1942 started well for the British. The German invasion of their small island, which had seemed inevitable, now, as if by magic, retreated into the foggy distance. Last summer, Hitler made the main mistake of his life - he attacked Russia. This was the beginning of the end. The Russians not only survived despite the hopes of Berlin strategists and the pessimistic forecasts of many observers, but also gave the Wehrmacht a good kick in the teeth during the frosty winter. And in December, the large and powerful United States, which now became an official ally, came to the aid of the British. In general, there were more than enough reasons for joy.

Only a few high-ranking officials who had information received by British intelligence were not happy. At the end of 1941, the British learned that the Germans were developing their atomic research at a frantic pace.. The final goal of this process also became clear: a nuclear bomb. British atomic scientists were competent enough to imagine the threat posed by the new weapon.

At the same time, the British had no illusions about their capabilities. All the country's resources were aimed at basic survival. Although the Germans and Japanese were up to their necks in the war with the Russians and Americans, they occasionally found an opportunity to poke their fist at a dilapidated building British Empire. From each such poke, the rotten building staggered and creaked, threatening to collapse.

Rommel's three divisions were tied down in North Africa almost the entire combat-ready British army. Submarines Admiral Dönitz, like predatory sharks, snorkeled in the Atlantic, threatening to interrupt the vital supply line from overseas. Britain simply did not have the resources to enter into a nuclear race with the Germans. The backlog was already large, and in the very near future it threatened to become hopeless.

It must be said that the Americans were skeptical at first about such a gift. The military department did not understand why it should spend money on some obscure project. What other new weapons are there? Here are aircraft carrier groups and armadas of heavy bombers - yes, this is power. And the nuclear bomb, which scientists themselves imagine very vaguely, is just an abstraction, an old wives’ tale.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had to directly appeal to American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt with a request, literally a plea, not to reject the English gift. Roosevelt summoned scientists, looked into the issue and gave the go-ahead.

Usually the creators of the canonical legend about American bomb use this episode to highlight Roosevelt's wisdom. Look, what an insightful president! We will look at this with slightly different eyes: in what kind of pen were the Yankees' atomic research if they refused to cooperate with the British for so long and stubbornly! This means that Hahn was absolutely right in his assessment of the American nuclear scientists - they were nothing solid.

It was only in September 1942 that the decision was made to begin work on an atomic bomb. The organizational period took some more time, and things really got off the ground only with the advent of the new year, 1943. From the army, the work was headed by General Leslie Groves (he would later write memoirs in which he would detail the official version of what happened); the real leader was Professor Robert Oppenheimer. I will talk about it in detail a little later, but for now let’s admire another interesting detail - how the team of scientists who began work on the bomb was formed.

As a matter of fact, when Oppenheimer was asked to recruit specialists, he had very little choice. Good nuclear physicists in the States could be counted on the fingers of a crippled hand. Therefore, the professor made a wise decision - to recruit people whom he knew personally and whom he could trust, regardless of what area of physics they had previously worked on. And so it turned out that the lion's share of the places were occupied by Columbia University employees from the Manhattan area (by the way, this is why the project received the name Manhattan).

But even these forces turned out to be not enough. It was necessary to involve British scientists in the work, literally devastating English research centers, and even specialists from Canada. In general, the Manhattan Project turned into something like Tower of Babel, with the only difference being that all its participants spoke at least the same language. However, this did not save us from the usual quarrels and squabbles in the scientific community that arose due to the rivalry of different scientific groups. Echoes of these tensions can be found on the pages of Groves’ book, and they look very funny: the general, on the one hand, wants to convince the reader that everything was orderly and decent, and on the other, to brag about how cleverly he managed to reconcile the scientific luminaries who had completely quarreled.

And so they are trying to convince us that in this friendly environment of a large terrarium, the Americans managed to create an atomic bomb in two and a half years. But the Germans, who cheerfully and amicably labored over their nuclear project for five years, failed to do this. Miracles, and that's all.

However, even if there were no squabbles, such record times would still arouse suspicion. The fact is that in the research process you need to go through certain stages, which are almost impossible to shorten. The Americans themselves attribute their success to gigantic funding - ultimately, Over two billion dollars were spent on the Manhattan Project! However, no matter how you feed a pregnant woman, she still will not be able to give birth to a full-term baby before nine months. It’s the same with the nuclear project: it is impossible to significantly speed up, for example, the process of uranium enrichment.

The Germans worked for five years with full effort. Of course, they made mistakes and miscalculations that took away valuable time. But who said that the Americans did not make mistakes and miscalculations? There were, and a lot of them. One of these mistakes was the involvement of the famous physicist Niels Bohr.

Unknown Skorzeny operation

The British intelligence services are very fond of boasting about one of their operations. It's about about the rescue of the great Danish scientist Niels Bohr from Nazi Germany. The official legend says that after the outbreak of World War II, the outstanding physicist lived quietly and calmly in Denmark, leading a fairly secluded lifestyle. The Nazis offered him cooperation many times, but Bohr invariably refused.

By 1943, the Germans finally decided to arrest him. But, warned in time, Niels Bohr managed to escape to Sweden, from where the British took him away in the bomb bay of a heavy bomber. By the end of the year, the physicist found himself in America and began to work zealously for the benefit of the Manhattan Project.

The legend is beautiful and romantic, but it is sewn with white thread and does not withstand any tests. There is no more reliability in it than in the fairy tales of Charles Perrault. Firstly, because it makes the Nazis look like complete idiots, but they never were. Think carefully! In 1940, the Germans occupy Denmark. They know what lives on the territory of the country Nobel laureate, which can be of great help to them in their work on the atomic bomb. The same atomic bomb that is vital for Germany's victory.

And what are they doing? Over the course of three years, they occasionally visit the scientist, politely knock on the door and quietly ask: “ Herr Bohr, don't you want to work for the benefit of the Fuhrer and the Reich? Don't want to? Okay, we'll come back later" No, this was not the style of work of the German intelligence services! Logically, they should have arrested Bohr not in 1943, but back in 1940. If it works, force him (just force him, not beg him!) to work for them; if not, at least make sure that he cannot work for the enemy: put him in a concentration camp or exterminate him. And they leave him to walk around freely, under the noses of the British.

Three years later, the legend says, the Germans finally realize that they should arrest the scientist. But then someone (precisely someone, because I couldn’t find any indication of who did it anywhere) warns Bohr about the impending danger. Who could it be? It was not the habit of the Gestapo to shout at every corner about impending arrests. People were taken quietly, unexpectedly, at night. This means that Bohr’s mysterious patron is one of the rather high-ranking officials.

Let's leave this mysterious angel-savior alone for now and continue to analyze the wanderings of Niels Bohr. So, the scientist fled to Sweden. How do you think? On a fishing boat, avoiding German Coast Guard boats in the fog? On a raft made of planks? No matter how it is! Bor sailed to Sweden in the greatest possible comfort on a very ordinary private ship, which officially called at the port of Copenhagen.

For now, let’s not rack our brains over the question of how the Germans released the scientist if they were going to arrest him. Let's think about this better. The flight of a world-famous physicist is an emergency of a very serious scale. An investigation had to inevitably be carried out on this matter - the heads of those who screwed up the physicist, as well as the mysterious patron, would fly. However, no traces of such an investigation were simply found. Maybe because he wasn't there.

Indeed, how important was Niels Bohr to the development of the atomic bomb? Born in 1885 and becoming a Nobel laureate in 1922, Bohr turned to the problems of nuclear physics only in the 1930s. At that time he was already a major, accomplished scientist with fully formed views. Such people rarely succeed in fields that require innovation and out-of-the-box thinking, which is precisely the field of nuclear physics. For several years, Bohr failed to make any significant contribution to atomic research.

However, as the ancients said, the first half of a person’s life works for a name, the second - a name for a person. For Niels Bohr, this second half has already begun. Having taken up nuclear physics, he automatically began to be considered a major specialist in this field, regardless of his actual achievements.

But in Germany, where such world-famous nuclear scientists as Hahn and Heisenberg worked, they knew the real value of the Danish scientist. That is why they did not actively try to involve him in the work. If it turns out well, we’ll tell the whole world that Niels Bohr himself is working for us. If it doesn’t work out, that’s also not bad; he won’t get in the way of his authority.

By the way, in the United States, Niels Bohr was largely in the way. The point is that the outstanding physicist did not believe at all in the possibility of creating a nuclear bomb. At the same time, his authority forced his opinion to be taken into account. According to Groves' memoirs, the scientists working on the Manhattan Project treated Bohr as an elder. Now imagine that you are doing some difficult work without any confidence in ultimate success. And then someone comes up to you, whom you consider a great specialist, and says that your lesson is not even worth wasting time on. Will work get easier? Don't think.

In addition, Bohr was a convinced pacifist. In 1945, when the United States already had an atomic bomb, he categorically protested against its use. Accordingly, he treated his work with lukewarmness. Therefore, I urge you to think again: what did Bohr bring more - movement or stagnation in the development of the issue?

It’s a strange picture, isn’t it? It began to clear up a little after I learned one interesting detail, which seemed to have nothing to do with Niels Bohr or the atomic bomb. We are talking about the “chief saboteur of the Third Reich” Otto Skorzeny.

It is believed that Skorzeny's rise began after he freed the imprisoned Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1943. Imprisoned in a mountain prison by his former comrades, Mussolini could not, it would seem, hope for release. But Skorzeny, on the direct orders of Hitler, developed a daring plan: to land troops on gliders and then fly away in a small plane. Everything turned out just fine: Mussolini was free, Skorzeny was held in high esteem.

At least that's what the majority thinks. Few well-informed historians know that cause and effect are confused here. Skorzeny was entrusted with an extremely difficult and responsible task precisely because Hitler trusted him. That is, the rise of the “king of special operations” began before the story of the rescue of Mussolini. However, very shortly - in a couple of months. Skorzeny was promoted to rank and position precisely when Niels Bohr fled to England. I couldn't find any reasons for a promotion anywhere.

So we have three facts:
— Firstly, the Germans did not prevent Niels Bohr from leaving for Britain;
— secondly, Boron did more harm than good to Americans;
— thirdly, immediately after the scientist ended up in England, Skorzeny received a promotion.

What if these are parts of the same mosaic? I decided to try to reconstruct the events. Having captured Denmark, the Germans were well aware that Niels Bohr was unlikely to assist in the creation of the atomic bomb. Moreover, it will rather interfere. Therefore, he was left to live quietly in Denmark, under the very nose of the British. Perhaps even then the Germans were counting on the British to kidnap the scientist. However, for three years the British did not dare to do anything.

At the end of 1942, the Germans began to hear vague rumors about the start of a large-scale project to create an American atomic bomb. Even taking into account the secrecy of the project, it was absolutely impossible to keep an awl in the bag: the instant disappearance of hundreds of scientists from different countries, one way or another connected with nuclear research, should have pushed anyone mentally normal person to such conclusions.

The Nazis were confident that they were far ahead of the Yankees (and this was true), but this did not stop them from doing nasty things to the enemy. And so, at the beginning of 1943, one of the most secret operations of the German intelligence services was carried out. A certain well-wisher appears on the threshold of Niels Bohr's house, who tells him that they want to arrest him and throw him into a concentration camp, and offers his help. The scientist agrees - he has no other choice, being behind barbed wire is not the best prospect.

At the same time, apparently, the British are being fed a lie about Bohr’s complete irreplaceability and uniqueness in nuclear research. The British are biting - but what can they do if the prey itself goes into their hands, that is, to Sweden? And for complete heroism, they take Bor out of there in the belly of a bomber, although they could have comfortably sent him on a ship.

And then the Nobel laureate appears at the epicenter of the Manhattan Project, creating the effect of an exploding bomb. That is, if the Germans had managed to bomb the research center at Los Alamos, the effect would have been approximately the same. Work has slowed down, and quite significantly. Apparently, the Americans did not immediately realize how they had been deceived, and when they realized, it was already too late.
And you still believe that the Yankees themselves built the atomic bomb?

Alsos Mission

Personally, I finally refused to believe in these stories after I studied in detail the activities of the Alsos group. This operation of the American intelligence services was kept secret for many years - until its main participants left for a better world. And only then did information emerge—true, fragmentary and scattered—about how the Americans were hunting for German atomic secrets.

True, if you thoroughly work on this information and compare it with some well-known facts, the picture turns out to be very convincing. But I won't get ahead of myself. So, the Alsos group was formed in 1944, on the eve of the Anglo-American landing in Normandy. Half of the group members are professional intelligence officers, half are nuclear scientists.

At the same time, in order to form Alsos, the Manhattan Project was mercilessly robbed - in fact, the best specialists were taken from there. The mission's objective was to collect information about the German nuclear program. The question is, how desperate are the Americans for the success of their undertaking if their main bet is on stealing the atomic bomb from the Germans?
They were very desperate, if you remember the little-known letter from one of the nuclear scientists to his colleague. It was written on February 4, 1944 and read:

« It seems we've gotten ourselves into a lost cause. The project is not moving forward one iota. Our leaders, in my opinion, do not believe in the success of the entire undertaking. Yes, and we don’t believe it. If it weren’t for the huge money that they pay us here, I think many would have long ago been doing something more useful».

This letter was cited at one time as evidence of American talent: what great fellows we are, we pulled off a hopeless project in just over a year! Then in the USA they realized that not only fools live around, and they hastened to forget about the piece of paper. With great difficulty I managed to dig up this document in an old scientific journal.

No money or effort was spared to ensure the actions of the Alsos group. It was perfectly equipped with everything necessary. The head of the mission, Colonel Pash, had with him a document from US Secretary of Defense Henry Stimson, which obliged everyone to provide all possible assistance to the group. Even the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, Dwight Eisenhower, did not have such powers.. By the way, about the commander-in-chief - he was obliged to take into account the interests of the Alsos mission in planning military operations, that is, to capture first of all those areas where there could be German atomic weapons.

At the beginning of August 1944, or to be precise on the 9th, the Alsos group landed in Europe. One of the leading US nuclear scientists, Dr. Samuel Goudsmit, was appointed scientific director of the mission. Before the war, he maintained close ties with German colleagues, and the Americans hoped that the “international solidarity” of scientists would be stronger than political interests.

Alsos managed to achieve its first results after the Americans occupied Paris in the fall of 1944.. Here Goudsmit met with the famous French scientist Professor Joliot-Curie. It seemed that Curie was sincerely happy about the defeats of the Germans; however, as soon as the conversation turned to the German atomic program, he went into deep “ignorance.” The Frenchman insisted that he knew nothing, had not heard anything, the Germans had not come close to developing an atomic bomb, and in general their nuclear project was exclusively peaceful in nature.

It was clear that the professor was not saying something. But there was no way to put pressure on him - for collaborating with the Germans in France at that time, people were shot, regardless of scientific merits, and Curie was clearly afraid of death most of all. Therefore, Goudsmit had to leave empty-handed.

Throughout his stay in Paris, he constantly heard vague but threatening rumors: A uranium bomb exploded in Leipzig., in the mountainous regions of Bavaria strange outbreaks have been reported at night. Everything indicated that the Germans were either very close to creating atomic weapons, or had already created them.

What happened next is still shrouded in mystery. They say that Pash and Goudsmit managed to find some valuable information in Paris. Since at least November, Eisenhower has been constantly receiving demands to move forward into German territory at any cost. The initiators of these demands - now it is clear! — in the end there were people associated with the atomic project and who received information directly from the Alsos group. Eisenhower had no real ability to carry out the orders he received, but the demands from Washington became increasingly harsh. It is unknown how all this would have ended if the Germans had not made another unexpected move.

Ardennes mystery

As a matter of fact, by the end of 1944 everyone believed that Germany had lost the war. The only question is how long it will take for the Nazis to be defeated. Only Hitler and his inner circle seemed to hold a different point of view. They tried to delay the moment of disaster until the last moment.

This desire is quite understandable. Hitler was sure that after the war he would be declared a criminal and tried. And if you stall for time, you can lead to a quarrel between the Russians and the Americans and, ultimately, get away with it, that is, out of the war. Not without losses, of course, but without losing power.

Let's think about it: what was needed for this in conditions when Germany had nothing left? Naturally, spend them as sparingly as possible and maintain a flexible defense. And Hitler, at the very end of 1944, threw his army into the very wasteful Ardennes offensive. For what?

The troops are given completely unrealistic tasks - to break through to Amsterdam and throw the Anglo-Americans into the sea. At that time, German tanks were like walking to the Moon from Amsterdam, especially since their tanks had fuel splashing less than half the way. Scare your allies? But what could frighten the well-fed and armed armies, behind which was the industrial power of the United States?

All in all, Until now, not a single historian has been able to clearly explain why Hitler needed this offensive. Usually everyone ends up saying that the Fuhrer was an idiot. But in reality, Hitler was not an idiot; moreover, he thought quite sensibly and realistically until the very end. Those historians who make hasty judgments without even trying to understand something can most likely be called idiots.

But let's look at the other side of the front. Even more amazing things are happening there! And the point is not even that the Germans managed to achieve initial, albeit rather limited, successes. The fact is that the British and Americans were really scared! Moreover, the fear was completely inadequate to the threat. After all, from the very beginning it was clear that the Germans had little strength, that the offensive was local in nature...

But no, Eisenhower, Churchill, and Roosevelt are simply panicking! In 1945, on January 6, when the Germans had already been stopped and even thrown back, British Prime Minister writes panic letter to Russian leader Stalin, which requires immediate assistance. Here is the text of this letter:

« There are very difficult battles going on in the West, and big decisions may be required from the High Command at any time. You yourself know from your own experience how alarming the situation is when you have to defend a very wide front after a temporary loss of initiative.

It is very desirable and necessary for General Eisenhower to know general outline, what you propose to do, since this, of course, will affect all his and our most important decisions. According to the message received, our emissary, Air Chief Marshal Tedder, was in Cairo last evening, due to weather conditions. His trip was greatly delayed through no fault of yours.

If he has not yet arrived to you, I shall be grateful if you can inform me whether we can count on a major Russian offensive on the Vistula front or elsewhere during January and at any other times that you may be thinking about. , would you like to mention. I will not pass on this highly sensitive information to anyone except Field Marshal Brooke and General Eisenhower, and only on condition that it is kept in the strictest confidence. I consider the matter urgent».

If we translate from diplomatic language into ordinary language: save us, Stalin, they will beat us! Therein lies another mystery. What will they “beat” if the Germans have already been driven back to their original lines? Yes, of course, the American offensive, planned for January, had to be postponed until the spring. And what? We should be glad that the Nazis wasted their strength in senseless attacks!

And one more thing. Churchill was asleep and saw how to prevent the Russians from entering Germany. And now he is literally begging them to begin moving west without delay! To what extent should Sir Winston Churchill have been afraid?! It seems that the slowdown in the Allied advance deep into Germany was interpreted by him as a mortal threat. I wonder why? After all, Churchill was neither a fool nor an alarmist.

And yet, the Anglo-Americans spend the next two months in terrible nervous tension. Subsequently, they will carefully hide this, but the truth will still break to the surface in their memoirs. For example, Eisenhower after the war would call the last war winter “the most alarming time.”

What worried the marshal so much if the war was actually won? Only in March 1945 did the Ruhr Operation begin, during which the Allies occupied West Germany, encircling 300 thousand Germans. The commander of the German troops in this area, Field Marshal Model, shot himself (the only one of the entire German generals, by the way). Only after this did Churchill and Roosevelt more or less calm down.

But let's return to the Alsos group. In the spring of 1945, it became noticeably more active. During the Ruhr operation, scientists and intelligence officers moved forward almost following the vanguard of the advancing troops, collecting valuable crops. In March-April, many scientists involved in German nuclear research fall into their hands. The decisive discovery was made in mid-April - on the 12th, mission members write that they stumbled upon “a real gold mine” and now they are “learning about the project in general.” By May, Heisenberg, Hahn, Osenberg, Diebner, and many other outstanding German physicists were in the hands of the Americans. However, the Alsos group continued active search in already defeated Germany... until the end of May.

But at the end of May something incomprehensible happens. The search is almost interrupted. Or rather, they continue, but with much less intensity. If previously they were carried out by major world-famous scientists, now they are carried out by beardless laboratory assistants. And major scientists are packing their bags and leaving for America. Why?

To answer this question, let's look at how events developed further.

At the end of June, the Americans test an atomic bomb - allegedly the first in the world.
And in early August they drop two on Japanese cities.
After this, the Yankees run out of ready-made atomic bombs, and for quite a long time.

Strange situation, isn't it? Let's start with the fact that only a month passes between testing and combat use of a new superweapon. Dear readers, this does not happen. Making an atomic bomb is much more difficult than making a conventional projectile or rocket. This is simply impossible in a month. Then, probably, the Americans made three prototypes at once? Also unlikely.

Making a nuclear bomb is a very expensive procedure. There's no point in doing three if you're not sure you're doing it right. Otherwise it would be possible to create three nuclear project, build three scientific centers and so on. Even the US is not rich enough to be so extravagant.

However, okay, let’s assume that the Americans actually built three prototypes at once. Why didn’t they immediately after successful tests launch nuclear bombs into mass production? After all, immediately after the defeat of Germany, the Americans found themselves faced with a much more powerful and formidable enemy - the Russians. The Russians, of course, did not threaten the United States with war, but they prevented the Americans from becoming masters of the entire planet. And this, from the Yankees’ point of view, is a completely unacceptable crime.

And yet, the States got new atomic bombs... When do you think? In the fall of 1945? Summer of 1946? No! Only in 1947 did the first nuclear weapons begin to arrive in American arsenals! You will not find this date anywhere, but no one will undertake to refute it. The data that I managed to obtain is absolutely secret. However, they are fully confirmed by the facts we know about the subsequent buildup of the nuclear arsenal. And most importantly - the results of tests in the deserts of Texas, which took place at the end of 1946.

Yes, yes, dear reader, exactly at the end of 1946, and not a month earlier. Information about this was obtained by Russian intelligence and came to me very the hard way, which probably doesn’t make sense to be disclosed on these pages, so as not to expose the people who helped me. On the eve of the new year, 1947, a very interesting report landed on the table of the Soviet leader Stalin, which I will present here verbatim.

According to Agent Felix, in November-December of this year, a series of nuclear explosions were carried out in the area of El Paso, Texas. At the same time, they tested prototypes nuclear bombs similar to those dropped on Japanese islands last year.

Over the course of a month and a half, at least four bombs were tested, three of which ended in failure. This series of bombs was created in preparation for the large-scale industrial production of nuclear weapons. Most likely, the start of such production should be expected no earlier than mid-1947.

The Russian agent fully confirmed the information I had. But maybe all this is disinformation on the part of the American intelligence services? Hardly. In those years, the Yankees tried to assure their opponents that they were stronger than anyone in the world, and would not downplay their military potential. Most likely, we are dealing with a carefully hidden truth.

What happens? In 1945, the Americans dropped three bombs - all successfully. The next tests are of the same bombs! - pass a year and a half later, and not very successfully. Serial production begins in another six months, and we do not know - and will never know - how well the atomic bombs that appeared in American army warehouses corresponded to their terrible purpose, that is, how high quality they were.

Such a picture can only be drawn in one case, namely: if the first three atomic bombs - the same ones from 1945 - were not built by the Americans on their own, but received from someone. To put it bluntly - from the Germans. This hypothesis is indirectly confirmed by the reaction of German scientists to the bombing of Japanese cities, which we know about thanks to the book by David Irving.

“Poor Professor Gan!”

In August 1945, ten leading German nuclear physicists, ten major players in the Nazi “atomic project,” were held captive in the United States. All possible information was extracted from them (I wonder why, if you believe the American version that the Yankees were far ahead of the Germans in atomic research). Accordingly, the scientists were kept in a sort of comfortable prison. There was also a radio in this prison.

On August 6th at seven o'clock in the evening, Otto Hahn and Karl Wirtz found themselves at the radio. It was then that in the next news broadcast they heard that the first atomic bomb had been dropped on Japan. The first reaction of the colleagues to whom they brought this information was unequivocal: this cannot be true. Heisenberg believed that the Americans could not create their own nuclear weapons (and, as we now know, he was right).

« Did the Americans mention the word "uranium" in connection with their new bomb?“he asked Gan. The latter answered negatively. “Then it has nothing to do with the atom,” Heisenberg snapped. The outstanding physicist believed that the Yankees simply used some kind of high-power explosive.

However, the nine o'clock news broadcast dispelled all doubts. Obviously, until then the Germans simply did not imagine that the Americans managed to capture several German atomic bombs. However, now the situation has become clearer, and scientists have begun to be tormented by pangs of conscience. Yes, yes, that's right! Dr. Erich Bagge wrote in his diary: “ Now this bomb was used against Japan. They report that even several hours later, the bombed city is hidden in a cloud of smoke and dust. We are talking about the death of 300 thousand people. Poor Professor Gan!»

Moreover, that evening the scientists were very worried that “poor Gan” would commit suicide. The two physicists kept vigil at his bedside late into the night to prevent him from committing suicide, and retired to their rooms only after they discovered that their colleague was finally fast asleep. Gan himself subsequently described his impressions as follows:

For some time I was obsessed with the idea of the need to dump all uranium reserves into the sea in order to avoid a similar catastrophe in the future. Although I felt personally responsible for what had happened, I wondered whether I or anyone else had the right to deprive humanity of all the benefits that a new discovery could bring? And now this terrible bomb has gone off!

I wonder if the Americans are telling the truth, and they really created the bomb that fell on Hiroshima, why on earth would the Germans feel “personally responsible” for what happened? Of course, each of them contributed to nuclear research, but on the same basis one could lay some of the blame on thousands of scientists, including Newton and Archimedes! After all, their discoveries ultimately led to the creation of nuclear weapons!

The mental anguish of German scientists becomes meaningful only in one case. Namely, if they themselves created the bomb that destroyed hundreds of thousands of Japanese. Otherwise, why on earth would they worry about what the Americans did?

However, so far all my conclusions have been nothing more than a hypothesis, confirmed only by indirect evidence. What if I’m wrong and the Americans really achieved the impossible? To answer this question, it was necessary to closely study the German atomic program. And this is not as simple as it seems.

/Hans-Ulrich von Kranz, " Secret weapon Third Reich", topwar.ru/

A democratic form of governance must be established in the USSR.
Vernadsky V.I.

The atomic bomb in the USSR was created on August 29, 1949 (the first successful launch). The project was led by academician Igor Vasilievich Kurchatov. The period of development of atomic weapons in the USSR lasted from 1942, and ended with testing on the territory of Kazakhstan. This broke the US monopoly on such weapons, because since 1945 they were the only nuclear power. The article is devoted to describing the history of the emergence of the Soviet nuclear bomb, as well as characterizing the consequences of these events for the USSR.

History of creation

In 1941, representatives of the USSR in New York conveyed information to Stalin that a meeting of physicists was being held in the United States, which was devoted to the development of nuclear weapons. Soviet scientists in the 1930s also worked on atomic research, the most famous being the splitting of the atom by scientists from Kharkov led by L. Landau. However, it never came to the point of actual use in weapons. In addition to the United States, Nazi Germany worked on this. At the end of 1941, the United States began its atomic project. Stalin learned about this at the beginning of 1942 and signed a decree on the creation of a laboratory in the USSR to create an atomic project; Academician I. Kurchatov became its leader.

There is an opinion that the work of US scientists was accelerated secret developments German colleagues who came to America. In any case, in the summer of 1945 Potsdam Conference the new US President G. Truman informed Stalin about the completion of work on a new weapon - the atomic bomb. Moreover, to demonstrate the work of American scientists, the US government decided to test the new weapon in combat: on August 6 and 9, bombs were dropped on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was the first time that humanity learned about a new weapon. It was this event that forced Stalin to speed up the work of his scientists. I. Kurchatov was summoned by Stalin and promised to fulfill any demands of the scientist, as long as the process proceeded as quickly as possible. Moreover, a state committee was created under the Council of People's Commissars, which oversaw the Soviet atomic project. It was headed by L. Beria.

Development has moved to three centers:

The design bureau of the Kirov plant, working on the creation of special equipment.
A diffuse plant in the Urals, which was supposed to work on the creation of enriched uranium.
Chemical and metallurgical centers where plutonium was studied. It was this element that was used in the first Soviet-style nuclear bomb.

In 1946, the first Soviet unified nuclear center was created. It was a secret facility Arzamas-16, located in the city of Sarov (Nizhny Novgorod region). In 1947, the first nuclear reactor was created at an enterprise near Chelyabinsk. In 1948, a secret training ground was created on the territory of Kazakhstan, near the city of Semipalatinsk-21. It was here that on August 29, 1949, the first explosion of the Soviet atomic bomb RDS-1 was organized. This event was kept completely secret, but American Pacific aviation was able to record a sharp increase in radiation levels, which was evidence of the testing of a new weapon. Already in September 1949, G. Truman announced the presence of an atomic bomb in the USSR. Officially, the USSR admitted to the presence of these weapons only in 1950.

Several main consequences of the successful development of atomic weapons by Soviet scientists can be identified:

Loss of the US status as a single state with atomic weapons. This not only equated the USSR with the USA in terms of military power, but also forced the latter to think through their every military step, since now they had to fear for the response of the USSR leadership.
The presence of atomic weapons in the USSR secured its status as a superpower.
After the USA and the USSR were equalized in the availability of atomic weapons, the race for their quantity began. States spent huge amounts of money to outdo their competitors. Moreover, attempts began to create even more powerful weapons.
These events served as the start nuclear race. Many countries have begun to invest resources to add to the list of nuclear weapons states and ensure their security.

The history of human development has always been accompanied by wars as a way to resolve conflicts through violence. Civilization has suffered more than fifteen thousand small and large armed conflicts, losses human lives number in the millions. In the nineties of the last century alone, more than a hundred military clashes occurred, involving ninety countries of the world.

At the same time, scientific discoveries and technological progress have made it possible to create weapons of destruction of ever greater power and sophistication of use. In the twentieth century Nuclear weapons became the peak of mass destructive impact and a political instrument.

Atomic bomb device

Modern nuclear bombs as means of destroying the enemy are created on the basis of advanced technical solutions, the essence of which is not widely publicized. But the main elements inherent in this type of weapon can be examined using the example of the design of a nuclear bomb codenamed “Fat Man,” dropped in 1945 on one of the cities of Japan.

The power of the explosion was 22.0 kt in TNT equivalent.

It had the following design features:

the length of the product was 3250.0 mm, with a diameter of the volumetric part - 1520.0 mm. Total weight more than 4.5 tons;
the body is elliptical in shape. To avoid premature destruction due to anti-aircraft ammunition and other unwanted impacts, 9.5 mm armored steel was used for its manufacture;
the body is divided into four internal parts: the nose, two halves of the ellipsoid (the main one is a compartment for the nuclear filling), and the tail.
the bow compartment is equipped with batteries;
the main compartment, like the nasal one, is vacuumized to prevent the entry of harmful environments, moisture, and to create comfortable conditions for the bearded man to work;
the ellipsoid housed a plutonium core surrounded by a uranium tamper (shell). It played the role of an inertial limiter for the course of the nuclear reaction, ensuring maximum activity of weapons-grade plutonium by reflecting neutrons to the side of the active zone of the charge.

A primary source of neutrons, called an initiator or “hedgehog,” was placed inside the nucleus. Represented by beryllium spherical in diameter 20.0 mm with polonium-based outer coating - 210.

It should be noted that the expert community has determined that this design of nuclear weapons is ineffective and unreliable in use. Neutron initiation of the uncontrolled type was not used further .

Operating principle

The process of fission of the nuclei of uranium 235 (233) and plutonium 239 (this is what a nuclear bomb is made of) with a huge release of energy while limiting the volume is called a nuclear explosion. The atomic structure of radioactive metals has an unstable form - they are constantly divided into other elements.

The process is accompanied by the detachment of neurons, some of which fall on neighboring atoms and initiate a further reaction, accompanied by the release of energy.

The principle is as follows: shortening the decay time leads to greater intensity of the process, and the concentration of neurons on bombarding the nuclei leads to a chain reaction. When two elements are combined to a critical mass, a supercritical mass is created, leading to an explosion.

In everyday conditions, it is impossible to provoke an active reaction - high speeds of approach of the elements are needed - at least 2.5 km/s. Achieving this speed in a bomb is possible by using combining types of explosives (fast and slow), balancing the density of the supercritical mass producing an atomic explosion.

Nuclear explosions are attributed to the results of human activity on the planet or its orbit. Natural processes of this kind are possible only on some stars in outer space.

Atomic bombs are rightfully considered the most powerful and destructive weapons of mass destruction. Tactical use solves the problem of destroying strategic, military targets on the ground, as well as deep-based ones, defeating a significant accumulation of enemy equipment and manpower.

It can be applied globally only with the goal of complete destruction of the population and infrastructure in large areas.

To achieve certain goals and perform tactical and strategic tasks, explosions of atomic weapons can be carried out by:

at critical and low altitudes (above and below 30.0 km);
in direct contact with the earth's crust (water);
underground (or underwater explosion).

A nuclear explosion is characterized by the instantaneous release of enormous energy.

Leading to damage to objects and people as follows:

Shock wave. In case of an explosion above or at earth's crust(water) is called an air wave, underground (water) - a seismic blast wave. An air wave is formed after critical compression of air masses and propagates in a circle until attenuation at a speed exceeding sound. Leads to both direct damage to manpower and indirect damage (interaction with fragments of destroyed objects). Action overpressure renders equipment non-functional by moving and hitting the ground;
Light radiation. The source is the light part formed by the evaporation of the product with air masses; for ground use, it is soil vapor. The effect occurs in the ultraviolet and infrared spectrum. Its absorption by objects and people provokes charring, melting and burning. The degree of damage depends on the distance of the epicenter;
Penetrating radiation- these are neutrons and gamma rays moving from the place of rupture. Exposure to biological tissue leads to ionization of cell molecules, leading to radiation sickness in the body. Damage to property is associated with fission reactions of molecules in the damaging elements of ammunition.
Radioactive contamination. During a ground explosion, soil vapors, dust, and other things rise. A cloud appears, moving in the direction of the movement of air masses. Sources of damage are represented by fission products of the active part of a nuclear weapon, isotopes, and undestroyed parts of the charge. When driving radioactive cloud there is complete radiation contamination of the area;
Electromagnetic pulse. The explosion is accompanied by the appearance of electromagnetic fields (from 1.0 to 1000 m) in the form of a pulse. They lead to failure of electrical devices, controls and communications.

The combination of factors of a nuclear explosion inflicts varying levels of damage to enemy personnel, equipment and infrastructure, and the fatality of the consequences is associated only with the distance from its epicenter.

History of the creation of nuclear weapons

The creation of weapons using nuclear reactions was accompanied by a number of scientific discoveries, theoretical and practical research, including:

1905— the theory of relativity was created, which states that a small amount of matter corresponds to a significant release of energy according to the formula E = mc2, where “c” represents the speed of light (author A. Einstein);
1938— German scientists conducted an experiment on dividing an atom into parts by attacking uranium with neutrons, which ended successfully (O. Hann and F. Strassmann), and a physicist from Great Britain explained the fact of the release of energy (R. Frisch);
1939- scientists from France that when carrying out a chain of reactions of uranium molecules, energy will be released that can produce an explosion of enormous force (Joliot-Curie).

The latter became the starting point for the invention of atomic weapons. Parallel development was carried out by Germany, Great Britain, the USA, and Japan. The main problem was the extraction of uranium in the required volumes for conducting experiments in this area.

The problem was solved faster in the USA by purchasing raw materials from Belgium in 1940.

As part of the project, called Manhattan, from 1939 to 1945, a uranium purification plant was built, a center for the study of nuclear processes was created, and the best specialists - physicists from all over Western Europe - were recruited to work there.

Great Britain, which carried out its own developments, was forced, after the German bombing, to voluntarily transfer the developments on its project to the US military.

It is believed that the Americans were the first to invent the atomic bomb. Tests of the first nuclear charge were carried out in the state of New Mexico in July 1945. The flash from the explosion darkened the sky and the sandy landscape turned to glass. After a short period of time, nuclear charges called “Baby” and “Fat Man” were created.

Nuclear weapons in the USSR - dates and events

The formation of the USSR, as nuclear power, was preceded by long work by individual scientists and government institutions. Key periods and significant dates of events are presented as follows:

1920 considered the beginning of the work of Soviet scientists on atomic fission;
Since the thirties the direction of nuclear physics becomes a priority;
October 1940— an initiative group of physicists came up with a proposal to use atomic developments for military purposes;
Summer 1941 in connection with the war, nuclear energy institutes were transferred to the rear;
Autumn 1941 year, Soviet intelligence informed the country's leadership about the beginning of nuclear programs in Britain and America;
September 1942- atomic research began to be carried out in full, work on uranium continued;
February 1943— a special research laboratory was created under the leadership of I. Kurchatov, and general management was entrusted to V. Molotov;

The project was led by V. Molotov.

August 1945- in connection with the conduct of nuclear bombing in Japan, the high importance of developments for the USSR, a Special Committee was created under the leadership of L. Beria;
April 1946- KB-11 was created, which began to develop samples of Soviet nuclear weapons in two versions (using plutonium and uranium);
Mid 1948— work on uranium was stopped due to low efficiency and high costs;
August 1949- when the atomic bomb was invented in the USSR, the first Soviet nuclear bomb was tested.

The reduction in product development time was facilitated by the high-quality work of intelligence agencies, who were able to obtain information on American nuclear developments. Among those who first created the atomic bomb in the USSR was a team of scientists led by Academician A. Sakharov. They have developed more promising technical solutions than those used by the Americans.

Atomic bomb "RDS-1"

In 2015 - 2017, Russia made a breakthrough in improving nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, thereby declaring a state capable of repelling any aggression.

First atomic bomb tests

After testing an experimental nuclear bomb in New Mexico in the summer of 1945, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed on August 6 and 9, respectively.

The development of the atomic bomb was completed this year

In 1949, under conditions of increased secrecy, Soviet designers KB-11 and scientists completed the development of an atomic bomb called RDS-1 ( jet engine"WITH"). On August 29, the first Soviet nuclear device was tested at the Semipalatinsk test site. The Russian atomic bomb - RDS-1 was a “drop-shaped” product, weighing 4.6 tons, with a volumetric diameter of 1.5 m, and a length of 3.7 meters.

The active part included a plutonium block, which made it possible to achieve an explosion power of 20.0 kilotons, commensurate with TNT. The testing site covered a radius of twenty kilometers. The specifics of the test detonation conditions have not been made public to date.

On September 3 of the same year, American aviation intelligence established the presence of air masses Kamchatka traces of isotopes indicating a nuclear charge test. On the twenty-third, the top US official publicly announced that the USSR had succeeded in testing an atomic bomb.

The Soviet Union refuted the American statements with a TASS report, which spoke of large-scale construction on the territory of the USSR and large volumes of construction, including blasting, work, which caused the attention of foreigners. The official statement that the USSR had atomic weapons was made only in 1950. Therefore, there is still ongoing debate in the world about who was the first to invent the atomic bomb.