Yevgeny Nikolayevich Avrorin (
Russian: Евгений Николаевич Aврорин, 11 July 1932– 9 January 2018), , was a
Russian
physicist whose career was spent in the former
Soviet program of nuclear weapons.
Biography
Avrorin was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union (now
Saint Petersburg in Russia), on 11 July 1932.
In 1949, he went to study physics at the
Leningrad University and later the
University of Kharkiv in
Ukraine.
In 1952, his family return to Moscow and he went to attend the
Moscow State University, and graduate with
specialist degree in physics in 1954–55.
In 1956, he began preparing his thesis based on
RDS-37
RDS-37 was the Soviet Union's first two-stage hydrogen bomb, first tested on 22 November 1955. The weapon had a nominal yield of approximately 3 megatons. It was scaled down to 1.6 megatons for the live test.
Leading to the RDS-37
The RDS-3 ...
studies and was awarded the
Doktor Nauk (Russian PhD) on 7 March 1974.
Avrorin was directed to KB-11 ('Design Bureau-11), now called
All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF)) in the closed city of
Sarov,
Nizhny Novgorod region. There he worked on the Soviet hydrogen bomb programme. In 1955, he joined the new NII-1011 (Research Institute-1011, presently the
(RFNC-VNIITF)) at another closed city,
Snezhinsk
Snezhinsk ( rus, Сне́жинск, p=ˈsnʲeʐɨnsk) is a closed town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. Population:
History
The settlement began in 1955 as Residential settlement number 2, a name which it had until 1957 when it received town ...
(or Chelyabinsk-70). In 1956 and 1957, he performed unique experiments to find out why the RDS-37 exploded fractionally before modelled expectations, a result which implied a lack of knowledge of materials and conditions. During remainder of his career there, he became Head of the Theoretical Physics Department in 1964, the Head of Theoretical Physics Division in 1974 and the Scientific Director in 1985, a role he retained until 2007. From 1996 to 1998, he was also the overall Director.
In addition to his work on many nuclear weapons, he was also known for investigating nuclear explosives for civilian usage (e.g. potentially for mining copper), device designs with very low radiation output and deuterium power engineering. He wrote about the modern challenges to the closed cities whose industries are (largely) no longer required since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He became the chair of the Snezhinsk branch of the Russian
Pugwash committee and was involved in international discussions about
science diplomacy and confidence-building for international security.
He died after a long illness.
Awards
* 1956:
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
* 1987:
Order of Lenin
* 1988:
Veteran of Labour
* 1997: 300th Anniversary of the Russian Fleet medal
* 1999:
V.P. Makeyev Prize
* 1999, 2006: Order For Service to Homeland (3rd class, 2nd class)
* 2012:
Demidov Prize
The Demidov Prize (russian: Демидовская премия) is a national scientific prize in Russia awarded annually to the members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Originally awarded from 1832 to 1866 in the Russian Empire, it was reviv ...
* 2013:
Kurchatov Medal
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avrorin, Evgeniy Nikolayevich
1932 births
2018 deaths
20th-century Russian scientists
Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Moscow State University alumni
Heroes of Socialist Labour
Lenin Prize winners
Demidov Prize laureates
Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class
Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Russian physicists
Soviet physicists
Theoretical physicists