Georgii Nikolayevich Flyorov (also spelled Flerov, rus, Гео́ргий Никола́евич Флёров, p=gʲɪˈorgʲɪj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ ˈflʲɵrəf; 2 March 1913 – 19 November 1990) was a Soviet

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

who is known for his discovery of spontaneous fission and his important contribution towards the crystallography and material science, for which, he was honored with many awards. In addition, he is also known for his letter directed to

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

, during the midst of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, to start the Soviet program of nuclear weapons in the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. In 2012, element 114 was named

flerovium Flerovium is a Transactinide element, superheavy chemical element with Chemical symbol, symbol Fl and atomic number 114. It is an extremely radioactive synthetic element. It is named after the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of the Joint ...

after the research laboratory at the

Joint Institute for Nuclear Research The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, russian: Объединённый институт ядерных исследований, ОИЯИ), in Dubna, Moscow Oblast (110 km north of Moscow), Russia, is an international research c ...

bearing his name.

Biography

Flyorov was born on 2 March 1913 in Rostov-on-Don in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. His grandfather was a priest in the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

—his mother was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. After finishing schooling in 1929, he was trained as a

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning an ...

and later as an electrician, first working as a technician at the

Kirov Plant The Kirov Plant, Kirov Factory or Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) ( rus, Кировский завод, Kirovskiy zavod) is a major Russian mechanical engineering and agricultural machinery manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was esta ...

. In 1933–34, he was able to attend the

Leningrad Polytechnic Institute Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, abbreviated as SPbPU (also, formerly "Saint Petersburg State Technical University", abbreviated as SPbSTU), is a Russian technical university located in Saint Petersburg. Other former names i ...

(now known as the

Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, abbreviated as SPbPU (also, formerly "Saint Petersburg State Technical University", abbreviated as SPbSTU), is a Russian technical university located in Saint Petersburg. Other former names i ...

), and earned a specialist degree from the Polytechnic Institute in physics under Abram Ioffe's group in 1939. He found employment at the

Ioffe Institute The Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (for short, Ioffe Institute, russian: Физико-технический институт им. А. Ф. Иоффе) is one of Russia's largest research centers specialized ...

(then known as LFTI) and worked under

Igor Kurchatov Igor Vasil'evich Kurchatov (russian: Игорь Васильевич Курчатов; 12 January 1903 – 7 February 1960), was a Soviet physicist who played a central role in organizing and directing the former Soviet program of nuclear weapo ...

. Initially he worked with Mikhail Rusinov in fission applications in 1939 but discovered spontaneous fission in 1940 with

Konstantin Petrzhak Konstantin Antonovich Petrzhak (alternatively Pietrzak; rus, Константи́н Анто́нович Пе́тржак, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɐnˈtonəvʲɪtɕ ˈpʲedʐək, ; 4 September 1907– 10 October 1998), , was a Russian physicist ...

in 1940. He is known for writing to

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

in April 1942 as a lieutenant in the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

and pointing out the conspicuous silence within the field of nuclear fission in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Flyorov's urgings to "build the uranium bomb without delay" eventually led to the development of the

Soviet atomic bomb project The Soviet atomic bomb project was the classified research and development program that was authorized by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons during and after World War II. Although the Soviet scientific community disc ...

. In the 1970s, he claimed as his discovery two

transition metal In chemistry, a transition metal (or transition element) is a chemical element in the d-block of the periodic table (groups 3 to 12), though the elements of group 12 (and less often group 3) are sometimes excluded. They are the elements that ca ...

elements:

seaborgium Seaborgium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Sg and atomic number 106. It is named after the American nuclear chemist Glenn T. Seaborg. As a synthetic element, it can be created in a laboratory but is not found in nature. It is al ...

and bohrium.Original Russian version
. He founded the Flyorov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (FLNR), one of the main laboratories of the

Dubna Dubna ( rus, Дубна́, p=dʊbˈna) is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It has a status of ''naukograd'' (i.e. town of science), being home to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, an international nuclear physics research center and one o ...

in 1957, and was director there until 1989. Also during this period, he chaired the Scientific Council of the

Soviet Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

Honours and awards

* Hero of Socialist Labour (1949) * Two

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

(1949, 1983) *

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (russian: Орден Октябрьской Революции, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on October 31, 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferr ...

(1973) *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

, three times (1959, 1963, 1975) *

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisa ...

, 1st class (1985) * Lenin Prize (1967) *

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

, twice (1946, 1949) *

Marian Smoluchowski Medal The Marian Smoluchowski Medal is a Polish annual science award conferred by the Polish Physical Society (''Polskie Towarzystwo Fizyczne, PTF'') for contributions in the field of physics. Description The medal was established in 1965 and is the h ...

(1974) *

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

(1975) * Honorary Citizen of

* The element

(

atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...

114) named after him

References

External links

Significant Flerov DatesAnnotated bibliography of Georgy Flerov from the Alsos Digital LibraryA draft of Flerov's letter to Stalin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flyorov, Georgy Nikolayevich Soviet physicists Soviet nuclear physicists Soviet inventors Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences People involved with the periodic table Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Lenin Prize winners Stalin Prize winners Recipients of the USSR State Prize 1913 births 1990 deaths Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University alumni Soviet military personnel of World War II Soviet Air Force officers