Yevgeny Nikolayevich Avrorin (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Евгений Николаевич Aврорин, 11 July 1932– 9 January 2018), , was a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

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 caus ...

whose career was spent in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons.

Biography

Avrorin was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union (now

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in Russia), on 11 July 1932. In 1949, he went to study physics at the

Leningrad University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...

and later the

University of Kharkiv The Kharkiv University or Karazin University ( uk, Каразінський університет), or officially V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University ( uk, Харківський національний університет імені ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. In 1952, his family return to Moscow and he went to attend the

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, and graduate with

specialist degree The specialist degree is an academic degree conferred by a college or university. The degree is formatted differently worldwide and may be either a five-year program or a doctoral level graduate program that occurs after a master's degree but befo ...

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 Doctor of Sciences ( rus, доктор наук, p=ˈdoktər nɐˈuk, abbreviated д-р наук or д. н.; uk, доктор наук; bg, доктор на науките; be, доктар навук) is a higher doctoral degree in the Russi ...

(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 The All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics (VNIIEF) (russian: Всероссийский научно-исследовательский институт экспериментальной физики) is a research inst ...

(RFNC-VNIIEF)) in the closed city of

Sarov Sarov (russian: Саро́в) is a closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It was known as Gorkiy-130 (Горький-130) and Arzamas-16 (), after a (somewhat) nearby town of Arzamas,SarovLabsCreation of Nuclear Center Arzamas-16/ref ...

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

region. There he worked on the Soviet hydrogen bomb programme. In 1955, he joined the new NII-1011 (Research Institute-1011, presently the

All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Technical Physics All-Russian Scientific Research Institute Of Technical Physics (VNIITF) (russian: Всероссийский научно-исследовательский институт технической физики) is a research institute based in Sne ...

(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 Science diplomacy is the use of scientific collaborations among nations to address common problems and to build constructive international partnerships. Science diplomacy is a form of new diplomacy and has become an umbrella term to describe a n ...

and confidence-building for international security. He died after a long illness.

Awards

* 1956:

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 ...

* 1987:

Order 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 ...

* 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 * 2013:

Kurchatov Medal The Kurchatov Medal, or the Gold Medal in honour of Igor Kurchatov is an award given for outstanding achievements in nuclear physics and in the field of nuclear energy. The USSR Academy of Sciences established this award on February 9, 1960 in ho ...

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