Konstantin Antonovich Petrzhak (alternatively Pietrzak; rus, Константи́н Анто́нович Пе́тржак, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɐnˈtonəvʲɪtɕ ˈpʲedʐək, ; 4 September 1907– 10 October 1998), , was a
Russian 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 ...
of
Polish origin, and a professor of physics at the
Saint Petersburg State 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 ...
.
Receiving credit with
Georgy Flyorov
Georgii Nikolayevich Flyorov (also spelled Flerov, rus, Гео́ргий Никола́евич Флёров, p=gʲɪˈorgʲɪj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ ˈflʲɵrəf; 2 March 1913 – 19 November 1990) was a Soviet physicist who is known for h ...
, a physicist, for the
discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discove ...
of
spontaneous fission
Spontaneous fission (SF) is a form of radioactive decay that is found only in very heavy chemical elements. The nuclear binding energy of the elements reaches its maximum at an atomic mass number of about 56 (e.g., iron-56); spontaneous breakd ...
of
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
in 1940, Petrzhak's career in physics was then spent mostly in the former
Soviet program of nuclear weapons.
Biography
Early and personal life
Konstantin Petrzhak was born in
Łuków
Łuków is a city in eastern Poland with 30,727 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2005). Since 1999, it has been situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, previously it had belonged to the Siedlce Voivodeship (between 1975–1998). It is the capital of � ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
in
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...
, on 4 September 1907.
Other Russian documented sources noted his birthplace in Dombrovo in
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...
with same
birth date.
There is very little information known about his early life and started working at the age of 12 (in 1919) as a
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...
at a glass-making factory in
Malaya Vishera
Malaya Vishera (russian: Ма́лая Ви́шера) is a town and the administrative center of Malovishersky District in Novgorod Oblast, Russia. Population:
History
The name of the town originates from the Malaya Vishera River, a tributary ...
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-ei ...
to provide income to his poor family.
In 1928, Petrzhak was sent to attend the
trade school, ''
Rabfak'', that was affiliated with the
Leningrad State 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 ...
(now
St. Petersburg Univ.), where he studied
painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and a ...
which remained his lifelong passion.
Later, he used his talent in painting when he covered the plates of ionization chamber with uranium which later led to discovery of spontaneous fission.
He also learned to play the
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
and was an amateur
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist and
guitar player
''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and politica ...
.
Peterzhak went to the Leningrad State University worked with the research group at the university in 1931.
In November 1936, Pertzhak eventually earned his
diploma
A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...
certified 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 ...
from the Leningrad State University.
Konstantin Petrzhak married Galina Ivanovna Mitrofanova (b. 1918), also a radiochemist.
In 1934, Petrzhak found the work at the
Khlopin Radium Institute located in the State University in
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 ...
(First Radium Institute), which was directed by Igor Kurchatov, a nuclear physicist.
Petrzhak remained associated with the
Khlopin Radium Institute for the remainder of his life, and worked under the direction of
Vitaly Khlopin and Igor Kurchatov where he eventually defended his thesis 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 ...
to obtain the
Candidate of Sciences
Candidate of Sciences (russian: кандидат наук, translit=kandidat nauk) is the first of two doctoral level scientific degrees in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It is formally classified as UNESCO's ISCED level 8, "d ...
, titled: "Study of thorium and samarium radioactivity."
[Konstantin Petrzhak obituary]
/ref>
Soviet program of nuclear weapons and academia
In 1939, Kurchatov was assigned research under Georgy Flyorov and Petrzhak to conduct investigation on uranium fission induced by neutrons of different energy levels, following Yakov Frenkel
__NOTOC__
Yakov Il'ich Frenkel (russian: Яков Ильич Френкель; 10 February 1894 – 23 January 1952) was a Soviet physicist renowned for his works in the field of condensed matter physics. He is also known as Jacov Frenkel, frequ ...
's theory of fission. Earlier, Flyorov and his assistant Tatiana Nikitinskaya had already made an ionization chamber to detect heavy particles, and were directed to increase the sensitivity of the ionization chamber. The team created a multilayer ionization chamber
The ionization chamber is the simplest type of gas-filled radiation detector, and is widely used for the detection and measurement of certain types of ionizing radiation, including X-rays, gamma rays, and beta particles. Conventionally, the term ...
to detect decay product
In nuclear physics, a decay product (also known as a daughter product, daughter isotope, radio-daughter, or daughter nuclide) is the remaining nuclide left over from radioactive decay. Radioactive decay often proceeds via a sequence of steps ( ...
s originating from the fission of uranium.
The ionization chamber utilized electrodes with a total surface area of about 1000 cm2. The chamber's 15 plates were covered with uranium oxide with approximate surface density of 10–20 mg/cm2. The detector compared particle activity to a background level control. When the source of neutrons was taken away, the detector still found particles. The team made three ionization chambers to prove that the effect was not an error, including a more sensitive chamber with a surface area of 6000 cm2. Despite the instrument's high sensitivity, cosmic rays were still a possible source of particle activity. The team moved to an underground lab in the Dinamo station of Moscow Metro (about 50 m below the earth surface) in an attempt to rule out the effects of cosmic rays. In May 1940, they were confident that they had discovered spontaneous fission. The certificate of discovery stated, "the new type of radioactivity with mother nucleus decays into two nuclei, that have kinetic energy of about 160 MeV". Later, the discovery of spontaneous fission was confirmed by Otto Robert Frisch
Otto Robert Frisch FRS (1 October 1904 – 22 September 1979) was an Austrian-born British physicist who worked on nuclear physics. With Lise Meitner he advanced the first theoretical explanation of nuclear fission (coining the term) and first ...
.
In 1940, Petrzhak was recommended for the top team in 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 ...
. He is rumored to have participated in the said project.
When the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
entered World War II, Petrzhak was eligible to serve in the Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
. Winning the Stalin Prize would exempt him from front line service. In the early 1940s, 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 ...
nominated him for the award, which he did not receive. Sources disagree on whether Petrzhak volunteered, or was drafted into the army.
Petrzhak served in the military intelligence company of a CIWS
A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of l ...
regiment first as a junior lieutenant, and later as a senior lieutenant. On 28 June 1941, he participated in the battle of Karelian Isthmus
The Karelian Isthmus (russian: Карельский перешеек, Karelsky peresheyek; fi, Karjalankannas; sv, Karelska näset) is the approximately stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern ...
. Later, he fought in Volkhov Front
The Volkhov Front (russian: Волховский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the first period of the Second World War. It was formed as an expediency of an early attempt to halt the advance of the Wehrmacht Army Group ...
. In March 1942 he was ordered to leave the army and join evacuated Radium Institute scientists in Kazan.
In 1943, Petrzhak studied neutron induced fission of uranium under the supervision of professor Piotr Lukirski. In 1944, Petrzhak proposed a method to determine the number of neutrons present during a nuclear reaction, based on the number of protons. He also participated in the development of technology to extract plutonium from irradiated uranium blocks. Jointly with M. Yakunin, Petrzhak developed methods for the radiochemical determination of plutonium, and found the mean free path of Pu-239 alpha particles. Petrzhak founded a laboratory of neutron physics and nuclear fission
Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. The fission process often produces gamma photons, and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radio ...
at the Khlopin Radium Institute in 1947. He was the head of this laboratory until 1986, when he became a part-time contractor.
In 1949, Petrzhak was appointed a member of the Uranium Commission of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He was one of the founders of the Engineering faculty of the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology. Petrzhak founded the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology department of nuclear physics in 1949, and remained its chair for 22 years. In 1958, he supervised Vladimir Georgievich Korsakov's diploma work.
Konstantin Petrzhak created an express method to detect plutonium and associated radioisotopes in samples of irradiated uranium. From 1963 to 1976, he published a series of articles on the measurement of photofission. From 1973 through 1984, he took part in measuring induced fission cross-sections of U-238, U-235 and Pu-239 when irradiated by monoenergy neutrons In 1978, Konstantin Petrzhak co-authored a paper (with Yuri Oganessian and others) about synthesis of hassium performed in 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 ...
.
Petrzhak was 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 ...
(since 1948) and a professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...
. He was never elected an academician or the corresponding member of any academy, but Petrzhak was a member of Nuclear Physics Department of Russian Academy of Sciences. According to SCOPUS
Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 inactive titles) from approximately 11,678 publishers, of which 34,346 are peer-reviewed journals in top- ...
, Konstantin Petrzhak has 59 publications with Hirsch index
The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as wi ...
6. Konstantin Petrzhak published articles on fission products from nuclear reactors until his death in 1998. He died on October 10, 1998 and was buried in Saint Petersburg.
Personal life
Konstantin Petrzhak studied painting. He created paintings throughout his life. He used his skills in painting when he covered the plates of ionization chamber with uranium which later led to discovery of spontaneous fission. He was also an amateur violin and guitar player. Konstantin Petrzhak married Galina Ivanovna Mitrofanova (b. 1918), also a radiochemist.
Awards
* 1946 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, ...
(2nd degree; jointly with Georgy Flyorov
Georgii Nikolayevich Flyorov (also spelled Flerov, rus, Гео́ргий Никола́евич Флёров, p=gʲɪˈorgʲɪj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ ˈflʲɵrəf; 2 March 1913 – 19 November 1990) was a Soviet physicist who is known for h ...
for discovery of spontaneous fission; Soviet roubles each;)
* 1950 Council of Ministers
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or ...
Prize (for work on fulfillment of governmental tasks)
* 1953 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 ...
(for work on soviet atomic project)
* 1953 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 ...
(for work on soviet atomic project)
* 1957 Presidium of Academy of Sciences of USSR Prize
Selected works
*
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Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrzhak, Konstantin
1907 births
1998 deaths
People from Łuków
Soviet people of Polish descent
Saint Petersburg State University alumni
Soviet nuclear physicists
Soviet Army officers
Stalin Prize winners
Soviet military personnel of World War II
Nuclear weapons program of the Soviet Union
Burials at Serafimovskoe Cemetery
Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology faculty