Yevgeny Nikolayevich Avrorin (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

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

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, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

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

Leningrad University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public university, public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the uni ...

and later the

University of Kharkiv The V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (), also known as Kharkiv National University or Karazin University, is a public university in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It was founded in 1804 through the efforts of Vasily Karazin, becoming the second old ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

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

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

, 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 R ...

studies and was awarded the

Doktor Nauk A Doctor of Sciences, abbreviated д-р наук or д. н.; ; ; ; is a higher doctoral degree in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union and many Commonwealth of Independent States countries. One of the prerequisites of receiving a Doctor of Science ...

(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; ) is a research institute based in Sarov (formerly Arzamas-16), Russia and established in 1947. During the Soviet era, it was known as KB-11 and All-Soviet (All-Union) ...

(RFNC-VNIIEF)) in the closed city of

Sarov Sarov () is a closed city, 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> from 194 ...

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

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; ) is a research institute based in Snezhinsk, Russia. It was previously also known as NII-1011 (Scientific Research Institute-1011). Created as a back-up facility for the Al ...

(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 describes how scientific exchanges and the cross-border collaboration of scientists or scientific organizations can perform diplomatic functions in the context of international relations. Most often this diplomacy happens as part o ...

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

External links

Awards

* 1956:

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

* 1987:

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

* 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 () 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 revived by the government of Russia's Sverdlovsk ...

* 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 hono ...

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 Recipients of the Lenin Prize 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 Russian theoretical physicists