Konstantin Petrzhak
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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 (SPBGU; ) is a 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 university from the be ...
. 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 fundamental discovery of
spontaneous fission Spontaneous fission (SF) is a form of radioactive decay in which a heavy atomic nucleus splits into two or more lighter nuclei. In contrast to induced fission, there is no inciting particle to trigger the decay; it is a purely probabilistic proc ...
of
uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, 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. Ura ...
in 1940, Petrzhak's career in physics was then spent mostly in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons. Konstantin Petrzhak was among of Soviet pioneers in nuclear physics research.


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 Ł ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
in
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
, on 4 September 1907. Other Russian documented sources noted his birthplace in Dombrovo in
Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...
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 at a glass-making factory in Malaya Vishera in
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
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 (SPBGU; ) is a 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 university from the be ...
, where he studied
painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
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 the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
and was an amateur
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
ist and
guitar player ''Guitar Player'' was an American magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francis ...
. 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 offi ...
certified under
Igor Kurchatov Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov (; 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 weapons, and has been referred to as "father of the Russian ...
from the Leningrad State University. Konstantin Petrzhak married Galina Ivanovna Mitrofanova (b. 1918), also a radiochemist. In 1934, Petrzhak found a job at the Khlopin Radium Institute located in the State University in
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 ...
(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 to obtain the
Candidate of Sciences A Candidate of Sciences is a Doctor of Philosophy, PhD-equivalent academic research degree in all the post-Soviet countries with the exception of Ukraine, and until the 1990s it was also awarded in Central and Eastern European countries. It is ...
, 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 (; 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 Jacob Frenkel, frequently using the name J. Frenkel in publicati ...
's theory of fission. Earlier, Flyorov and his assistant Tatiana I. 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 gaseous ionisation detector, and is widely used for the detection and measurement of many types of ionizing radiation, including X-rays, gamma rays, alpha particles and beta particles. Conventionall ...
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 ( d ...
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 (1 October 1904 – 22 September 1979) was an Austrian-born British physicist who worked on nuclear physics. With Otto Stern and Immanuel Estermann, he first measured the magnetic moment of the proton. With his aunt, Lise M ...
. In 1940, Petrzhak was recommended for the top team in the
Soviet atomic bomb project The Soviet atomic bomb project was authorized by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons during and after World War II. Russian physicist Georgy Flyorov suspected that the Allied powers were secretly developing a " superwea ...
. He is rumored to have participated in the said project. When the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
entered World War II, Petrzhak was eligible to serve in the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
. Winning the Stalin Prize would exempt him from front line service. In the early 1940s, the
Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (un ...
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 ...
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 (; ; ) is the approximately stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva. Its northwestern boundary is a line from the Bay of Vyborg to the we ...
. Later, he fought in
Volkhov Front The Volkhov Front () 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 North in its offensive thrust towards L ...
. On 20th of 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 Pyotr Lukirsky. 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 radioactiv ...
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 Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology (Technical University) () was founded in 1828. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Russia, and currently trains around 5,000 students. History In the past, the institute w ...
. Petrzhak founded the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology department of nuclear physics in 1949, and remained its chair for 22 years. Hundreds of graduates of Engineering faculty studied under his supervision, he was also a scientific supervisor of dozens of Candidates of Science and Doktors of Science. Konstantin Petrzhak created an express method to detect plutonium and associated radioisotopes in samples of irradiated uranium. In 1960s he and his colleagues studied fission with simultaneous emission of protons, tritons and alpha-particles. In 1960s jointly with the colleagues Petrzhak performed a series of precision absolute measurements of induced fission, caused by neutrons, which have monoenergy as well as fission-spectrum neutrons. 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 Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian (born 14 April 1933) is an Armenian and Russian nuclear physicist who is best known as a researcher of superheavy elements. He has led the discovery of multiple chemical elements. He succeeded Georgy Flyorov as dir ...
and others) about synthesis of
hassium Hassium is a synthetic element, synthetic chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Hs and atomic number 108. It is highly radioactive: its most stable known isotopes have half-life, half-lives of about ten seconds. One of its isotopes, Hs ...
performed in
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, ), in Dubna, Moscow Oblast (110 km north of Moscow), Russia, is an international research center for nuclear sciences, with 5,500 staff members including 1,200 researchers holding over 1,000 ...
. Petrzhak was awarded
Doctor of Sciences 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 Sciences ...
in 1948 and a
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
. 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. Konstantin Petrzhak published articles on fission products from nuclear reactors until his death in 1998. He died on October 10, 1998, and was buried at Serafimovskoe Cemetery 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 (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 rubles each;) * 1950
Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...
Prize (for work on fulfillment of governmental tasks) * 1953 Stalin Prize (for work on soviet atomic project) * 1953
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 ...
(for work on soviet atomic project) * 1957 Presidium of Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union Prize


Selected works

* * * *


Notes


References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petrzhak, Konstantin 1907 births 1998 deaths People from Łuków People from Siedlce Governorate Academic staff of the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology Saint Petersburg State University alumni Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Stalin Prize Nuclear weapons program of the Soviet Union people Soviet Army officers Soviet military personnel of World War II Soviet nuclear physicists Soviet people of Polish descent Burials at Serafimovskoe Cemetery