Yuri Alexeyevich Trutnev (; 2 November 1927 – 6 August 2021) was a Russian physicist and a professor of engineering at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute). His career in physics spent in the former Soviet program of development of nuclear weapons and was one the designers in the

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 ...

(the Soviet Union's first two-stage

thermonuclear device A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...

), and the

RDS-220 The Tsar Bomba (code name: ''Ivan'' or ''Vanya''), also known by the alphanumerical designation "AN602", was a Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear aerial bomb, and by far the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. The Soviet phy ...

(the largest-ever-yield nuclear device) and many other nuclear charges.

Career

He graduated from the Physics department of 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 ...

. In 1951, he was sent to Arzamas-16, also known as KB-11 (English: Design Bureau-11), now the

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) ...

(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 ...

Oblast. He was one of the main authors of the final report concerning the configuration and feasibility calculations of the

, which was detonated successfully a few months later in November 1955. For this work, he was awarded the

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 ...

, the first of several national awards. He then worked on 'Project 49', with Yuri Babayev, which involved technical improvements in the implosion of the two-stage charges, which were tested successfully in 1958 and put into production.

Andrei Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet Physics, physicist and a List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world. Alt ...

selected the design team to develop the RDS-220 which included himself, Trutnev,

Viktor Adamsky Viktor Borisovich Adamsky (; 30 April 1923 – 14 December 2005) was a Russian physicist of Ukrainian origin known for his work on the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons. Biography Adamsky was born in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, ...

, Yuri Babayev and (Adamsky and Vyacheslav Feodoritov were the project leads). The second and third stages of the RDS-220 were designed principally by Trutnev and Babayev. In 1964, he was appointed head of his department and deputy head of the sector. He was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) the same year. The following year he became head of the sector and in 1966 deputy supervisor. In 1978, he became first deputy supervisor and head of the theoretical department. He became an Academician of the RAS in 1991. From 1993 to 1999, he was first deputy supervisor of VNIIEF. Trutnev began development of nuclear devices for industrial civilian purposes such as reservoir creation and gas field intensification, and devices which released very low amounts of ionising radiation.

Yevgeny Avrorin Yevgeny Nikolayevich Avrorin (Russian: Евгений Николаевич Aврорин, 11 July 1932– 9 January 2018), , was a Russian physicist whose career was spent in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons. Biography Avrorin was ...

described Trutnev producing the first "clean" nuclear charge, "a purely thermonuclear reaction" from a solid compound. Employees at Arzamas-16, including Trutnev, were upset that on a visit by

Edward Teller Edward Teller (; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian and American Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of ...

and Siegfried S. Hecker (then director of the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development Laboratory, laboratories of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, United States Department of Energy ...

) to Russia after the break-up of the USSR, each was photographed in front of a model of the RDS-220 alongside scientists in

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 ...

. Trutnev insisted that a new photograph be taken of Hecker at VNIIEF in front of a similar model, as it was he and his colleagues at VNIIEF in Sarov who designed the device. Trutnev was the editor-in-chief of the ''Atomic Science and Technology'' journal and deputy editor-in-chief of the ''International Scientific Journal for Alternative Energy and Ecology''. He was one of the RAS members who were critical of proposed administrative changes to the RAS by the Russian state in 2013, changes which included the transfer of academic institutions and property (RAS election candidates must now be government-approved and the winner approved by the president).

Awards

* 1956, 1962:

. * 1959:

Lenin Prize The Lenin Prize (, ) was one of the most prestigious awards of the Soviet Union for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was originally created on June 23, 1925, and awarded until 1934. During ...

. * 1962:

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...

. * 1972:

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on 31 October 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferred upon individuals or groups for services furthering communis ...

. * 1975, 1987:

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 ...

. * 1984:

State Prize of the USSR The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

. * 1998, 2003, 2012, 2017:

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...

(3rd class, 2nd class, 4th class, 1st class). * 2002:

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:Trutnev, Yuri Alexeyevich 1927 births 2021 deaths Scientists from Moscow Soviet physicists Soviet engineers Russian inventors 20th-century Russian physicists Theoretical physicists Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Lenin Prize Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the USSR State Prize Full Cavaliers of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"