Academician Khariton. Academician Yuliy Borisovich Khariton. You are often called the "father of the atomic bomb." This is true

Yu. B. Khariton For the sake of nuclear parity Interview of academician Yu. B. Khariton to journalist Oleg Moroz December 19, 1989. Published according to the text of the “Dossier of the Literary Gazette”, January 1990. In addition to the statements of Yu. B. Khariton, the text also contains information added by O. P.

Khariton Prokofievich Laptev (d. 1763) Russian navigator. Place of birth and time of birth unknown. He began serving in the navy in 1718. In 1737 he received the rank of lieutenant, and two years later he was appointed commander of a detachment of the Great Northern Expedition. In 1739, the detachment

Alexander the Great was, as we know, a great commander. Julius Caesar, Napoleon and Suvorov were also great commanders. But there will be no more great commanders. And not at all because human genius in this direction has dried up. Since the second half of the twentieth century, when conflicts arose, humanity began to speak a different language. Essentially, a different story began in the second half of the twentieth century.

The logic of innovative development in the field of military equipment led to the emergence of nuclear weapons, which became the main factor in politics, the main argument in the search for solutions, the main argument in the choice of friends and partners. If major conflicts are breaking out now, it is mostly so that no one else gets these weapons. The nuclear world and the pre-nuclear world speak different languages; these are two different civilizations.

But history and politics are the subjects of specific people. Do we know the names of those who created nuclear weapons and brought us to another world? We hear about scandalous politicians, athletes, one-day pop stars. And these stars twinkle coldly and unmemorably empty. There is no light, but the sounds are loud.

The first three times Hero of Socialist Labor in our country Yuliy Borisovich KHARITON (1904 - 1996), future chief designer of nuclear weapons, was born in St. Petersburg on the eve of the First Russian Revolution. From the point of view of the Bolsheviks, it was impossible to come up with a worse origin than Khariton. Before the revolution, his father was the editor of the cadet newspaper Rech and the director of the St. Petersburg House of Writers. In 1922, he, along with 225 class-alien Russian intellectuals, was expelled from Soviet Russia. Trotsky said about this: “We are deporting these people because there is no reason to shoot them, and it is impossible to tolerate them.” Khariton Sr. settled in Riga; in 1940, after Latvia joined the USSR, he was arrested by the NKVD and sentenced to death. Khariton’s mother was an actress, played at the Moscow Art Theater, left the family in 1910, married a Berlin psychiatrist, a student of S. Freud, and in the 1930s emigrated to Tel Aviv.

Khariton was one of the few people in the USSR who, for several decades, was under the care of personal bodyguards around the clock. The file of Father Yuli Khariton was in Beria’s safe. And no one knew what the powerful head of the state security agencies meant when, on August 29, 1949, after the first successful test of the atomic bomb, he kissed Khariton on the forehead and told him: “You can’t imagine what a misfortune it would be if it didn’t work.” ".

Yu. B. Khariton

In 1929, Stalin said: “We are 50-100 years behind the advanced countries. We must cover this distance in 10 years. Either we do this, or we will be crushed.” The country ran in all directions - industrialization, collectivization, technical progress. Scientists tried to instill in management the idea that physics would provide the basis for the technology of the future. Nobody argued with this. But the bad thing was that scientists maintained intellectual independence. Academician Ya. I. Frenkel agreed to heresy: “Neither Engels nor Lenin are authorities for physicists.” Physicists, unlike other scientists, believed that without party leadership they could understand which theories were correct and which problems were interesting. Investigators treated freethinking in the USSR: in the 1930s, some physicists were shot, many, including the best theorist Landau, were arrested. But very soon, when it turns out that not only the most terrible weapon, but also the very future of the country is in the hands of physicists, the attitude of the authorities towards science will change dramatically.

At the turn of the 1930s and 1940s, fundamental work on the chain reaction and nuclear fission was carried out in the USA and Germany. In the USSR, Yu. B. Khariton and Ya. B. Zeldovich determined the conditions under which a nuclear chain reaction occurs. There were also excellent studies by K. A. Petrzhak, G. N. Flerov, I. V. Kurchatov, Ya. I. Frenkel, who carried out the first Soviet work on nuclear fission, which was much more important than his critical attitude towards Engels and Lenin. Experiments were often carried out at the Dynamo metro station to exclude the influence of cosmic rays.

In 1939, future Nobel laureate I. E. Tamm said about the work of Khariton and Zeldovich: “This discovery means that a bomb can be created that will destroy a city within a radius of 10 kilometers.” Unlike American physicists, who managed to convince their government of the need to work on a new superweapon, Soviet scientists did not approach the leadership with such ideas and limited themselves to conversations in a narrow circle.

The USSR lagged behind the United States with the atomic bomb by several years, which largely predetermined the further course of world history. This lag suggests that the innovative development necessary to ensure the country’s security is possible only in the conditions of an open dialogue between science and government. However, in the USSR at the end of the 1930s, all the rocket scientists, led by the future chief designer Korolev, who annoyed the generals with new and incomprehensible ideas, were imprisoned. The great aircraft designer Tupolev also went to prison...

In 1941-1942, Soviet intelligence began to receive information that the United States was developing an unprecedented bomb in the strictest secrecy. For about six months, Beria, who did not trust anyone, did not report this to Stalin. On September 28, 1942, Stalin signed an order to resume work on the uranium problem in the USSR. Kurchatov compiled a list of project participants: Alikhanov, Kikion, Khariton, Zeldovich. In 1943, Kurchatov offered to lead the group working on the bomb design to Khariton. At first he refused; he was fascinated by another job - modern mine and anti-tank weapons. But Kurchatov convinced Khariton: we must think about the future security of the country and we must not waste time.

However, time was lost. On November 27, 1942, Kurchatov wrote to Molotov: In uranium research, Soviet science is significantly behind the science of England and America." July 30, 1943, a new letter: "Our country is far behind America, England, and Germany. We have about 50, and in America - 700, scientists working on the uranium problem." Calculations showed that it was urgently necessary to obtain 100 tons of uranium, and only 12 tons could be extracted from the deposits in 2 years. And then the USSR asked America for uranium on land- Lisa, General Leslie Groves, the military director of the nuclear weapons program, so that Stalin would not guess why America itself needed uranium, regularly supplied the USSR with uranium in huge portions until 1945.

Finally, Stalin, who understood that personnel decides everything, removes Molotov from his post as head of the atomic project and appoints Beria.

In 1945, after a detective search in Germany, a warehouse of uranium salts was found at a tannery. Khariton and Zeldovich took part in the search, and for this occasion they were dressed in a colonel’s uniform. All other warehouses, where there could also be uranium, were bombed by the Allies, as if by an unfortunate coincidence. In January 1946, Stalin, in the presence of Beria, told Kurchatov: “Our scientists are very modest and sometimes do not notice that they live poorly. Our state has suffered greatly, but it is always possible to ensure that several thousand people live well, and several thousand people live even better.” , with their dachas, so that people can relax, so that they have a car.” On February 9, 1946, at the Bolshoi Theater, Stalin made a speech: “I have no doubt that if we provide worthy assistance to our scientists, they will be able not only to catch up, but also to surpass in the near future the achievements of science outside our country.” Expenditures on science in 1946 increased 3 times. A large salary increase for scientists was announced. Stalin said that the atomic bomb must be obtained as soon as possible, without regard to the costs. America already had the bomb. The explosion of Japanese Hiroshima cost the lives of 120 thousand people...

This is what the streets of Hiroshima looked like after the nuclear bomb exploded on August 6, 1945.
In the center are the walls and frame of the dome of the so-called Atomic House,
former Prefectural Industrial Development Hall
(in this form the building is a tragic symbol
continues to this day):

KB-11, object No. 550, Kremlin, Moscow, center-300, Privolzhskaya office, Arzamas-75, Sarov, Arzamas-16 - at different times this was the name of the place where a top-secret design bureau for the development of atomic weapons was created in 1946. Just 10 kilometers away stood the village of Alamasovo, near which St. Seraphim of Sarov, one of the most revered saints in Rus', once lived. In 1946, thousands of prisoners were sent here to build a nuclear center at an accelerated pace.

Small in stature, homely, very thin - Khariton’s appearance contrasted sharply with the matter, behind which stood enormous destructive power. Because of his unassuming appearance, funny stories often happened to him when district committee secretaries and provincial nobles did not recognize him as the chief designer of atomic weapons. Until the end of the 1980s, no one knew his name, but he was completely devoid of vanity and never presented his ranks. You could talk with him about the artists Gainsborough, Holbein, Turner, he rejoiced at the volume of poems by Mikhail Kuzmin, was a fan of the director Tovstonogov and, completely exhausted, went to the last film showings, although he was annoyed that almost no good films were made.

Many were surprised: why did Kurchatov call Khariton, a gentle, intelligent man who did not at all resemble the boss of Stalin’s times, to Arzamas? He was old-fashioned polite, never sat down before another person, always handed over his coat, the most terrible word in his mouth was “damn!” But Khariton had a feature that was noted by everyone who knew him and distinguished him from everyone who worked nearby: phenomenal responsibility. Khariton liked to repeat: “We need to know ten times more than what we do.” Colleagues called this rule the “Khariton criterion.”

Khariton knew by heart thousands of drawings that accompanied each product. He sat in his office until late at night, but was always at work at 8 am. Long meetings on weekends were common, he gently and shyly apologized to employees for another call, and said hello to their wives. He checked every detail before testing and, for example, personally led the development of the neutron fuse for the first bomb. Khariton and other scientists, participants in the atomic project, realized that they were not just creating an atomic and then a hydrogen bomb, but were working on a deterrent weapon that would make the unilateral use of nuclear weapons impossible and, therefore, would preserve peace.

In 1948, the United States already had 56 atomic bombs. The Joint Chiefs of Staff developed the Crescent Emergency Doctrine, which called for "a powerful air attack, using the destructive and psychological power of atomic weapons against the vital centers of Soviet military production." It was meticulously calculated how many millions of Soviet people would die and by what percentage the industrial potential of the USSR would decrease.

The first Soviet atomic bomb is a copy of the American one. Many drawings and clues were obtained by intelligence.
This saved the USSR one or two years. Of the scientists, only Kurchatov and Khariton were fully allowed access to intelligence information. But it was necessary to create industrial installations, and all technological solutions had to be tested many times. Sometimes physicists proposed more effective solutions, but Kurchatov and Khariton insisted on other schemes. They could not say that these particular schemes had already worked, they could not open the source of confidence. The bomb had to be made quickly, because Stalin and Beria created all the conditions.

In 1949, on the eve of the first atomic bomb test, Khariton’s only meeting with Stalin took place in the Kremlin. After Khariton’s report, Stalin asked: is it possible to make two bombs from one bomb with the same amount of plutonium? Khariton replied that this was impossible. Stalin did not ask any more questions. The first Soviet atomic bomb was called RDS-1 - "Jet Engine of Stalin". The second is RDS-2. The West didn’t know this, but on a whim they called the Soviet bombs “Joe-1” and “Joe-2”.

Yu. B. Khariton at the model of the first Soviet atomic bomb

The second Soviet atomic bomb, RDS-2, was tested in 1951. There were no longer any American decisions in it - only our own. The bomb was half the weight, but twice as powerful as the American one. In 1953, the USSR tested the world's first hydrogen bomb designed by A.D. Sakharov. On October 30, 1961, in the USSR over Novaya Zemlya, an unsurpassed explosion of a 50-megaton bomb was carried out over Novaya Zemlya, which was 3 thousand times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The Soviet atomic project was implemented in an unprecedentedly short time because science, although scientists remained loyal to the authorities, remained an island of intellectual freedom. At the same time, it was physics, although it was put at the service of the state, that was the core where the principles of common sense were supported in the USSR. The government needed science for its survival, but science also influenced the government, pushing it to the necessary transformations.

Thank you for attention.
Sergey Vorobiev.

It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of Academician Khariton (1904-1996) to the creation of the country's nuclear shield. After the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, it became clear: circumstances forced our country to quickly create its own atomic weapons in order to restore strategic balance. Yuliy Borisovich is the second key figure in accomplishing this task after I.V. Kurchatov. Khariton was given personal responsibility for organizing the development of the atomic bomb design, and then its testing. He also became the scientific director of work on the creation of a hydrogen bomb. The successful solution to the problem broke the US monopoly in this area.

The creation of the country's nuclear arsenal required intensive efforts of scientific thought, rapid development of engineering and technical developments and the birth of new industries. Led by Khariton, the Russian Federal Nuclear Center in Arzamas-16 (now Sarov again) became a center on a global scale.

The merits of Academician Khariton were highly appreciated. He is three times Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of Lenin and three State Prizes, awarded gold medals named after I.V. Kurchatov and M.V. Lomonosov. All the honors he received during his lifetime cannot be counted. There is a belief in the scientific community that now the Russian Federal Nuclear Center should rightfully be named after Yu.B. Khariton. The State Duma made this decision and twice addressed it to the Government. Professor L.V. Altshuler, academicians A.F. Andreev, E.P. Velikhov, V.L. Ginzburg, N.S. Kardashev, E.L. Feinberg, V.E. Fortov insist on the same thing. Not in private conversations, but in newspapers and even in a letter to President V.V. Putin.

In everyday life, Yuliy Borisovich was modest and delicate, which did not interfere with business firmness and determination. Behind his restraint hid a soul that was by no means alien to poetry. Colleagues remember how interesting the conversations with him were about both science and art.

His fate included a lot. He wrote with tenderness about his dear wife Maria Nikolaevna, with whom "lived such a happy life", about his daughter Tata, about his grandchildren and his family’s friends who always surrounded him - N.N. Semenov, V.N. Kondratiev, P.L. Kapitsa, A.I. Shalnikov, Ya.I. Frenkel...

“Nature” is also on friendly terms with Yuliy Borisovich. When the veil of secrecy fell, his name appeared more and more often on our pages. Today, in honor of his centenary, we publish essays that, together with photographs, shed light on the life and extraordinary personality of Yuli Borisovich Khariton.

A.K. Chernyshev

The feat of Yuli Borisovich Khariton

A.K. Chernyshev,
Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Russian Federal Nuclear Center -
All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics
Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod region

Becoming

Julius Borisovich Khariton was born in St. Petersburg on February 27, 1904. His father, Boris Osipovich Khariton, was a famous journalist, and his mother, Mirra Yakovlevna Burovskaya, was an actress. At the age of 13, Khariton went to work - first in the library as a clerk, and at the age of 15 he became a mechanic's apprentice. At the same time, he continues to study at a real school, after which, at the age of 15, he tries to enter the Technological Institute, where he is not accepted due to his youth. A year later, he was already a student at the Polytechnic Institute, and three years later (in parallel) - a graduate student at the alma mater of Soviet physics - the famous Physico-Technical Institute.

Grandfather Joseph Davidovich Khariton. 1894

Vladimir GUBAREV.

Yuliy Borisovich Khariton, whose 100th birthday was celebrated in February of this year, was an outstanding scientist even among those few who were the first to realize the enormous potential of atomic energy. He made a decisive contribution to the development of nuclear physics and, above all, to the creation of the Soviet atomic bomb and thermonuclear weapons.

Yuliy Borisovich Khariton (1904-1996).

The first scientific supervisor of Yu. B. Khariton N. N. Semenov. Mid 1920s.

Yuliy Khariton is a student at the Faculty of Physics and Technology of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. 1924

Yu. B. Khariton after defending his doctoral dissertation at Cambridge. 1928

Yu. B. Khariton (left), P. L. Kapitsa (center) and L. Theremin at the walls of the Cavendish Laboratory. 1927

I. V. Kurchatov and Yu. B. Khariton. Early 1950s.

Employees of KB-11. Far left is P. M. Zernov, far right is I. V. Kurchatov, next to him is K. I. Shchelkin.

The village of Sarov, on the site of which the Russian Federal Nuclear Center was built - the All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC

A full-scale experiment to develop the design of the first atomic bomb RDS-1 at the KB-11 test site.

An explosive experience on the indoor range.

Layout of the first nuclear charge. VNIIEF Nuclear Weapons Museum in Sarov.

Atomic bombs RDS-1 (left), RDS-4 (top) and the hydrogen bomb RDS-6S (right). VNIIEF Nuclear Weapons Museum in Sarov.

Science and life // Illustrations

Science and life // Illustrations

The developers of atomic thermonuclear weapons, including the super-powerful hydrogen bomb RDS-6, academicians Ya. B. Zeldovich (top), I. E. Tamm (center) and A. D. Sakharov.

Yu. B. Khariton (in the photo - fourth from the left) in the mathematics department of VNIIEF, among the first in the country to master computer technology.

Laser department of VNIIEF. Yu. B. Khariton at the mock-up of the ISKRA-4 installation chamber.

To study the processes of nuclear charge compression at VNIIEF, they used the method of mathematical modeling on a computer. In the pictures: a two-dimensional model of the distribution of explosion products at various points in time.

Over the years, unique physical installations have been created at VNIIEF, equipped with the most advanced techniques and measuring instruments: fast pulsed graphite reactor (BIGR) - 1.

Linear pulse accelerator (LIU-10) - 2.

X-ray pulse unit (RIUS 3V) - 3.

physical boiler on fast neutrons (FKBN-2M) - 4.

Equipment for working with radioactive isotopes in boxes - 5.

Laser installation "Luch" - 6.

Laser installation "Iskra-5" - 7.

Academician Khariton Street in Sarov.

This little frail man, and he remained this way all his life, was needed by Stalin and Beria, Khrushchev and Brezhnev, Gorbachev and Yeltsin - everyone who stood at the head of our state. The USSR, and then Russia, could not be called a great power if not for the work and feat of Yuli Borisovich Khariton, academician, three times Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes, chief designer and scientific director of the project for the creation of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons.

On August 29, 1949, on the day of the first successful test of the Soviet atomic bomb, he was in an underground bunker along with I.V. Kurchatov, other scientists and military personnel. The massive door was opened slightly to reveal the flash of a nuclear explosion. When the command “Zero!” was sounded, the steppe was illuminated with dazzling fire, and the newly born sun “burst” into the crack of the slightly open bunker door. Khariton rushed to the door to cover it: a shock wave was soon to arrive. But then Beria grabbed him, lifted him, pressed him tightly to himself and kissed him. Lavrentiy Pavlovich understood that thanks to this man he became in the eyes of Stalin the main figure in the Atomic Project - he carried out the leader’s instructions and “made” an atomic bomb. Khariton furiously escaped from Beria’s embrace. Finally he succeeded, and literally at the last moment he closed the door. Immediately, with a roar and a roar, a shock wave swept over them, destroying everything around them.

A few years later, when Beria was arrested, it became clear from the indictment that he was not only a Western spy and saboteur, but also a great lover of women, who awarded him with a “bad disease.” Physicists, as we know, are quite pranksters, and after Beria’s embrace, Khariton once again found himself in the center of their attention. Close friends “warned” each other that shaking Khariton’s hand was unsafe.

Yuliy Borisovich always appreciated jokes addressed to himself and, on occasion, told them himself. He also told me the episode with Beria’s kiss when he recalled the tests of the first atomic bomb. However, to be honest, I still don’t understand whether this is true or another myth about the chief designer.

But the fate of Yuli Borisovich Khariton tells a completely different truth about the twentieth century and about the time that our country experienced. His biography will seem to the uninitiated not only rich in all sorts of events, but also almost incredible. Reality turned out to be much more generous and varied than any adventure or fantasy novel created by the writer’s imagination.

I was lucky enough to meet Yuliy Borisovich Khariton more than once, spend many hours next to each other, talk, not only with him, but also about him with his colleagues and friends. The image of a person and a scientist that I have formed is, of course, subjective, but I am sure that it is close to the real one, because I could judge a person “from the outside,” which is important in our lives.

Colleagues and associates always (when it was possible due to secrecy) talked about Khariton with pleasure. Everyone was in a hurry to tell some legend about Yuli Borisovich, sometimes even more than one, and sometimes it was difficult to determine where the truth was and where it was fiction. But I had the opportunity to learn about the truth of the legends from their main character, and I did not hesitate to question him.

They told me: “He’s fun to be with, he loves a good joke.” Khariton commented:

And it seems to me that I am a rather boring person...

“It’s interesting to be with him,” they told me, “he is distinguished by his non-standard approach to problems, the originality of his conclusions... It’s always difficult to predict exactly how he will react to a particular event or result. And that’s wonderful!” Yuliy Borisovich objected:

I am a silent person, taciturn...

“And what an amazingly interesting way he speaks! He knows literature very well, he once read Marina Tsvetaeva’s poems and they listened to them. And he never speaks from a piece of paper, he hates speaking from written words...” Khariton admitted:

It’s very difficult for me to speak, it’s awkward. For example, it is always not easy to report to voters - I, among other things, am a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR - after all, it is necessary to say the main thing and not miss anything important, but what kind of speaker am I? I return documents to my subordinates several times, because I believe that they should be written clearly, clearly and in good Russian...

Who and what to believe? Serving science is not only the joy of knowledge, the rise of inspiration, the discovery of the unknown, and penetration into new areas. This is also the scientist’s civic position, his patriotism, his dedication to his work. And the best representatives of Russian science, its leaders, have always understood this. They lived and live by this. The fate of Academician Yuli Borisovich Khariton is the clearest example of this.

RISE

What a pity that there is no “time machine”! I would turn on its counter and be transported to the 20s in Petrograd and, like student Yuli Khariton, I went from the city center to the outskirts, to the Polytechnic Institute. I would have come to the lecture a little earlier and looked around. Yes, the student audience looks quite colorful - some in a pea coat, some in an army overcoat, some in a padded jacket. It’s cold, hungry... But then the professor appears. Dressed impeccably: in a jacket and tie. Even though it’s cold outside, he doesn’t seem to notice that it hasn’t been heated for a long time. His voice is loud and his diction is clear. But this is not the main thing - the silence in the audience is amazing, because the lecturer does not retell textbooks and books, but reflects and thereby encourages listeners to think and analyze with him what is happening in physics today. However, what could be happening in it? A few years ago, one of the great scientists declared that physics had exhausted itself and that everything essential in this science was already known.

I was lucky: I ended up in a stream where Abram Fedorovich Ioffe taught a course in physics,” said Yuliy Borisovich. “I listened to two or three of his lectures and realized that the most interesting thing was not electrical engineering, which I was interested in at that time, but physics. And not just me, but literally the entire audience froze and listened with excitement to what Ioffe was saying. Under the influence of his lectures, I moved to another faculty. After the first course, Abram Fedorovich instructed several students to compose and subsequently read abstracts at the seminar. I got the topic "Rutherford's work in the field of atomic structure." This was my first acquaintance with nuclear physics, an interest in which never left me.

Leningrad Phystech... In those distant years, all the cream of the future Russian physics gathered within its walls. Semenov, Kapitsa, Kurchatov, Alexandrov, Alikhanov, Kikoin, Kurdyumov, Frenkel, Shalnikov - is it even possible to mention them all! Years will pass, and these young scientists will head the country's largest scientific centers, open new directions in science, and bring physics to the forefront of scientific and technological progress. But this will be in two decades, and then...

- What helped you identify talents, let them strengthen and grow?

First of all, it was necessary to notice talent, and not only Ioffe, but also his closest assistants had this ability. And first of all, Nikolai Nikolaevich Semenov. One day he meets me in the courtyard of the institute and says joyfully: “Now I took an exam in my second year, a very interesting guy answered, his last name is Kikoin. Remember...”

Julius Khariton experienced the same care and attention himself. After the first year, Semenov invited him to take a walk in the park. They sat down on a bench, and then Nikolai Nikolaevich invited the student to work in the laboratory that he was creating at the Physics and Technology Institute.

I agreed, although I lived in the center of Petrograd, and the institute was eight kilometers away. Often we had to walk there, and sometimes back. From time to time, when you worked late, you would stay at work overnight and sleep on the laboratory table. But at 17 years old this is not a very difficult matter... Of course, you can create the most favorable conditions for identifying and developing talents, but something else is also necessary - dedication, dedication and work. If a person works 12-16 hours a day, he is sometimes called a “fanatic” with condemnation. Yes, they were fanatics, but no one forced them, no one forced them - it was the rapture of work, the highest pleasure available to man. But they did not become ascetics. They fell in love, had fun, played pranks on each other, in general, lived the joys available to young people at that time. And everyone carried these feelings of youth through the years.

One of the most vivid impressions of his youth, Khariton recalled, was his meeting with Mayakovsky at the House of Writers. I didn’t really like his poems, I didn’t understand them... But the poet went on stage and began to read. It was amazing! I returned home, took out a volume of his poems and saw Mayakovsky in a different way. Since then he has become one of my favorite poets. I was lucky enough to hear Blok, to see Kachalov on stage... Yes, we were passionate about physics, we worked a lot, but nevertheless we tried to see and learn more...

1928 Hitler had not yet come to power, but fascist leaflets had already appeared in Germany. A young physicist, who came to Berlin on a business trip, asked German scientists how they felt about the Nazis. They just chuckled: these “operetta boys” are not dangerous, and should not be taken seriously.

We were better politically savvy than our German colleagues, and we perfectly understood the threat of fascism. But the German intellectuals did not share our fears at that time. Unfortunately, they realized their mistake too late.

On the evening of June 21, 1941, we went to a banquet - N. N. Semenov was awarded the Stalin Prize. The scientist celebrated this event with his friends. It was a warm summer evening. Yu. B. Khariton and his friend Ya. B. Zeldovich thought that, most likely, the war would not start this year, since it was already the middle of summer, and if Hitler decided to attack us, he would do it in the spring...

They had been working together for a long time. They met most often in the evenings, since calculations of neutron-nuclear chain reactions were “unscheduled” for them. Khariton at that time headed the laboratory of explosives, and Zeldovich conducted theoretical research. Of course, no one thought about a nuclear bomb, but physicists had already discovered and observed nuclear transformations, and changes had taken place at the Physics and Technology Institute: Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov “left” solid state physics and took up a new field of science.

This sharp and sudden turn surprised many of us. Kurchatov's work on ferroelectrics was elegant and beautiful - examples of true classical research, but he moved on to something else. It is amazing how quickly Igor Vasilievich entered a new area. He was a man surprisingly suitable for the implementation of the planned grandiose program. An excellent physicist, an outstanding organizer and an exceptionally friendly person. These traits attracted not only the minds, but also the hearts of people to him... It was a time of very intense work, it was felt that something completely new and very important was beginning.

And Khariton and Zeldovich spent the evenings calculating nuclear reactions. Their works were published in the Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, in the Advances of Physical Sciences, and they became the first... But the authors themselves and their colleagues learned about this only many years later.

By the way, one of the works, the last one, was not published, - Khariton clarifies, - the war began. True, 42 years later the article finally appeared in the magazine. But how many events separate these publications!

We are drinking tea. We look at the photographs. We joke with the granddaughter of Yuli Borisovich. And we both understand perfectly well that a difficult conversation awaits. I have long noticed: it is difficult to remember the cruel times of war, when your city was tied by a blockade noose, friends and relatives died at the fronts...

The physicists of Leningrad took their place in the ranks of the defenders of the Motherland. Many scientists went to the front and worked at defense enterprises. Kurchatov and Aleksandrov carried out work on demagnetizing warships. Khariton worked at one of the institutes that created new explosives and ammunition, first in Leningrad, then in Kazan, and in 1942 in Moscow.

And then one day Igor Vasilyevich invites me to his place and offers me to go work for him. The war is in full swing. We are doing what we need to do to win - and suddenly such an offer! I object: I consider it my duty to work for the front until the end of the war... And Kurchatov explains: we must take care of the future security of the country, we must not waste time. Kurchatov knew how to persuade, he even convinced my wife that I needed to go to him. Naturally, I agreed... Physicists and physicists were faced with a completely new, and therefore very interesting, task.

...Yuliy Borisovich has a lot of photographs at home. There are also views among them. Their author is Academician Khariton.

- Is this a hobby? - I’m interested.

He was interested in photography, he confirms, but there was never enough time, because physics requires constant thinking.

- And never leaves you alone?

Physics is my life...

I happened to see a nuclear explosion not in a movie, but in reality. It was hell... No other comparison comes to mind... And the American physicists, who described the first tests of nuclear weapons, emphasized that they were very scared... What about you?

It's not about fear. Don’t forget, we had a super task: to create in the shortest possible time a super-powerful weapon that could protect our Motherland. When we managed to solve this problem, we felt relief, even happiness, because, having mastered the new weapon, we deprived other countries of the opportunity to use it against the USSR with impunity, which means it serves peace and security. Everyone who took part in the Atomic Project was aware of this and worked, regardless of time, difficulties, or health... But what about a nuclear explosion? He is also capable of creating. He has peaceful professions: taming gas fountains, creating artificial reservoirs in the desert, and much more.

- Perhaps you understand better than many how great the danger of a nuclear catastrophe is...

And not only her. Other types of weapons are also dangerous. It has accumulated so much that all of humanity is under threat. The power of nuclear weapons is clear - just see the consequences of the explosion. But there are other means of mass destruction, primarily bacteriological and chemical weapons. Binary nerve gas projectiles - aren't they monstrous? Or biological weapons? I believe it is necessary to fight against all means of mass destruction.

THE MOST SECRET ACADEMICIAN

The anniversary of the Leningrad Phystech was celebrated. In the evening, at the station in Moscow, five minutes before the departure of the Red Arrow, academicians Keldysh, Aleksandrov, Millionshchikov, Kapitsa, Semenov, Khariton, Artsimovich, Zeldovich - the delegation of the USSR Academy of Sciences - met. Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh, the president of the Academy, was the only one who did not work at the Physics and Technology Institute. Among this company was the author of these lines, at that time a correspondent for the science department of Komsomolskaya Pravda. Keldysh generously allowed me to travel with the delegation. I found myself in a compartment with a thin, short man. He said hello, took off his coat, then his jacket, carefully hung them on a hanger and immediately left. I looked up and saw three Hero Stars on the lapel of my jacket! I realized that my neighbor is Academician Khariton.

And the carriage was already shaking with laughter. The scientists crowded into one compartment and told jokes. The prudent Aleksandrov and Zeldovich took out the “high command reserve” and poured it one by one. Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov preferred the “little white one,” and Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich insisted that “departure should always be celebrated with cognac.” Since no consensus was reached, both bottles had to be disposed of. Then Yuliy Borisovich made his contribution, and I found out that he was on Alexandrov’s side...

It was surprisingly warm, fun, and relaxed. The gray-haired scientists seemed to have shed the burden of years and found themselves again in their youth - so unforgettable and unique. They rarely saw each other, everyone had a lot of worries, and now - for just two days - they were freed from them and were going “home”, to the Physics and Technology Institute, which brought them together again.

In those distant sixties, I did not even suspect that these scientists were united not only by the past, but also by the present, which was hidden from prying eyes by many prohibitions and barriers, defined in just a few words: “Soviet secret. Special folder.” These were documents and cases that only a few people in the country were involved in. And Khariton is among them.

Some documents of the USSR Atomic Project were declassified quite recently, after the death of Yuli Borisovich. I am convinced that he had no idea how often his name appeared in them. Thus, in the minutes of the meetings of the Technical Council of the Special Committee at the State Defense Committee, where all the main problems of creating nuclear weapons in the USSR were resolved, Khariton is certainly listed among its members.

The real start of the Atomic Project was given immediately after the American attack on Japan. The first meeting took place on August 27, 1945. We have already gathered five times in September - on the 5th, 6th, 10th, 16th and 24th. It was during these days that the main directions of work were determined. Future atomic bombs began to be called “products,” a term that continues to this day. Well, Yuliy Borisovich Khariton became the “chief bomb maker”.

On October 15, 1945, he spoke at the Technical Council with a report “On the principles underlying the development of samples of factory products.” One of the instructions for the report: “... to submit, within ten days, for consideration by the Technical Council, proposals on the organization of one or more bureaus to conduct more intensive research, design and manufacture of samples of factory products, taking into account the need to create conditions for a completely closed nature of these works.” This document can be considered the beginning of the biography of the Arzamas-16 nuclear research center, the founder and permanent scientific director of which was Yu. B. Khariton.

One day we met with Yuliy Borisovich late in the evening in his office in the “White House” - that’s what the main building of the center is called. It is located at the very beginning of the “industrial zone”, immediately behind a special “security strip”, which is guarded almost more strictly than the state border. In this familiar environment for Yuliy Borisovich, the conversation was frank and more open than usual. I asked him:

- The modern structure of the nuclear center was born when it was founded?

Perhaps... When the institute and design bureau were organized, I felt that I did not understand organizational issues well enough. In order to make the most of your capabilities and deal only with science and technology, that is, to be truly the chief designer, you needed another leader who would take care of everything else. This is how the position of director appeared. I consulted with Kurchatov, and then made this request to Beria. Pavel Mikhailovich Zernov, deputy people's commissar, was appointed director. We worked together with him. We started by looking for a location for the “Object”. There were only a few of us then, including Zeldovich, only a few people. We understood that an atomic bomb would require a lot of explosives, and therefore the place had to be secluded. Vannikov advised us to visit factories that produced ammunition. We visited a number of places, and here we found it most convenient: a small factory and a lot of space.

- As far as I know, you were in Germany immediately after the Victory?

As part of the commission headed by Zavenyagin. Together with Kikoin, we began to look for uranium in Germany. They discovered that it had been in one of the warehouses quite recently, but the military took it away as paint, because uranium oxide is bright yellow. On the border with the American zone, we still managed to find 100 tons of uranium. This made it possible to reduce the time needed to create the first industrial reactor by a year... However, I soon returned to Moscow; it was necessary to begin work on the atomic bomb.

- Already here, in Arzamas-16?

Yes. Kurchatov approved the choice of location, and energetic work began on creating laboratories and recruiting personnel. Shchelkin and I compiled the first list of scientific workers - 70 people. At first it seemed like it was too much, because no one then understood the scale of the work.

Immediately after the tests of the first atomic bomb, documents were prepared specifically for J.V. Stalin. Naturally, there was one copy, which was kept “under seven seals.” Only two people looked at it - Stalin and Beria. These documents allow us to imagine the scale of our Atomic Project. Particularly sensitive information, as expected, is written in by hand.

From the Certificate of Construction of Special Facilities:

“During the period from the end of 1945 to September 1, 1949, Glavpromstroy of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs built and put into operation 35 special facilities, including research institutes, laboratories and pilot plants - 17, mining and metallurgical enterprises - 7, combines and factories of basic raw materials - 2, chemical enterprises - 5, machine-building and other enterprises - 4...

The construction of 11 research and industrial facilities, as well as residential buildings and public utility buildings, continues. “At the same time, further work is underway to develop and expand new capacities at the commissioned facilities.”

Perhaps for the first time we can imagine exactly how the country’s nuclear industry was created. Of course, the “Khariton household” played a special role in this process. However, it was also called “Zernov’s farm.” Everything depended on which specialists were sent to work at Design Bureau No. 11. If they were physicists, then they went “to Khariton,” and engineers and designers went “to Zernov.”

Well, how “mistaken” Khariton was when choosing a place for the “Object” is illustrated by another secret document sent to Stalin. It reports that the total number of people involved in the creation of atomic weapons is 230,671. Naturally, military builders and prisoners were not taken into account.

The documents about KB No. 11 stated: “...a) the total number of employees is 4,507 people, including: scientific, engineering and technical workers - 848... Management staff: 1. Head of KB No. 11 - Comrade P. M. Zernov .; 2. Chief designer - member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Khariton Yu. B.; L.; 5. Deputy chief designer - engineer V. I.

Our evening conversation with Academician Khariton continued. He said:

As you know, we received quite detailed information from Fuchs. He described the first atomic bomb, and we decided to make ours similar to the American one.

- Of course, it’s easier to copy...

Don't tell me! The work was tense and nervous. Calculating all the processes occurring in an atomic bomb, all the pressures, and they are different, because detonation occurs through an explosive substance, is a very delicate job. I decided to create two groups that were supposed to work in parallel: the first gave a conclusion - the product would work, the second - it would not work. It turned out that the first group was right... I gave this example as an illustration of how nervous and tense the situation was.

- But did the tasks change along the way?

Certainly. At a certain stage, it was no longer physicists that were needed, but explosives. Dukhov from the tank industry was invited to the position of deputy chief designer. Everything and everyone, if necessary, was provided to us without delay. The scale of work became wider and wider, especially when creating the hydrogen bomb.

- You are often called the “father of the atomic bomb.” This is true?

It is not right. Creating the bomb required the efforts of a huge number of people. Reactors, plutonium separation - this is a gigantic job! So you can't call anyone the "father of the atomic bomb." It is impossible to create it without a comprehensive set of scientific and research work... Of course, the main role in the uranium project belongs to Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov. I directly supervised the creation of the bomb, or rather, all of its “physics”... First, we had to compress the material using conventional explosives to obtain a supercritical mass. In 1940, Ya. B. Zeldovich and I believed that this would require ten kilograms of uranium-235, in fact it turned out that several times more was needed, and obtaining uranium was extremely difficult...

MIRROR "HELL"

Several times we had long conversations with Yuliy Borisovich. This was in the 60-80s of the now last century. Khariton spoke in detail about his work at the Physics and Technology Institute, about wartime, about Ioffe and Kurchatov, but as soon as he started talking about nuclear weapons, he immediately fell silent. “It’s impossible,” he said, “but I promise that I’ll tell you as soon as possible...”

And then one day the phone rang at my house. Khariton's voice:

Remember when you asked to talk about the first tests?

“Of course,” I answered hesitantly, because, to be honest, I forgot about our agreement.

“Perhaps now it’s possible,” said Yuliy Borisovich. - If you don’t mind, I’ll come now...

It was just after eight in the morning. I realized that the academician was calling from the station, where the train from Arzamas-16 had just arrived. Half an hour later Yuliy Borisovich was with me. We drank tea and talked not only about the first test.

- Did you have any doubts that the first bomb, well, wouldn’t work?

No. The amount of plutonium we had allowed us to have no doubt that it would be as we expected. We were not afraid of failure. Everything was tested experimentally.

- At the first stage, did you constantly duplicate the Americans?

Of course not. Perhaps only when creating the first bomb. In recent years, articles have appeared where Americans are trying to imagine that we did nothing ourselves, but stole everything from them. But recently their specialists visited us and made sure that the work was proceeding on an equal footing. At first we used Fuchs’ data, that’s true, but then we went our own way. As for the hydrogen bomb, the main thing was done by Tamm, Sakharov and others. We had two departments, one was headed by Sakharov, the other by Zeldovich. They worked together, so it is incorrect to attribute all achievements to Andrei Dmitrievich. Undoubtedly, he is a brilliant person, but the creators of the hydrogen bomb were Sakharov, Zeldovich, and Trutnev... And the Americans at the end of 1949 - beginning of 1950 made many mistakes and could not find a further path...

- Have you been to the hydrogen bomb tests?

Certainly. The observation point was located 70 kilometers from the epicenter. There was a building at the edge of the village, and below there were benches arranged like an amphitheater. Many military men gathered there, they watched the explosion and were still trying to understand what an atomic bomb was... Igor Vasilyevich and I stood at the top. The bomb was dropped from an airplane, and the explosion was in the air. The shock wave came three minutes later and tore the military caps off. Then they couldn’t find them for a long time... After the tests, we went to the place, that is, under the point of the explosion, and saw how the earth “swelled”... This weapon is very terrible, but it was necessary to maintain peace on Earth. I am convinced that without nuclear deterrence the course of history would have been different, probably more aggressive. In my opinion, nuclear weapons are needed to stabilize the situation; they can prevent a major war, because at the present time only a madman can decide on it. So far, modern nuclear weapons meet the most stringent requirements. But I constantly remind you of safety, of the set of measures that should ensure it. In my opinion, this is the main problem today. We have already decided the rest in the past...

It is clear that we, ordinary people, have a fear of the bomb: could the same thing happen with nuclear weapons that happened in Chernobyl? After all, even on the eve of the catastrophe, physicists argued that it could not happen in principle! And then - the biggest accident... Are there any guarantees regarding weapons?

We never said that our “products” are absolutely safe! On the contrary, we emphasize in every possible way that they are dangerous, and therefore very high care is required in the work and in ensuring access to nuclear weapons. This is not about a nuclear explosion. For example, we have to transport our “products” by rail, where accidents are possible. There are train derailments and fires. Therefore, we constantly call for maximum vigilance, reduction of transportation, and so on. We specifically dealt with this aspect of security. Since the factories are scattered, we had to carry out some rearrangement of production so that our assembled charges could be transported over minimal distances... Previously, in my opinion, this was done very frivolously, but we intervened, and a lot has changed - unnecessary transportation has been reduced. If, for example, an attacker or terrorist decides to shoot at the “product,” then in a number of its designs this can cause the detonation of the explosive, which will lead to the spraying of plutonium by a shock wave and, as a result, the appearance of a radioactive cloud. The Americans, as you know, had an accident over Spain - the plane lost an atomic bomb, an explosion of ordinary explosives occurred, and plutonium was sprayed. Cleaning up the area required enormous costs... So we need to “keep our eyes open.” Safety issues must be at the forefront. But this is not so easy to achieve, because in addition to understanding, certain financial costs are also required.

UNRELIABLE SURNAME

From the point of view of “Beria’s department”, Khariton’s sins were quite enough to be in one of the Gulag institutions for the rest of his life. And it’s not just a matter of nationality - the persecution of Jews on a scale typical of Stalinism began after Khariton and many of his colleagues were covered by the “nuclear shield” that they themselves created. No, Khariton’s family had more significant “sins”...

My father was expelled from the country in 1922 as an “ideologically harmful element.” He settled in Riga. In 1940, after Soviet troops entered the Baltic states, he was arrested and sent to a camp, where he died. Mother is an actress. She worked at the Art Theater. She went on tour to Germany and never returned. My sister ended up in Nazi-occupied territory, which was considered a crime in those days. And Yuliy Borisovich himself traveled to England, where he worked for Rutherford. On his way home, he visited Berlin, and there, quite possibly, he could meet his mother...

In general, any, even the most ordinary investigator of “Beria’s department” could accuse one of the leaders of the Atomic Project of both espionage and betrayal of the Motherland. I have no doubt that Khariton lived and worked with this feeling. But he didn’t like to remember it.

In one of the conversations I asked him:

Sakharov once said about the creation of nuclear weapons: “I also made enormous efforts because I believed that this was necessary for a peaceful balance. You see, I and others thought that only in this way could a third world war be prevented”... Do you agree with him?

Certainly. We provided the country's defense. In the team of scientists who created atomic weapons, mutual understanding reigned, there was cohesion, strong friendship... Calm and intense work was going on. Although, of course, I couldn’t do without “sons of bitches”... One day I came to the plant, Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov invited me, it was his birthday. We drank in company... And then one of the employees comes to me and says: “If only you knew how much they wrote about you!” I realized: there were enough informers - Beria’s people were everywhere.

- Did you often contact Beria?

At first, all problems were solved through Kurchatov. And then I had to communicate...

- Did he consider you?

He was forced... Beria knew that he didn’t understand anything about our business... and, I repeat, he was forced to listen to us... For example, there was such a case. Somewhere in the early 1950s, a personnel verification commission came to us. Members of the commission summoned managers at the level of laboratory heads. Lev Vladimirovich Altshuller was also questioned. In particular, he was asked the question: “How do you feel about the policies of the Soviet regime?” Altshuller sharply criticized Lysenko, saying that he is an illiterate and dangerous person, and the authorities support him. Naturally, Altshuller was ordered to be removed. Zeldovich and Sakharov came to me and told me this story. I called Beria. He said: “Do you really need him?” “Yes,” I replied. “Okay, let him stay,” - reluctantly, it seemed to me, Beria ordered. And Altshuller was not touched... By the way, in the presence of Stalin, Beria immediately became different, his arrogance instantly flew away...

-Have you ever seen this?

One day... I was invited to see Stalin. I went into the office, but I didn’t see Stalin - there were a lot of people there... Beria somehow began to fuss, then pointed. I look - Stalin. I saw him for the first time. A very small man, his height surprised me... They asked me to tell him about the first bomb. “Is it possible to make several small ones instead of one big one?” - asked Stalin. “No,” I replied. Everyone was satisfied.

- How many nuclear explosions have you seen?

I do not remember exactly. All - until 1963, until the tests went underground. To be honest, there was no fear or horror. After all, everything can be calculated, which means there is no fear of surprises.

All your life you have been creating atomic bombs, and now the world is fighting to destroy atomic weapons. Don't you think that your work...

-...in vain? No... At first we thought about the possibility of war, and it was real. Who knows what could have happened if the Soviet Union had not had a “nuclear shield”... I will not hide another aspect: we did not think then about the possibility of the death of humanity. It was important that the potential enemy did not overtake you... And now humanity may perish, so a different approach is needed to assessing the consequences of a nuclear war... Today I am more concerned about the other side of the issue - the fight against nuclear power plants. People are driven by fear. But it is not nuclear power plants that threaten the destruction of humanity, but the greenhouse effect. And this real catastrophe, the outlines of which are visible, can only be fought with the help of nuclear power plants. Safe waste is a reality of nuclear energy. These problems need to be solved. But speaking out against nuclear power plants, dismantling them, banning them is madness. You cannot make mistakes during design, construction, operation - this is clear, but reasonable and serious use of nuclear energy is the main direction. We also need to work on thermonuclear energy.

-Are you convinced of this?

Absolutely! Nuclear energy is the main path of human development...

... In the last years of his life, Yuliy Borisovich Khariton became blind; doctors in both Russia and America were unable to restore his vision, but this did not prevent him from clearly “seeing” the future.

SECRETS OF "KHARITON SCHOOL"

In October 1992, Academician Yuliy Borisovich Khariton was forced to leave the post of scientific director of the Arzamas-16 Federal Nuclear Center, which he had headed since its creation, that is, for almost half a century. The presidential administration decided that it was necessary to introduce age restrictions for civil servants - this made it possible to retire undesirable officials who rose to the heights of power in Soviet times. A large group of “new Russians” very quickly occupied key positions in the state. Naturally, they could not aspire to senior positions in the military-industrial complex - they lacked knowledge, but even there, changes were required to establish the new government. Academician Khariton became one of the first victims of this tyranny.

To his numerous titles, another one was added - “Honorary Scientific Director”. And although little changed in the life of Yuliy Borisovich - he still went to work at eight in the morning and went home later than everyone else - his position in the table of ranks became different. We have scheduled an official event - a ceremonial farewell to the "Honorable" The opening of the Museum of Nuclear Weapons was scheduled for this day, where samples of atomic and hydrogen bombs, which were created under the leadership of Academician Khariton, were exhibited. However, neither the Minister of Atomic Energy nor the Minister of Defense could come to the celebrations. So this event was postponed day by day.

Well, we, journalists, who knew Yuliy Borisovich well and had been to Arzamas-16, decided to organize a holiday, to please Khariton himself, and his associates, and friends. They insisted on opening a museum. This event was reported by all media. However, the main thing remained “in the shadows” - the meeting in the House of Scientists of Arzamas-16, where Yuliy Borisovich and his associates gathered. The conversation turned out to be interesting and exciting. It continued during dinner, which lasted until midnight. Academician Khariton was with us until the end, even drank several glasses. Then he told me: “It was one of the wonderful days of my life.” Yuliy Borisovich was then 88 years old.

I still have the recordings of that meeting in the House of Scientists. From many hours of film, I selected fragments that, it seems to me, give an idea of ​​the role of Academician Yu. B. Khariton in the Atomic Project and in the life of our country in the twentieth century.

What is the "Khariton school"? What are its features? Yuli Borisovich’s associates thought about this.

Academician Yuri Trutnev:

For me, this is first and foremost a school of life. All of it, conscious and creative, took place under the leadership and influence of Yuliy Borisovich. He is a great teacher because he did not recognize falsehood, only the truth, always and in everything! And, above all, he taught by his own example, his leadership style. He created many directions in modern science. And it is they, and not just nuclear charges, that determine the face of Arzamas-16.

Chief designer Georgy Dmitriev:

The main character trait of Khariton that amazes me is his accessibility and openness. In 1956, I came here to Object as a young specialist and in the first six months I visited Yuliy Borisovich’s office at least ten times. The distance between him and me was enormous, but nevertheless it was not felt at all. By the way, even now any employee of the center can contact him, and he will never refuse a meeting. It seems to me that this trait is not inherent in all leaders, especially of such a rank as Khariton. When we talk about the “Khariton school,” we must first of all mention its democracy, there are no boundaries in it that are determined by titles and awards, its creative spirit breaks all barriers, and therefore each of us feels like a free person.

I had to visit training grounds many times. Naturally, there we met and worked together with Yuliy Borisovich. I immediately noticed that there are no trifles for him - he requires scrupulousness in his work and, above all, sets an example with his own attitude to work... His amazing performance at first surprised, and then was perceived by everyone as the norm of life. And we adopted it. It turned out that there is no other way! So we owe our ability to work to Khariton.

Chief designer Stanislav Voronin:

I came here in 1954 and literally three weeks later the head of the department took me with him to a meeting with Khariton. I had to report the results of my work. He talked about what he had done and what he had planned for the near future. I was amazed that Khariton understood me literally and immediately offered his own solution. Even then I realized how extraordinary our leader is. Communication with him each time gave a new impetus to the work, I felt it at the very first meeting. Creative impulses unusually stimulate work; they force you to constantly think, which is absolutely necessary in design work. Just like in scientific...

Khariton delves into any problem in detail and does not leave a single question not fully understood. He never postpones clarifying a riddle for the future, but prefers to clarify it right away. Therefore, on the one hand, working with Khariton is easy, but on the other hand, it is extremely difficult...

Director of the Federal Nuclear Center Vladimir Belugin:

The creation of nuclear and hydrogen weapons is a complex of complex technological processes that require knowledge of all branches of physics. Thanks to the “Khariton School,” this most complex science, not to mention technology, has reached the highest level at the Federal Nuclear Center. To achieve this, it took several decades of incredible efforts, primarily from Khariton. He very carefully and consistently selected specialists and trained them.

We met Yuliy Borisovich in 1959. Of course, there were contacts before that too - after all, in those years, “sessions”, that is, weapons testing, were carried out intensively, and therefore, I often met with him. But 1959 was a special year for me. The idea arose to “hide” a nuclear explosion in a sealed cavity. It took a lot of work by gas dynamics, theorists, and mechanics. Khariton gathered us together every day for the first three months, understanding the smallest details. He was not only interested, but also extremely important to learn all the nuances of the new business. And it was a great school for us, engineers and designers.

Chief designer Samvel Kocharyants:

In 1947, I came here and met Yuliy Borisovich for the first time. Before that, he worked at the Energy Institute, knew nothing about nuclear weapons, and therefore immediately admitted to him that a mistake had happened to me and I could not help but say about it. Khariton smiled, and then remarked: “There is a right job for everyone, do automation that you are familiar with.” I proposed a number of schematic diagrams, in particular the so-called “two-channel system”. And what is characteristic is that Khariton instantly appreciated its merits; it even seemed to me that he knew our region well. Only later did I understand: he trusts specialists, relies on their qualifications, and this largely determined the overall success. Khariton has always been a creative partner, and that is why we have so successfully solved the most complex problems both at the stage of developing “products” and during their testing.

Academician General Evgeniy Negin:

Many with whom we worked considered Oppenheimer to be an outstanding organizer and scientist, and we had a common slogan: “Overcharacterize Oppenheimer.” In the end we did it!

I want to note: a person is never alone. In any circumstances. Yuli Borisovich had outstanding assistants. I cannot help but remember Zernov, Muzrukov, Ryabev, his closest associates - Zeldovich, Frank-Kamenetsky, Sakharov, Shchelkin and many others. In general, the “Khariton school” is undoubtedly a unique phenomenon. I think she is the only one not only here, but also abroad. After all, few people can say that they have coped with a huge team and solved a global problem. And Khariton did it!

Academician Alexander Pavlovsky:

I would like to once again recall Khariton’s principle: “Know ten times more!” This is not just a beautiful expression - it is reality. It is precisely thanks to this principle that the scientific team that formed at Arzamas-16 did not limit itself to solving narrow problems. This ideology has created the prerequisites for the implementation today of those ideas and scientific directions that were started a long time ago. The results of our work are not only in the past, we will feel them in the coming years...

... The conversation dragged on. Perhaps the most difficult thing was for Yuliy Borisovich himself: he was not used to being talked about there a lot and for so long. Several times he tried to stop the flow of the conversation, to direct it in a different direction, but I, as the host of the evening, did not give him the floor. And only at the end it was finally the turn of the main hero of the occasion.

“Today I found myself in a rather difficult situation,” admitted Yuliy Borisovich. - I couldn’t imagine the nature of the conversation, and the fact that everyone was talking about me and not about the business was somewhat discouraging... I can’t help but admit that my merits are being exaggerated, but the main thing is that we managed to organize very good collective work . In fact, the problem that we were all working on - the creation of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons - is connected with very many branches of physics, and the fact that it was possible to achieve mutual understanding between people working in different fields is extremely important. Teamwork was absolutely necessary, while at the same time individual inventions appeared that belonged to specific people. Unfortunately, in a number of cases we forgot about their authorship, and many years later I feel that I did not fulfill my duty in that many inventions, many ideas remained nameless. And I feel guilty because I paid attention to it too late...

Julius Borisovich Khariton, even on this holiday, was true to himself - he was thinking about what must be done in the near future. In the remaining four years of his life, he tried to recreate the true history of the atomic epic.

Julius Khariton was born on February 27, 1904 in the city of St. Petersburg. Grandfather was a merchant of the first guild in Feodosia. Father, Boris Osipovich Khariton, was a famous journalist. Mother, Mirra Yakovlevna Burovskaya, was an actress. The parents divorced in 1907. Mother got married in 1913 and went to Germany. Boris Osipovich raised his son himself.

In 1919, Julius graduated from high school and in 1920 entered the Polytechnic Institute. The physics course was taught by Abram Fedorovich Ioffe, after listening to two or three of his lectures, Yuli Borisovich transferred from the Faculty of Electronics to the Faculty of Physics. In 1921, student Khariton began working at the Institute of Physics and Technology in the laboratory of N.N. Semenov.

One of the young researcher’s first scientific works was the study of the condensation of metal vapors on the surface. In 1925, Yuli graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics with a degree in physics engineering. A year later, the young specialist goes on a scientific trip to Cambridge. Julius Khariton worked for two years under the guidance of E. Rutherford and D. Chadwick and in 1928 defended his doctoral dissertation there on the topic “On the counting of scintillations produced by alpha particles.”

Returning to his homeland, Khariton began systematic work on the theory of explosives. In 1931, he organized an explosives laboratory, where he conducted his research for fifteen years. Yuliy Borisovich Khariton raised the issue of converting cold explosives into hot explosion products. He established the law of the possibility of detonation: the time of the chemical reaction in the detonation wave should be less than the time of expansion of the compressed substance. And for the expansion time, you can easily give a simple estimate by dividing the diameter of the charge by the detonation speed.

Yuliy Borisovich was the first to formulate a basic principle that also applies to an explosion: a chemical reaction should be considered as a process occurring over time, and not as an instantaneous jump from the initial to the final state. All researchers before Yuli Borisovich Khariton considered the explosion precisely as a jump, abstracting from the kinetics of the chemical reaction. In 1935, the physicist was awarded the title of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. In 1939-1940, he, together with Zeldovich Khariton, carried out a series of works on the chain decay of uranium.

With the outbreak of war, Khariton again turns to explosives. He advises the People's Commissariat of Defense and the People's Commissariat of Ammunition on issues related to deciphering new types of enemy weapons and the theoretical justification of work on arming the Soviet army. At the height of the war, Khariton invited I.V. to work for him. Kurchatov. They worked under the leadership of Beria. They were provided with all the necessary materials and equipment.

Khariton does not deny that he was in charge of the creation of the bomb and all of physics. From the city of Arzamas-16, he managed the process of creating nuclear and hydrogen weapons throughout the USSR. Khariton observed the first test explosion from a distance of seventy kilometers. The explosion was in the air; the bomb was dropped from an airplane.

After the atomic bomb there was a hydrogen bomb. Andrei Sakharov is considered its inventor, but it was made in Arzamas-16, which was led by Khariton. In the early fifties, new exploration methods appeared that made it possible to determine not only the power of the device, but also its design features from atmospheric samples and seismic waves.

Yuliy Borisovich was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 3rd–9th convocations. Since 1946, Khariton has been a corresponding member, and since 1953, an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1955 he signed the “Letter of the Three Hundred”. In subsequent years, he worked on reducing the weight of nuclear charges, increasing their power and increasing reliability.

Among the few physicists, Academician Khariton became three times Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin and three Stalin prizes. He was awarded five Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, two other orders, as well as medals.

Julius Khariton died on December 18, 1996 in Sarov. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow. As a tribute to the memory of the scientist, the city of Sarov annually hosts a scientific conference for schoolchildren from all over Russia: School Kharitonov Readings.