A physicist who linked reactor theory to scientific education
“Quickly, with concentration, without rushing, we hurried.”
Vasily Stepanovich Fursov was a theoretical physicist who connected reactor calculations with the institutional work of the Soviet atomic project. With Dubovsky and Povzner, he calculated plutonium accumulation in F-1 and developed methods for screening graphite and uranium. He later provided scientific leadership for the launch of A-1 and the production of weapons-grade plutonium, then spent decades shaping Moscow State University's physics faculty and training the researchers of the nuclear state.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1931–1939Assistant and associate professor, Moscow State University
- 1938–1941Acting head of theoretical physics, Moscow State University
- 1941–1944Red Army political officer and artillery-battery commissar
- 1944–1947Senior researcher and theoretical-sector head, Laboratory No. 2
- 1947–1951Scientific director of reactor A-1, Combine No. 817
- 1951–1954Deputy to Kurchatov for uranium-graphite reactors
- 1954–1989Dean of Moscow State University's physics faculty
Related historical events
Theory and practice in the Soviet atomic project
Fursov joined the Soviet atomic project in 1944 and undertook theoretical work on plutonium accumulation and the selection of graphite and uranium. With Igor Kurchatov, he examined theoretically the processes in the F-1 reactor and the industrial reactor being built in the Southern Urals. He also studied the properties of uranium-graphite reactors and contributed research to a Soviet nuclear power-station project. In 1947 he became head of a reactor section, and he took part in the construction site work for the A-1 reactor. From December 1948 to March 1951 he served as A-1's scientific director; from July 1951 to August 1954 he was deputy to the scientific director of Combine No. 817 for its uranium-graphite reactors. A-1 was the Soviet Union's first industrial reactor for producing weapons-grade plutonium, and Fursov participated in its assembly and launch. In 1955, at a Soviet Academy of Sciences session on the peaceful uses of atomic energy held at Moscow State University, he presented work on uranium-graphite reactors. The presentation publicly described, for the first time, work on the development and launch of the previously undisclosed reactor.