From the H-bomb's 'second idea' to the Nobel Prize: a century-spanning theoretical physicist
I am a very rare — and possibly unique — person in that I was saved by the H-bomb!
A towering figure in Soviet theoretical physics, Ginzburg joined Igor Tamm's theory group within Igor Kurchatov's hydrogen bomb project (1948–1952), where he proposed using lithium-6 deuteride as thermonuclear fuel, the "second idea" that proved crucial to the successful Soviet H-bomb test of 1953. In 1950 he and Lev Landau formulated the Ginzburg–Landau theory of superconductivity; this work earned him the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics. He succeeded Tamm as head of the Theoretical Physics Department at the Lebedev Physical Institute (FIAN, 1971–1988) and, as a full Academician (1966), shaped the institutional core of Soviet physics for two decades.
Career Timeline
- 1940Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D. equivalent) in physics, Moscow State University
- 1942Doctor of Sciences, Moscow State University; joined Theoretical Dept., Lebedev Physical Institute (FIAN)
- 1945–1961Chair, Radiophysics Faculty, Gorky State University
- 1948–1952Soviet H-bomb project — proposed lithium-6 deuteride as thermonuclear fuel
- 1953Corresponding Member, USSR Academy of Sciences
- 1966Full Academician, USSR Academy of Sciences
- 1968–2009Head, Dept. of Physics and Astrophysics Problems, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
- 1971–1988Head, Theoretical Physics Department, FIAN
- 1989–1991People's Deputy of the USSR, Academy of Sciences quota
- 1998–2009Editor-in-chief, Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk (Physics-Uspekhi)