Lavrentiev hydrogen bomb. Oleg lavrentiev, lavrenty beria and andrey sakharov

In 1944, when one of the physicists entered the graduate school of FIAN, the other not only took part in the occupation of the Baltic States (1944-1945), but was also awarded the medal "For Victory over Germany" by the bloody tyrant

In the same year 1948, when the novice prodigy Andryusha Sakharov was enrolled in a special group for the development of thermo nuclear weapons,

sergeant (stationed on Sakhalin, illegally seized from Japan) of the 221st separate anti-aircraft artillery battalion Lavrentyev finally figured out how to make a hydrogen bomb.

Evil dog VKP (b) z ampolite Major A.A. Shcherbakov and, personally raped three Powers, Stalin's satrap Lieutenant Colonel P.I. Plotnikov,not only allowed Lavrentiev to study at school ( in May 1949, Oleg was already holding a matriculation certificate - in a year he managed to finish the eighth, ninth and tenth grades with excellent marks) , but alsoordered to give lectures on technical innovations to the occupying officers.
The enemy of democracy Lavrentiev recalled these lectures with gratitude. The command gave them several days to prepare. At his disposal were books, magazines, textbooks, and most importantly - the ability to think.

Freed from the orders and guards sergeant, in blissful the silence of the army library, a seemingly insoluble problem, became clear and simple. He found a substance capable of detonating under the influence of a nuclear explosion. The chain with the elements lithium-6 and deuterium was closed by neutrons!
This is how idea to use lithium-6 deuteride.
He sketched the first scheme of a hydrogen bomb, knowing for sure that very soon brilliant USA scientists would come to such an idea.

He had to hide the Idea.
Do everything to convey your thoughts and drawings to the Empire of Good!

But he, not sparing himself, worked for the Evil Empire.
Knowing that President Truman called on USA scientists to quickly complete work on the hydrogen bomb, Lavrentyev wrote a personal letter to the bloody tyrant. The sergeant wrote that he knew the secret of the hydrogen bomb.
"And I knew how to make a hydrogen bomb, I was sure that the device I had invented would surely explode" -remembered the half-dead commune.
"After waiting unsuccessfully for several months, I wrote a letter of the same content to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - that I know the secret of the hydrogen bomb. The reaction to this letter was quick."

Mukhin writes well about further events: “… On August 12, 1953, according to Lavrentiev's ideas, the USSR tested the world's first thermonuclear charge (a real“ dry ”hydrogen bomb), in which lithium-6 deuteride was used. Among those who were awarded for the creation of this bomb, its author, O.A. Lavrentyev, was no longer there. A.D. Sakharov modestly assumed the authorship of the bomb.

Strictly speaking, he had some right to do this, since he proposed a layer of unenriched uranium on top of the lithium deuteride layer.

Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentyev and Yuri Terentyevich Sinyapkin at the Museum of Atomic Weapons in Sarov.
According to Sakharov's idea, this should have increased the power of the explosion. The power did not increase, but from the explosion of this Sakharov bomb, the territory of the USSR was more contaminated with radioactive elements than all the previous and subsequent explosions combined.

And V.L. Ginzburg modestly took over the authorship of the idea to use lithium deuteride.

Then the student Lavrentyev was gradually removed from work in the field of atomic physics, and after graduating from Moscow State University, he was evicted from Moscow and, at the direction of Academician L.A. Artsimovich,

was sent to work in Kharkov, and Academician Artsimovich tried unsuccessfully to implement Lavrentyev's second idea - the idea of \u200b\u200bcontrolled thermonuclear fusion ”.
Theft of ideas in the scientific world is the norm, it was known even before the "privatizers" Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.
Deciphered Sumerian Cuneiform ( V I—IVmillennia BC eh.)

In 1948, Oleg Lavrentyev, a sergeant of one of the units located on Sakhalin, sent a letter to Stalin with the only phrase: "I know the secret of the hydrogen bomb." Then in the USSR there was not even an atomic bomb, but the idea of \u200b\u200ba hydrogen bomb, according to Sakharov's recollections, had "quite vague outlines." The first letter in the secretariat of the leader was ignored, and after the second, an NKVD colonel was sent to the unit where the young sergeant served, who, after checking the author's adequacy, took him to Moscow to Beria.

In 1950 Lavrentiev formulated the principle of thermal insulation of plasma by an electrostatic field "for the purpose of industrial utilization of thermonuclear reactions." The fathers of the Russian hydrogen bomb, however, rejected the idea of \u200b\u200ban inventor with a seven-year education and suggested holding the plasma by an electromagnetic field.
In 1950, Sakharov and Tamm carried out calculations and detailed studies and proposed a scheme for a magnetic thermonuclear reactor. Such a device is essentially a hollow donut (or torus), on which a conductor is wound, which forms a magnetic field. (Hence its name - toroidal chamber with a magnetic coil, in abbreviated form - tokamak - became widely known not only among physicists).

To heat up the plasma in this device to the required temperatures, an electric current is excited with the help of a magnetic field, the strength of which reaches 20 million amperes. It is worth recalling that modern materials, created by man, deal with a maximum of 6 thousand degrees Celsius (for example, in rocketry) and after a single use are only suitable for scrap. Any material will evaporate at 100 million degrees, so a very high magnetic field must hold the plasma in vacuum inside the "donut". The field does not allow charged particles to fly out of the "plasma filament" (the plasma is in a tokamak in a compressed and twisted form and looks like a filament), but the neutrons formed during the fusion reaction are not retained by the magnetic field and transfer their energy to the inner walls of the installation (blanket), which are cooled with water. The resulting steam can be sent to a turbine as in conventional power plants.

In the early 1950s, Lyman Spitzer, an American astronomer and physicist who worked at the Princeton Laboratory, had similar thoughts on curbing thermonuclear reactions. He proposed a slightly different method of magnetic confinement of plasma in a device called a "stellarator". In it, the plasma is confined by magnetic fields created only by external conductors, in contrast to the tokamak, where a significant contribution to the creation of the field configuration is made by the current flowing through the plasma itself.

In 1954, the first tokamak was built at the Institute of Atomic Energy. At first, they did not spare money to implement the idea: the military saw in such a reactor a source of neutrons for enriching nuclear materials and producing tritium. At first, even Sakharov believed that there were ten to fifteen years left before the practical generation of energy in such installations. The military was the first to understand the ambiguity of the prospects for using controlled thermonuclear fusion, and when in 1956 Academician Igor Kurchatov asked Khrushchev to declassify this topic, they did not object. It was then that we learned about stellarators, and the Americans - about tokamaks. "

Yes, the rise of our science was colossal in the post-war period, and when I entered the physics department of Moscow State University in 1955, I took the advanced laboratory equipment for granted, and when I did my internship in Obninsk at the first nuclear power plant, then in general he lived as in paradise and mastered in the library and even left himself the newest journal and book Western products, including the most authoritative English and German-language publications on philosophy.

And what was the fate of Oleg Lavrentyev after the execution of his patron Lavrenty Beria in 1953? By the way, Lavrentiev spoke of Beria in Karaulov's TV program "Moment of Truth" very respectfully ("good man!"). The journalist Valentina Gatash writes in her article Super-secret physicist Lavrentiev:

“Oleg Lavrentiev was born in 1926 in Pskov. After reading the book "Introduction to Nuclear Physics" in the 7th grade, he fired up a dream to work in the field of nuclear energy. But the war began, the occupation, and when the Germans were driven out, Oleg volunteered for the front. The young man met the victory in the Baltics, but his studies had to be postponed again - he had to continue his military service on Sakhalin, in the small town of Poronaysk.

Here he returned to nuclear physics. The unit included a library with technical literature and university textbooks, and even Oleg subscribed to the journal Uspekhi fizicheskikh nauk (Uspekhi fizicheskikh nauk) for his sergeant's allowance. The idea of \u200b\u200ba hydrogen bomb and controlled thermonuclear fusion first originated in him in 1948, when the unit's command, distinguished by a capable sergeant, instructed him to prepare a lecture on the atomic problem.

Having several free days to prepare, I rethought all the accumulated material and found a solution to the issues that I had been struggling with for more than one year, - says Oleg Alexandrovich. To whom and how to report this? There are no specialists in Sakhalin just liberated from the Japanese. The soldier writes a letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), and soon the command of the unit receives an order from Moscow to create conditions for Lavrentiev to work. He is given a guarded room where he writes his first articles. In July 1950 he sent them by secret mail to the heavy machine building department of the Central Committee.

The Sakhalin work consisted of two parts - military and peaceful.

In the first part, Lavrent'ev described the principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb, where solid lithium deuteride was used as fuel. In the second part, he proposed using controlled thermonuclear fusion to generate electricity. The chain reaction of the synthesis of light elements should proceed here not in an explosive manner, as in a bomb, but slowly and regulated. Having outstripped both domestic and foreign nuclear scientists, Oleg Lavrentyev solved the main question - how to isolate the plasma heated to hundreds of millions of degrees from the walls of the reactor. At that time, he proposed a revolutionary solution - to use a force field as a shell for plasma, in the first version - an electric one.

Oleg did not know that his message was immediately sent for review then to the candidate of sciences, and later to the academician and three times Hero of Socialist Labor A.D. Sakharov, who said this about the idea of \u200b\u200bcontrolled thermonuclear fusion: "... I consider it necessary to discuss Comrade Lavrentyev's project in detail. Regardless of the results of the discussion, it is necessary to note the author's creative initiative right now."

In the same 1950, Lavrentiev was demobilized. He comes to Moscow, successfully passes the entrance exams and enters the Physics Department of Moscow State University. A few months later, he was summoned by the minister of instrumentation V.A. Makhnev - that was the name of the Ministry of the Atomic Industry in the kingdom of secrecy. Accordingly, the Institute of Atomic Energy was called the Laboratory measuring instruments Academy of Sciences of the USSR, that is, LIPAN. At the minister's place, Lavrentiev first met Sakharov and learned that Andrei Dmitrievich had read his Sakhalin work, but they managed to talk only a few days later, again at night. It was in the Kremlin, in the office of Lavrenty Beria, who was then a member of the Politburo, chairman of the special committee in charge of the development of atomic and hydrogen weapons in the USSR.

Then I heard many warm words from Andrey Dmitrievich, - Oleg Aleksandrovich recalls. - He assured me that now everything will be fine and offered to work together. I, of course, agreed to the proposal of a person I liked very much.

Lavrentyev did not even suspect that his idea of \u200b\u200bcontrolled thermonuclear fusion (CTF) liked A.D. Sakharov that he decided to use it and, together with I.E. Tamm also started working on the TCB problem. True, in their version of the reactor, the plasma was held not by an electric, but by a magnetic field. Subsequently, this direction resulted in reactors called "tokamak".

After meetings in "high offices" Lavrentiev's life changed like in a fairy tale. He was given a room in a new house, given an increased scholarship, delivered on demand the necessary scientific literature... He took permission to attend classes freely. To him was assigned a teacher of mathematics, then a candidate of sciences, and later an academician, Hero of Socialist Labor A.A. Samara.

In May 1951, Stalin signed a decree of the Council of Ministers, which laid the foundation for the State Program for Thermonuclear Research. Oleg received admission to LIPAN, where he gained experience in the emerging physics of high-temperature plasma and at the same time comprehended the rules of work under the heading "Sov. Secret". In LIPAN, Lavrentyev first learned about Sakharov and Tamm's ideas on a thermonuclear reactor.

It was a big surprise for me, - recalls Oleg Aleksandrovich. - When meeting with me, Andrei Dmitrievich did not say a single word about his work on the magnetic thermal insulation of plasma. Then I decided that we, myself and Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, came to the idea of \u200b\u200bplasma isolation by a field independently of each other, only I chose an electrostatic thermonuclear reactor as the first option, and he was a magnetic one.

On August 12, 1953, the USSR successfully tested a thermonuclear charge using lithium deuteride. Participants in the creation of new weapons receive state awards, titles and prizes, but Lavrentiev, for a completely incomprehensible reason for him, loses a lot overnight. / MY COMMENT: Everyone knew that he was patronized by L.P., who had been arrested by that time. Beria /. In LIPAN, the permit was withdrawn, and he lost his permanent pass to the laboratory. The fifth-year student had to write a thesis project without going through practice and without a supervisor on the basis of theoretical work on TCF already done by him. Despite this, he successfully defended himself, receiving an honors degree. However, the discoverer of this idea was not hired to work in LIPAN, the only place in the USSR where they were then engaged in controlled thermonuclear fusion.

In the spring of 1956, a young specialist with an unusual fate came to our city / Kharkov / with a report on the theory of electromagnetic traps, which he wanted to show to the director of the institute K.D. Sinelnikov. But Kharkov is not Moscow. The inventor of the TCB was again settled in a dormitory, in a room where eleven people lived. Gradually, Oleg had friends and associates, and in 1958 the first electromagnetic trap was built at the KIPT.

At the end of 1973, I sent an application to the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries for the discovery of "The thermal insulation effect of a force field," says Lavrentyev. - This was preceded by a long search for my first Sakhalin work on thermonuclear fusion, which was demanded by the State Committee. When I was asked, I was told that the secret archives of the 1950s had been destroyed, and I was advised to turn to its first reviewer for confirmation of the existence of this work. Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov sent a certificate confirming the existence of my work and its content. But the State Committee needed the very handwritten Sakhalin letter that has sunk into oblivion.

But finally, in 2001, in the August issue of the journal Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk, a series of articles “On the history of research on controlled thermonuclear fusion” appeared. Here, for the first time, the details of the Lavrentyev case are described in detail, there is a photograph of him from a personal file half a century ago, and, most importantly, those found in the Archive of the President Russian Federation documents that were kept in a special folder labeled "Sov. Secret". Including Lavrentyev's proposal sent from Sakhalin on July 29, 1950, and Sakharov's August response to this work, and L.P. Beria ... Nobody destroyed these manuscripts. Scientific priority was restored, the name of Lavrent'ev took its real place in the history of physics.

Oleg Lavrentyev is a nuclear sergeant from the destroyed Pskov. Winner

July 7, 2017 would have marked 91 years since the birth of Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentyev (1926-2011). This name, unfortunately, is little known in Russia, but in the history of the Soviet atomic project, this modest, hardworking person turned out to be a unique person. Even when information about him was declassified, and the history of the invention of the hydrogen bomb was published in the media, the achievements of Oleg Lavrentiev were not taken seriously by everyone. The fate of this talented person is too unusual. As if his biography was invented by a screenwriter with exuberant imagination.

Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentyev was born on July 7, 1926 in an old Russian city with great history - Pskov. His parents are from the peasants of the Pskov province. Father Alexander Nikolaevich, who graduated from two classes of the parish school - a clerk at the Vydvizhenets plant, mother Alexandra Fedorovna finished four classes of the parish school and worked as a nurse in a mother and child's home. The family lived in Pogankin Lane in an old red brick house. The future scientist studied at the second exemplary school (now it is the Technical Lyceum).

Oleg Lavrentiev is a student of the second exemplary school in Pskov. The building of the second school, now - the Technical Lyceum ...

In 1941, a seventh grader, Oleg Lavrentyev from Pskov, read the book “Introduction to Nuclear Physics” that had just been published, the author of which he forgot. Much later, the scientist wrote: “This is how I first learned about the atomic problem, and my dream was born - to work in the field of atomic energy”.

The war began, the occupation. Already on July 9, 1941, the Nazis occupied Pskov. At the beginning of the occupation of Pskov, his bosom friend Volodya Gusarov was executed by the Germans. After the liberation of Pskov on July 23, 1944 from the German invaders, at the age of 18 Lavrentyev volunteered for the front, fought in the Baltic States. He was awarded medals "For Victory over Nazi Germany" and "XXX Years of the Soviet Army and Navy".

Sergeant Oleg Lavrentyev on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Ancient Pskov, destroyed but defied the enemy, July 1944 ...

At the end of the Great Patriotic War, immediately after the liberation of Sakhalin from the Japanese militarists, he was transferred to the Sakhalin Military District in the 221st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division in the city of Poronaysk. He became a radiotelegraph operator, and was able to order books and magazines on physics from Moscow for sergeant rubles through Posyltorg.

Without developing the topic, we nevertheless note what a powerful social and civilizational force the Stalinist Soviet Union was. Albeit a talented nugget, but formally simple sergeant, serving the devil in the middle of nowhere, he could be on a par with the problems of the century and not just think about them, but try on how he would solve them. Systematic self-education began, especially since the command of the unit encouraged it.

And now, dear reader, let's turn to the memoirs and quotations of Oleg Aleksandrovich himself.

H-BOMB

“After the end of the war, he served on Sakhalin. There was a favorable situation for me there. I managed to retrain from scouts to radiotelegraph operators and take a sergeant position.

This was very important, since I began to receive a monetary allowance and was able to subscribe from Moscow the books I needed, subscribe to the journal UFN ( "Advances in Physical Sciences"). The unit had a library with a fairly large selection of technical literature and textbooks. A clear goal appeared, and I began to prepare for serious scientific work. In mathematics, I have mastered differential and integral calculus. Worked in physics general course university programs: mechanics, heat, molecular physics, electricity and magnetism, atomic physics. Chemistry - a two-volume book by Nekrasov and a textbook for Glinka universities.

A special place in my studies was occupied by nuclear physics... In nuclear physics, I absorbed and assimilated everything that appeared in newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasts. I was interested in accelerators: from Cockcroft and Walton cascade voltage generator to cyclotron and betatron; methods of experimental nuclear physics, nuclear reactions of charged particles, nuclear reactions on neutrons, neutron doubling reactions (n, 2n), chain reactions, nuclear reactors and nuclear power, problems of using nuclear energy for military purposes. From books on nuclear physics I then had: M.I. Korsunsky "Atomic Nucleus"; S.V. Bresler "Radioactivity"; G. Bethe "Nuclear Physics".

As a result, formally without even having a secondary education, Lavrentyev thought like a serious physicist, already in 1948 coming up with ideas thermonuclear fusion and a hydrogen bomb based on lithium deuteride. Thinking about the use of thermonuclear reactions for industrial purposes, he formed the idea of \u200b\u200belectrostatic plasma traps.

Sergeant Lavrentiev was a potential genius nuclear physicist, for genius is not only ability, but also work. And his family and the very way of life of our people of that time taught him to work hard from childhood. And before the war, an atmosphere of heroism, search and creativity literally reigned in our society - this was the time of the creative take-off of all the best and talented representatives of our society.

Sergeant Lavrentyev, 23, served as a radio operator on Sakhalin and sent Stalin blueprints for a hydrogen bomb ...

"The idea of \u200b\u200busing thermonuclear fusion first appeared in my life in the winter of 1948. The unit command instructed me to prepare a lecture for the personnel on the atomic problem. It was then that the "transition from quantity to quality" took place. Having several days to prepare, I rethought all the accumulated material and found a solution to the issue that I had been struggling with for many years in a row: I found a substance - lithium-6 deuteride, capable of detonating under the action of an atomic explosion, amplifying it many times, and invented a scheme for industrial use of nuclear reactions on light elements. I came to the idea of \u200b\u200bthe hydrogen bomb through the search for new nuclear chain reactions. Sequentially going through various options, I found what I was looking for. The chain with lithium-6 and deuterium was closed by neutrons ...

The rest was already a matter of technology. In Nekrasov's two-volume book, I found a description of hydrides. It turned out that it is possible to chemically bind deuterium and lithium-6 into a solid stable substance with a melting point of 700 ° C. To initiate the process, a powerful pulsed neutron flux is needed, which is obtained by the explosion of an atomic bomb. This flow gives rise to nuclear reactions and leads to the release of enormous energy necessary to heat matter to thermonuclear temperatures ... "

In the above description, the scheme of the bomb in the elements is similar to the one that was transferred by the American nuclear scientist K. Fuchs the Soviet resident, only in it liquid deuterium was replaced by lithium deuteride. In such a design, tritium is not needed, and this is no longer a bulky device the height of a two-story house, which would have to be brought up on a barge to the enemy shore and undermined, but compact bombdelivered by ballistic missile or heavy bomber if necessary. Modern thermonuclear bombs use only lithium deuteride.

Below are excerpts from the article by O. A. Lavrent'ev, published in the "Siberian Physical Journal" No. 2, 1996, published in 200 (two hundred) copies.

“What was to be done next? Of course, I understood the importance of the discoveries I made and the need to convey them to specialists dealing with atomic problems. But I have already applied to the Academy of Sciences, in 1946 I sent there a proposal for a fast neutron nuclear reactor. Received no answer. He sent an invention on guided anti-aircraft missiles to the Ministry of the Armed Forces. The answer came only eight months later and contained unsubscribe in one phrasewhere even the title of the invention has been misrepresented. It was pointless to write another message in the "instance". In addition, I considered my proposals premature.

Until the main task is solved - the creation of atomic weapons in our country, no one will be engaged in "pie in the sky." So my plan was to finish high school, enroll in Moscow state University and already there, depending on the circumstances, bring your ideas to the experts.

In September 1948 in the town of Pervomaisk, where our unit was located, a school for working youth was opened. Then there was a strict order prohibiting servicemen from attending evening school. But our political officer managed to convince the commander of the unit, and three servicemen, including me, were allowed to attend this school. In May 1949, after completing three classes in a year, I received my school-leaving certificate. In July, our demobilization was expected, and I was already preparing documents for the admission committee of Moscow State University, but then, quite unexpectedly, I was awarded the rank of junior sergeant and was detained for another year.

And I knew how to make a hydrogen bomb. And I wrote a letter to Stalin. It was a short note, literally a few phrases, that I knew the secret of the hydrogen bomb. I received no reply to my letter.

After waiting unsuccessfully for several months, I wrote a letter of the same content to the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). The response to this letter was quick. As soon as it reached the addressee, they called from Moscow to the Sakhalin Regional Committee, and a lieutenant colonel of the engineering service (organs) came to me from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. As far as I understood, his task was to make sure if I was a normal person with a normal psyche. I talked to him on general topics, without revealing specific secrets, and he left satisfied.

A few days later, the command of the unit received an order to create conditions for me to work. I was given a guarded room at the headquarters of the unit, and I got the opportunity to write my first work on thermonuclear fusion. The work consisted of two parts. The first part included a description of the principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb with lithium-6 deuteride as the main explosive and a uranium detonator.

It was a barrel structure with two subcritical hemispheres from U235 that fired towards each other. By symmetric arrangement of charges, I wanted to double the speed of collision of the critical mass in order to avoid premature scattering of matter before the explosion. The uranium detonator was located in the center of a sphere filled with U6D ... The massive shell was supposed to provide inertial confinement of matter during the time of thermonuclear combustion. An assessment of the power of the explosion, a method for separating lithium isotopes, an experimental program for the implementation of the project ...

THERMONUCLEAR FUSION

The second part of the letter is the idea of \u200b\u200bcontrolled thermonuclear fusion (CTF), work on which has been going on, so far unsuccessfully, for more than 50 years all over the world.

“In the second part of the work, a device was proposed for using the energy of nuclear reactions between light elements for industrial purposes. It was a system of two spherical concentrically located electrodes. The inner electrode is made in the form of a transparent grid, the outer one is the source of ions. A high negative potential is applied to the grid. Plasma is created by the injection of ions from the surface of the sphere and the emission of secondary electrons from the grid. Plasma thermal insulation is carried out by decelerating ions in an external electric field ...

Of course, I was in a hurry, and I myself was in a hurry to finish the work faster, since the documents had already been sent to the admissions office of Moscow State University and a notification came that they had been accepted.

After serving in the army, Oleg Alexandrovich entered Moscow State University.

On July 21, an order came for my early demobilization. I had to wrap up, although the second part of the work was not yet finished. I wanted to include some additional questions related to the formation of a plasma formation in the center of the sphere, and my thoughts on protecting the mesh from direct impacts of the particle flow falling on it. All these questions were reflected in my subsequent works.

The work was printed in one copy and sent by secret mail to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on July 22, 1950, addressed to the head of the heavy machine-building department, ID Serbin. (Serbin Ivan Dmitrievich supervised the most important branches of the defense industry, including nuclear and space technology, through the Central Committee, participated in the preparation of the flight of the first cosmonaut (hereinafter, notes by O.A.).

Drafts were destroyed, about which an act was drawn up signed by the military clerk of secret office work, Sergeant Major Alekseev and mine. It was sad to watch the pages burn in the stove, into which I had invested two weeks of the most intense work. So my service on Sakhalin ended, and in the evening I left for Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk with demobilization documents.

On August 4, 1950, the letter was registered with the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), then received Ad hoc committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR - a government body created by the Decree of the State Defense Committee of 08/20/1945 to manage all work on the use of atomic energy, the chairman of the committee was L.P. Beria... A letter from the committee was received for review A. Sakharovwhich was written on August 18, 1950. "

From the memoirs of academician A.D. Sakharova:

“In the summer of 1950, a letter sent from Beria's secretariat came to the facility with a proposal from a young seaman of the Pacific Fleet Oleg Lavrentyev ... While reading the letter and writing a review, I had the first vague thoughts about magnetic thermal insulation ... In early August 1950 from Moscow Igor Evgenievich Tamm returned ... He took my thoughts with great interest - all further development of the idea of \u200b\u200bmagnetic thermal insulation was carried out by us together ... ".

Moscow State University student Oleg Lavrentyev.

Lavrentiev continues:

“I arrived in Moscow on 8 August. The entrance examinations were still in progress. I was included in the group of latecomers and after passing the exams I was admitted to the physics department of Moscow State University.

In September, already as a student, I met with Serbin. I expected to receive a review of my work, but in vain. Serbin asked me to elaborate on my proposals for the hydrogen bomb. He listened to me attentively, did not ask any questions, and at the end of our conversation he told me that another method of creating a hydrogen bomb was known, which our scientists were working on. However, he suggested that I keep in touch and inform him of any ideas I have.

A month later, I wrote another paper on thermonuclear fusion and sent it to Serbin through the Central Committee expedition. But again I did not receive any feedback, neither positive nor negative ... "

Serbin Ivan Dmitrievich (1910-1981) party and statesman, head of the defense industry department of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

In October 1950 A. Sakharov and I. Tamm outlined the principle of the proposed magnetic thermonuclear reactor to the first deputy head of the First Main Directorate N.I. Pavlov, and on January 11, 1951, I.V. Kurchatov, I.N. Golovin and A.D. Sakharov turned to L.P. Beria with a proposal on measures to ensure the construction of a model of a magnetic nuclear reactor.

"Two months have passed. The winter session has begun. I remember after the first math exam we returned to the dorm late at night. I go into the room, and they tell me that they were looking for me and they left me a phone number, which I must call as soon as I come. I called. The man on the other end of the line introduced himself: "Minister of instrumentation Makhnev." ( Makhnev Vasily Alekseevich - Minister of Atomic Industry).

Vasily Alekseevich Makhnev (1904-1965) - Soviet statesman, head of the secretariat of the Special Committee No. 1 under the Council of Ministers of the USSR 1945-1953.

This ministry was codenamed "Ministry of Measuring Instrumentation" and was located in The Kremlin next to the building of the Council of Ministers.

He offered to come to him right now, although the time was late. So he said: "Drive up to the Spassky Gate." I didn't understand right away, I asked again, and he patiently began to explain where to go. There was only one other person in the bureau passes besides me. When I received the pass and gave my last name, he looked at me closely.

It turned out that we are going in the same direction. When we arrived at the reception, Makhnev left the office and introduced us. This is how I first met Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov.

On the minister’s desk, I saw my second work neatly typed in ink. Someone has already gone over it with a red pencil, underlining individual words and making notes in the margins.

Makhnev asked if Sakharov had read this work of mine. It turned out that he had only read the previous work and considered it very important. But we did not have time to really talk. It was possible only a few days later. Makhnev summoned both of us again, and again very late. We were appointed to a meeting by the Chairman of the Special Committee, the body in charge of the development of atomic and hydrogen weapons.

HELL. Sakharov 1949

It consisted of ministers, members of the Politburo and Kurchatov. Chair was Beria, and the secretary - Makhnev... The meetings of the special committee were held in the Kremlin, in the building of the USSR Council of Ministers.

We had to wait a long time, and then we all went to the building of the USSR Council of Ministers. We passed three posts: in the lobby of the building, when exiting the elevator, and in the middle of a rather long corridor. Finally, we found ourselves in a large, heavily smoked room with a long table in the middle. This, apparently, was the meeting room for the Special Committee. The vents were open, but the room was not ventilated yet.

Makhnev immediately went to report, and we remained in the care of young captains with blue shoulder straps. About thirty minutes later Sakharov was summoned to the office, and ten minutes later - me. Opening the door, I found myself in a dimly lit and, as it seemed to me, empty room. Behind the next door was an impressive office with a large writing table and a conference table attached to it with the letter T, from behind which a stout man in pince-nez got up ... "

L.P. Beria - First Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, Chairman of the Special Committee No. 1.

While working on a book about Beria in 2007, Sergei Brezkun, then a senior researcher at the Department of Problem Analysis of Nuclear Weapons of the Russian Federal Nuclear Center - All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF), the city of Sarov from one of his colleagues learned the Kharkov phone number of physicist Lavrentiev, phoned before him, and between them a conversation took place like this ...

- Oleg Alexandrovich, as far as I know, you met with Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria.

- Yes, I had one meeting with him ... By the way, I was with Sakharov.

- When was that?

- In 1951 ...

- What are your impressions of him?

- Good ... Firstly, he was an excellent organizer ...

- I know that, but as a person I am interested in him ... What can you say about this? Say what you want ... What impression did he make?

- Good ... First, he left the table, he had a large table ... He came up, shook hands, said: "Hello", invited to sit down ...

- His very first question stunned me ... He asked: "What, your teeth hurt?" I wondered why? Nothing hurts! And he asks: "Why is the cheek swollen?"

- And they are always chubby ...

Olyog Aleksandrovich's cheeks were (and remained) really like a hamster. But how did he get into the Beria-Marshal's office in 1951 Soviet Union, a member of the Politburo, deputy chairman of the USSR and chairman of the "atomic" Special Committee 25-year-old demobilized sergeant? We'll talk about this a little later, but for now let's get back to the long-standing conversation of 2007 ...

- What happened next?

- I began to ask about my parents. My father was in prison then ...

- And then?

- And then he wrote a good note to Vannikov, Zavenyagin and Kurchatov.

- And then?

- Everything was fine too. They gave me a room in Moscow. The money was given - I received the Stalin scholarship as an excellent student. They hired Kurchatov to work. We have prepared the program ...

There is silence in the receiver ...

- And then? - I can't stand it.

- Then Beria was gone, and all the bumps fell on me ... Although I only met him once.

Pause again, and then:

In the Atomic Energy Bulletin, it seems, in the 2001 summer issues ...

At the end of the conversation with Beria, Oleg Lavrentyev was waiting for questions related to the development of the hydrogen bomb, and was preparing to answer them, but such questions did not follow.

Let us give the floor to Oleg Aleksandrovich himself: “I think that Beria had all the necessary information about me, my proposals for nuclear fusion and their evaluation by scientists, and these were“ bridegrooms ”. He wanted to look at me and, possibly, Sakharov. When our conversation ended, we left the office, and Makhnev was still late. A few minutes later, he came out radiant, in complete euphoria. And then something completely unpredictable happened: he started offering me money on loans. Financial position mine was then critical, close to collapse. In the first semester, I did not receive a scholarship, my meager military savings ran out, my mother, who worked as a nurse, could hardly help me. And the dean of the physics department, Sokolov, threatened to expel me from the university for non-payment of tuition fees. Nevertheless, it was inconvenient to borrow money from the minister for a student, and I refused for a long time. But Makhnev persuaded me, said that my situation would soon change and I would be able to repay the debt.

On this day we left the Kremlin in the first hour of the night. Makhnev offered us his car to take us home. Andrei Dmitrievich refused, I did too, and we walked from the Spassky Gate in the direction of Okhotny Ryad. I heard from Andrey Dmitrievich many warm words about myself and my work. He assured me that everything would be fine and offered to work together. Of course I agreed. I really liked this man. Apparently, I also made a favorable impression then. We parted at the entrance to the metro. Perhaps we would have talked longer, but the last train was leaving ... "

Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria

January 14, 1951 L.P. Beria sent B.L. Vannikov, A.P. Zavenyagin and I.V. Kurchatov letter, where he notes that work on the creation of the proposed reactor is extremely important, and gives specific tasks for the deployment of work. "Taking into account the special secrecy of the development of a new type of reactor, it is necessary to ensure a careful selection of people and measures for proper secrecy of work."

In the final part of the letter, Beria wrote:

“By the way, we must not forget the Moscow State University student Lavrentiev, whose notes and proposals, according to Comrade Sakharov's statement, were the impetus for the development of a magnetic reactor (these notes were in the Glavka at Comrades Pavlov and Aleksandrov). I received Comrade Lavrentiev. Apparently, he is a very capable person.

Call comrade Lavrentiev, listen to him and do it together with comrade S.V. Kaftanov. (Minister of Higher Education of the USSR) everything to help Comrade Lavrentiev in his studies and, if possible, to participate in the work. Term 5 days ".

Vannikov Boris Lvovich statesman, one of the leaders of the production of nuclear weapons. 1945-1953 - Head of the PGU at the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Three times Hero of Socialist Labor.

Lavrentiev is invited to the Glavk. “We climbed the wide stairs to the second floor to the office of N.I. Pavlova. (Nikolai Ivanovich Pavlov, head of department of the Main Directorate, oversaw the work on the creation of atomic hydrogen weapons). I've been expected for a long time. Pavlov immediately called someone, and we went to the other wing of the building: in front of the general, then I, also in military uniform, but without shoulder straps.

We went, bypassing the reception, straight into the office of the head of the Main Directorate B.L. Vannikov. I managed to read the sign on the door. There were two in the office: Vannikov in a general's uniform and a civilian with a thick black beard.

Igor Vasilievich Kurchatov (1913-1960) an outstanding Soviet physicist, academician.

Pavlov Nikolai Ivanovich (1914-1990) organizer of experimental design work on the creation of nuclear weapons. Since 1950 - the first deputy. Head of the PSU at the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Hero of Socialist Labor.

Pavlov sat down with a civilian, and I was seated opposite. During all the time of my service in the army, I did not even have to see the general from a distance, but here I was immediately in front of two. A civilian was not introduced to me, and after the meeting I asked Pavlov who this one was, with a beard. He somehow mysteriously smiled and replied: "Then you will find out."

Then I found out that I had spoken with Kurchatov.

He asked questions. I told him in detail about the idea of \u200b\u200busing the energy of nuclear reactions between light elements for industrial purposes. He was surprised that the windings of the mesh were thick copper pipes cooled by water. I was going to pass a current through them in order to protect it from charged particles with a magnetic field. But here Pavlov intervened in the conversation, interrupted me and said that I was going to insert an atomic bomb there. I realized that they are interested in my first offer ... "

The key quality of L.P. Beria - the ability to quickly and efficiently solve the most complex issues of the national economic complex of the country, involving leaders and specialists of any rank for this.

In 1945-1953 Zavenyagin Avramy Pavlovich (1901-1956) - deputy L.P. Beria in the Soviet atomic project.

Report addressed to L.P. Beria: “On your instructions, today we summoned to PSU a 1st-year student of the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University Lavrentiev OA. He spoke about his proposals and his wishes. We consider it expedient:

1. To establish a personal scholarship - 600 rubles.

2. Exempt from tuition fees at Moscow State University.

3. Attach qualified teachers of Moscow State University for individual lessons: in physics - Telesina R.V., in mathematics - Samarsky A.A. (to make payment at the expense of Glavka).

4. Provide O.A. L. for housing one room with an area of \u200b\u200b14 sq. m in the building of the PGU on Gorkovskaya Embankment 32/34, equip it with furniture and the necessary scientific and technical library.

5. Issue O.A. L. lump sum of 3000 rubles. at the expense of the PSU ".

Lavrentyev tells about the results of the conversation: “In order to graduate from the university in four years at the suggestion of Kurchatov, I had to 'jump' from the first year to the third. I got permission from the Minister of Higher Education for a free schedule to attend the first and second year classes at the same time. In addition, I was given the opportunity to study additionally with teachers of physics, mathematics and of English language... I soon had to give up the physicist, and I developed very good relations with the mathematician Alexander Andreevich Samarsky.

Samarsky Alexander Andreevich (1919-2008) - an outstanding mathematician, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the State Prize.

I owe him not only specific knowledge in the field of mathematical physics, but also the ability to clearly formulate a problem, on which its successful and correct solution largely depended.

With Samarsky, I carried out calculations of magnetic grids, differential equations were drawn up and solved, which made it possible to determine the magnitude of the current through the turns of the grid, at which the grid was protected by the magnetic field of this current from being bombarded by high-energy plasma particles. This work, completed in March 1951, gave rise to the idea of \u200b\u200belectromagnetic traps ...

A pleasant surprise for me was the move from the hostel to the Gorkovskaya embankment, to a three-room apartment on the seventh floor of a new large building. Makhnev offered me to move my mother to Moscow, but she refused, and soon one of the rooms was occupied. By a special government decree, I was assigned an increased scholarship, and I was exempted from tuition fees.

At the beginning of May 1951, the question of my admission to the work carried out at LIPAN (as the Institute of Atomic Energy was then called) by the group of IN Golovin was finally resolved.

My experimental program looked rather modest. I wanted to start small - with the construction of a small installation, but in case of quick success I counted on the further development of research on a more serious level. The management reacted to my program approvingly, since it did not require significant funds to start it: Makhnev called my program “penny”.

But the blessing of physicists was required to start work. I turned to Pavlov with a request to help me meet with Kurchatov ... "

“Rolling through” my ideas, - Lavrentyev recalled about his meetings with one of the leaders of the First Main Directorate (PSU) N.I. Pavlov, - he arranged meetings for me with scientists, followed with interest our discussions, which were sometimes quite stormy. Then for me there was only one authority - science, and if I was sure of something, then I defended my point of view, regardless of anything ”.

Once Pavlov said that the "owner" had called and was interested in Lavrentiev's affairs. Today the top leaders of Russia do not find time for academicians, and Beria was interested in a talented student!

The circle of acquaintances grew: physicists D.I. Blokhintsev (Oleg knew him in absentia from a textbook of quantum mechanics), I.N. Golovin, mathematician A.A. Samara. Kurchatov offered to graduate from the university in four years, and Oleg jumped from the first year to the third, soon he was invited to work in Laboratory No. 2 (the future Institute of Atomic Energy).

Everything was fine, but ... Lavrentyev is surprised to learn that Sakharov and There M are also engaged in plasma confinement, however, due to the magnetic field. It was only in 1968 that Lavrentyev became aware that his first Sakhalin work had been reviewed by Sakharov, a recent graduate student of Tamm, and the ideas formulated in it triggered a "chain reaction" of thoughts of Moscow nuclear physicists working on a project to create a hydrogen bomb.

“Our meeting with Kurchatov was postponed and postponed. In the end, Pavlov invited me to meet with Golovin, who was Kurchatov's deputy. In October, a detailed discussion of the idea of \u200b\u200ban electromagnetic trap took place in LIPAN. In addition to Golovin and Lukyanov, one more person was present at the discussion. He sat quietly in the corner, attentively listening to my explanations, but he did not ask questions and did not interfere in our conversations. When the discussion drew to a close, he quietly got up and left the audience. Later, from a photograph printed in a book, I learned that it was There M... I still do not understand the reasons that prompted him to attend this meeting.

Although not immediately, but after a rather heated discussion, my opponents recognized the idea of \u200b\u200ban electromagnetic trap as correct, and Golovin formulated a general conclusion that no defects were found in my model.

Igor Nikolaevich Golovin (1913-1997) experimental physicist, doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, professor. In the atomic project since 1944, in 1950-1958. - First Deputy I.V. Kurchatov. Laureate of the Stalin (1953) and Lenin (1958) prizes.

Unfortunately, this was only a statement of the fact that electromagnetic traps are suitable for obtaining and confining high-temperature plasma. There were no recommendations to start research, Igor Nikolaevich motivated this by the fact that there is an easier way to obtain high-temperature plasma - pinches, where there is already a good start, encouraging results were obtained ...

I did not share Golovin's opinion, but it was useless to argue. Since I was unable to break through the experimental program, I took up theory. By June 1952, a report on my work was ready, containing a detailed description of the idea of \u200b\u200ban electromagnetic trap and calculations of the parameters of the plasma confined in it. The report was sent for review to M.A. Leontovich (to the head of theoretical work on TCF), and on June 16, 1952, our first meeting took place.

Leontovich began with a compliment: he was very interested in my idea and carried away so much that he himself began calculations to justify it. With these words, Mikhail Alexandrovich apparently wanted to sweeten the pill that had already been prepared for me. This was followed by critical remarks, correct in form, but deadly in content ...

My hopes of participating in the development of my first idea also did not come true. After an unsuccessful meeting with Kurchatov and my illness, the question of my involvement in the work on the creation of the hydrogen bomb was no longer raised. For some time, by inertia, I continued to deal with this problem, but then I completely switched to thermonuclear fusion ... "

On this are the memories of O.A. Lavrentiev's end, but the life of the country and work on the thermonuclear bomb continued intensively. The veil of secrecy will bury for a long time the significance of O. Lavrentyev's letter for the creation of thermonuclear weapons and TCB.

Let's refer to the article by Sergey Brezkun

In mid-May 1951, Oleg received a permanent pass to Laboratory No. 2, also called LIPAN (Laboratory of Measuring Instruments of the Academy of Sciences). They worked a lot, the arrival of Beria was expected, who himself wanted to see the experiments.

Lev Andreevich Artsimovich (1909-1973) head of the TCB program.

Lavrentyev meets Lev Artsimovich, the appointed head of the experimental program for controlled thermonuclear fusion, the largest in the scientific world. It turns out that he also read his first work and appreciates it highly. And then Oleg meets with G.I. Budker - the future director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He also read the work of a graduate of an evening school for working youth and was very kind to the author.

At this time, Oleg lived on the embankment of Maxim Gorky (several houses were built there for the employees of the PSU). Everything seemed to be taking shape. At the end of June 1951 it is accepted A.P. Zavenyagin, asks about life, plans for the future, offers a ticket to a holiday home. There are frequent meetings with Pavlov and Makhnev - Oleg wanted to implement his own experimental program (due to the insignificance of the required funds, the "curator" called it a penny). But something stalled.

Igor Evgenievich Tamm (1895-1971) an outstanding Soviet physicist, Nobel Prize laureate in physics.

In October 1951, a detailed discussion of Oleg's idea of \u200b\u200ban electromagnetic trap took place at LIPAN. “There was one more person present,” Lavrentiev recalled. - He sat quietly in the corner, attentively listening to my explanations, but did not ask questions and did not interfere in our conversations. When the discussion came to an end, he quietly got up and left the audience. " Later, Oleg realized that it was Tamm. Half a century later, Lavrentyev will write: "The reasons that prompted him to attend our meeting incognito are incomprehensible to me."

By June 1952, Lavrent'ev published a report with calculations of his trap and the parameters of the plasma confined in it, which he sent for review to Academician M.A. Leontovich, and on June 16, the first meeting of another major authority in physical science and a chubby-faced stubborn man who recognizes only one authority - truth took place. Leontovich began with compliments, but then began to convince the author of the unrealizability of his ideas - both traps and a jet plasma engine for use in outer space.

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Leontovich (1903-1981) - physicist, academician, Lenin Prize Laureate 1958, author of works on plasma physics, radiophysics.

Leontovich "hacked to death" the report, although their meetings continued and the academician even wanted to take Oleg to graduate school. Later Lavrentyev admitted: “The conclusion of M.A. Leontovich delayed the start of experimental research on electromagnetic traps by almost five years. It was a great loss not only for me, but for our entire program of controlled thermonuclear fusion. "

MSU student Oleg Lavrentyev is a guy with strong nerves.

Oleg was a guy with strong nerves. He only wondered why Sakharov, when talking, avoided the topic of that part of Lavrentyev's Sakhalin note, which proposed a "real" hydrogen bomb. The very idea of \u200b\u200busing lithium deuteride in a thermonuclear charge cannot be recognized as purely Laurentian. The luminaries appreciated her very highly and admit that boydevoid of intellectual grace, and even promoted by "this" Beria, also turned out to be on top, not even studying at Moscow State University, it was intolerable for them. However, I had to endure, hiding irritation. On the one hand, the obstinate could throw up interesting ideas, but on the other, he needs an eye and an eye ...

In the laboratory, the guy was perceived as a protege of Beria. When meetings were held, he was often asked to go out for a walk. “Once in front of me they said that they had not been supplied with capacitors. The next day, the capacitors were delivered, and they decided that I had tried it. But it was a coincidence! " - recalled Oleg Alexandrovich. In the laboratory, the guy was avoided. “When we were recruiting a group of nuclear scientists who went to Arzamas to work on the bomb, I was dismissed under a stupid pretext - they say, I was in the occupation. It was very insulting! .. "- Oleg Alexandrovich confessed ...

Laurels and stars

The explosion of the first Soviet thermonuclear device RDS-6s

Lavrentyev described the principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb, where it was used as fuel solid lithium deuteride. This choice made it possible to make a compact charge - quite "on the shoulder" of the aircraft. Note that the first American hydrogen bomb "Mike", tested two years later, in 1952, contained liquid deuterium, was as tall as a house and weighed 82 tons.

Today, many in the world already admit that hydrogen bombs are created according to Lavrentiev's scheme... And, oddly enough, these super-powerful bombs showed everyone the absurdity of the outbreak of an atomic war. It doesn't matter who started it, but there were absolutely no survivors left after the "Kuz'ka mother" was triggered. But in principle, even today the presence of a hydrogen bomb in Russia's arsenal saves us from final destruction by "sworn friends" from overseas. Who would doubt it ...

Oleg Alexandrovich also owns the idea of \u200b\u200busing controlled thermonuclear fusion (TCB) in the national economy for the production of electricity. The chain reaction of the synthesis of light elements should proceed here not in an explosive manner, as in a bomb, but slowly and in a controlled manner. The main question was how to isolate the ionized gas heated to hundreds of millions of degrees, that is, plasma, from the cold walls of the reactor. No material can withstand this heat. The sergeant proposed at that time a revolutionary solution - a force field could act as a shell for high-temperature plasma. In the first version, it is electric.

In the atmosphere of secrecy that surrounded everything related to atomic weapons, Lavrentyev not only understood the device and principle of operation of the atomic bomb, which in his project served as a fuse initiating a thermonuclear explosion, but also anticipated the idea of \u200b\u200bcompactness, proposing to use solid lithium-6 deuteride.

Academician Yuli Borisovich Khariton (1904-1996) - one of the creators of the Soviet atomic and hydrogen bomb, three times Hero of Socialist Labor against the background of the layout of the first Soviet atomic bomb - one of the few who did not succumb to pressure and did not leave in his statements and memories slandering words about Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria and his the hero of our story ...

He did not know that his message was promptly sent for review then to the candidate of sciences, and later to the academician and three times Hero of Socialist Labor A. Sakharov, who already in August spoke about the idea of \u200b\u200bcontrolled thermonuclear fusion in the following way: “... I believe that the author is posing a very important and not hopeless problem ... I consider it necessary to discuss in detail the draft of Comrade Lavrentieva. Regardless of the results of the discussion, it is necessary to note the creative initiative of the author right now ... "

On the eve of testing a thermonuclear charge - the crown of many years of intense work on a nuclear project, Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria was shot ...

On March 5, 1953, Stalin dies, on June 26, Beria is shot, and on August 12, 1953, a thermonuclear charge is successfully tested in the USSR, which uses lithium deuteride. Participants in the creation of new weapons receive state awards, titles and prizes, but Lavrentiev, for a completely incomprehensible reason for him, loses a lot overnight.

“The university not only stopped giving me an increased scholarship, but also“ turned out ”the tuition fees for the past year, effectively leaving me without a livelihood,” says Oleg Aleksandrovich. - I made my way to an appointment with the new dean of the Faculty of Physics Fursov and in complete confusion I heard: “Your benefactor is dead. What do you want? "

At the same time, the admission in LIPAN was withdrawn, and I lost my permanent pass to the laboratory, where, according to the previous agreement, I was supposed to undergo pre-graduation practice, and subsequently work. If the scholarship was later restored, then I never received admission to the institute ... "

In other words, they were simply removed from the secret domain. They pushed aside, fenced off from him with secrecy. The young scientist could not even imagine that this could be so.

Participants in the creation of new weapons receive state awards, titles and awards, but Lavrentiev, for a completely incomprehensible reason for him, suddenly loses everything. In LIPAN, his security clearance was revoked, and he lost his permanent pass to the laboratory. The fifth-year student had to write a thesis project without going through practice and without a supervisor on the basis of theoretical work on TCF already done by him. Despite this, he successfully defended himself, receiving an honors degree. And it took another six months (!) To get the diploma.

However, the discoverer of this idea was not hired to work in LIPAN, the only place in the USSR where they were then engaged in controlled thermonuclear fusion. Referring to the fact that until 1944 Lavrentiev was in the territory occupied by the Nazis, he was not taken into the composition of young scientists who had left for work in Arzamas.

Unable to get a distribution to Obninsk, after graduating from Moscow State University he went to the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology. A young specialist with an unusual fate came to Kharkov with a report on the theory of electromagnetic traps, which he wanted to show to the director of the institute K. D. Sinelnikov... But Kharkov is not Moscow. The inventor of Guided Thermonuclear Fusion, one of the authors of the creation of the hydrogen bomb scheme, was placed in a dormitory, in the room where he lived eleven people.

Kirill Dmitrievich Sinelnikov (1901-1966) experimental physicist, one of the prominent participants in the creation of the Soviet atomic bomb, head of Laboratory No. 1. Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR since 1948.

So why didn't a full-fledged entrance of a sergeant who arrived from Sakhalin into the society of the Moscow refined physical elite take place? And why was there a misunderstanding between them? Even worse is rejection. After all, it was clear to them that he was from the place where the bomb created by them and him was needed. - From the Army that will protect peace on earth ...

And he, Oleg Lavrentiev, was simply removed from the secret fiefdom. They pushed aside, fenced off from him with secrecy. Naive young scientist! He even wrote a letter to Khrushchev, but the letter had no consequences ...

He could not even imagine that this could be so. Oleg did not know that even before his arrival in Kharkov, Kirill Dmitrievich had called someone from LIPAN, warning that a "brawler" and "author of confused ideas" was coming to him. They also called the head of the theoretical department of the institute Alexander Akhiezer, recommending the work of Lavrentyev "hack to death".

But Kharkiv residents were in no hurry with assessments. Akhiezer asked to essentially understand the work of young theoreticians Konstantin Stepanov and Vitaly Aleksin. Independently of them, Boris Rutkevich, who worked with Sinelnikov, read the report. Experts, without saying a word, gave the work a positive assessment.

Well, thank God! The influence of the powerful Moscow-Arzamas scientific and pseudo-scientific "team" could not spread over one and a half thousand kilometers. However, they took an active part - they called, spread rumors, discredited a scientist... So quickly, finding their bearings in the changed situation in post-Stalinist times, the scientific "fraternity" began to defend "their" territory from the introduction of "outsiders" ...

Gradually Oleg had friends and like-minded people, and in 1958 the first electromagnetic trap C1 was built at the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology, in which a good correspondence of the measured plasma values \u200b\u200bwith the classical ones was achieved. This was a major victory in the fight against plasma instabilities.

In the same year, when the secrecy was removed from thermonuclear research, it turned out that dozens of traps had already been created in the world. different types.

Opening application

Oleg Aleksandrovich found out by chance that he was the first to propose holding the plasma by the field, having stumbled upon the memoirs of I. Tamm (Sakharov's leader) in 1968 (! 15 years later) in one of the books. His surname was not there, only an indistinct phrase about "one military man from the Far East" who proposed a method of hydrogen synthesis, which "... even in principle it was impossible to do anything." Lavrentyev had no choice but to defend his scientific authority.

Tamm and Sakharov perfectly understood what was what... What Lavrentiev came up with is the key that opens access to the practical implementation of the hydrogen bomb. Everything else, the whole theory has long been known to absolutely everyone, since it was described even in ordinary textbooks. And not only the “genius” Sakharov could bring the idea to material embodiment, but also another qualified physicist and technician with unlimited access to material state resources.

And another interesting piece in which the invisible is well felt the bony hand of the saboteurs on American money: This is already about the "period of stagnation", when the advanced ideas and developments of Russian scientists forcibly "stagnated"...

Lavrentiev was confident in his idea of \u200b\u200belectromagnetic traps. By 1976, his group had prepared a technical proposal for a large multi-slot Jupiter-2T installation. Everything was going extremely well. The topic was supported by the leadership of the institute and the direct head of the department Anatoly Kalmykov... The State Committee for the Use of Atomic Energy has allocated three hundred thousand rubles for the design of Jupiter-2T. FTINT of the USSR Academy of Sciences undertook to manufacture the installation.

- I was in seventh heaven with happiness, - recalled Oleg Alexandrovich. - We can build a facility that will lead us on a direct road to the thermonuclear Eldorado! I had no doubts that high plasma parameters would be obtained on it. The trouble came from a completely unexpected side. While on an internship at England, Anatoly Kalmykov accidentally received a large dose of radiation, fell ill and died.

Electromagnetic traps O. Lavrent'ev

And the new head of the department suggested that Lavrentyev design ... something smaller and cheaper. It took two years to complete the project of the Jupiter-2 installation, where the linear dimensions were halved. But while his group received positive feedback on this project from Moscow, from the Institute of Atomic Energy, the reserved work site was given for other projects, funding was cut and the group was offered ... to reduce the size of the installation even more.

- This is how the project "Jupiter-2M" was born, already one third of the natural size of "Jupiter-2", - states Oleg Aleksandrovich. - It's clear that it was a step backbut there was no choice. The production of the new installation took several years. Only in the mid-80s we were able to start experiments that fully confirmed our predictions. But there was no more talk about the development of works. Funding for TCB began to decline, and since 1989 has stopped altogether. I still believe that electromagnetic traps are one of the few thermonuclear systems where it was possible to completely suppress the hydrodynamic and kinetic instabilities of the plasma and obtain close to the classical coefficients of particle and energy transfer. "

With American physicist Tom Dolan.

In 1968, at the Novosibirsk Conference on Plasma Physics, foreign scientists met Lavrent'ev. His work is cited and referenced. A physicist from the United States, E. Clevans, wrote: "The pioneering work related to experiments on electron injection was carried out by Lavrent'ev, and later studies were carried out by Dolan et al." However, they are not sent abroad, even those invitations to Oleg Aleksandrovich, where the readiness of the receiving party is expressed to bear all the costs, is ignored.

Only in 1974 did he go abroad for the first time - to the GDR, to a conference on low-temperature plasma. A year later, he was graciously released to Lausanne. But more often they refused to travel, unlike a classmate and former dorm roommate on Stromynka Roald Sagdeeva, who made a brilliant career in the Brezhnev Soviet Union and then "crowned" it with resettlement overseas.

In Sarov at the Museum of Atomic Weapons Lavrentyev with his colleague from Sarov Lazarev.

This is the fate "Physics from God", the creator of nuclear weapons (hydrogen bomb) Oleg Lavrentyev. Despite several publications made by experts on the basis of publications in the journal Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk and Oleg Lavrentiev's personal memoirs published in Novosibirsk, V. Sekerin published articles (in Duel and Miracles and Adventures), where he professionally proved the existence of direct weaning "Luminaries from physics" solutions on the hydrogen bomb, obtained by a simple radio operator. The articles also provide links to L. Beria's secret order to include Oleg Lavrentiev among the developers of nuclear weapons as the initiator of the main concept of the solution. Alas, it is still far from the recognition of a seemingly obvious fact ...

Evidence of this is the article by Valentina Gatash (Top-secret physicist Lavrentyev. The idea of \u200b\u200bthermonuclear fusion was proposed by a conscript sergeant. Izvestia, 30.08.2003). In August 2001, the journal Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk (Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk) published a series of articles “On the History of Research on Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion”, which for the first time described in detail the case of O. Lavrent'ev. Here is also published his proposal, sent from Sakhalin on July 29, 1950, together with A. Sakharov's response and L. Beria's instructions. Only after these end events 2001 of the year Oleg Alexandrovich was able to get the title doctor of Science...

Lomonosov from Pskov

In 1968, at a meeting in Novosibirsk, Academician Budker told Oleg Alexandrovich in his hearts: "They killed a good guy ..."... Recalling this, Lavrentiev wrote: “After these words, my vague guesses took on real shape. They simply "killed me", and when they "killed me", it turned out that I did not enjoy high patronage, did not harm anyone and in anything ... "

Here Lavrentyev was just mistaken. He caused harm by the very fact of his existence. He wanted to live in a family of scientists, and there were clans, if you mean many of those who inhabited the physical Olympus. Lavrentyev was to blame for the fact that he worked to the limit. He loved physics in himself, and not himself in physics, but his antipodes were appreciated first of all its exclusivity, "Chosenness".

However, Budker was still not quite right ... To say that Lavrentiev was so “ditched” is impossible - he was made of the wrong test. He was engaged in physics, became a doctor of sciences, and put into operation his Jupiter-2M electromagnetic trap. And without exaggeration, he was a world-renowned scientist, the founder of the most promising direction, which is still being developed by dozens of research groups today.

In the end, Lavrentyev's place on Golovin's list speaks for itself. This is a recognition of scientific caliber in its inner circle, an assessment of the Hamburg score. He understood physics not through equations, although he knew how to build mathematical models. And the way Archimedes, Pascal, Galileo, Lomonosov felt the idea, feeling or guessing how the processes studied by thought develop in nature.

One of the Pskov compatriots once asked Oleg Alexandrovich: does he see parallels between himself and Lomonosov? After all, the great Pomor was also not really recognized, and he suffered a lot from academicians like Miller. Lavrentyev pondered, at first he shrugged his shoulders, and then narrowed his eyes and said: “Why? Maybe so ... ”It is surprising that even before 1973, O. Lavrentyev received answers to all his inquiries that nothing survived and all the files of that period were destroyed. He just needed a certificate for the State Committee for Inventions to approve the application for his new decision.

The presence of this work and its content was confirmed in writing by A. Sakharov, but the State Committee for Inventions required the original. And here is the corresponding ending of the article: “ Academic Council After publication in the journal Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk, the KIPT unanimously decided to petition the Higher Attestation Commission of Ukraine for awarding Lavrentiev a doctorate based on the totality of published scientific works - he has over a hundred of them. The Ukrainian Higher Attestation Commission refused. "

There is one more help in this article that proves plagiarism "luminaries" from O. Lavrent'ev and in the concept of controlled thermonuclear fusion (CTF). After reviewing the TCB solution presented by O. Lavrentyev, A. Sakharov decided to do it together with Tamm. True, O. Lavrent'ev proposed an electric field to confine charged particles, while Sakharov and Tamm decided to use a magnetic field - hence "Tokamak"... Moreover, O. Lavrentyev learned about the work of A. Sakharov and Tamm on a thermo-controlled reactor from classified materials when he worked at LIPAN. A. Sakharov himself never even mentioned this in conversations with him.

Today it is already known that "Tokamak" turned out to be a false direction and that it all ended in a huge "zilch" worth tens of billions of dollars ...

Now you understand why Niels Bohr formulated an aphorism: "There is a community in the world more terrible than a gangster: this is a community of scientists." .

Now let's see what Academician Andrei Dmitrievich himself wrote Sakharov

“I started thinking, as I already wrote, about this circle of questions back in 1949, but without any reasonable concrete ideas. In the summer of 1950, a letter sent from Beria's secretariat came to the facility with a proposal from a young sailor of the Pacific Fleet Oleg Lavrentiev. In the introductory part, the author wrote about the importance of the problem of controlled thermonuclear reaction for the energy of the future. Further, the proposal itself was stated. The author proposed to implement high-temperature deuterium plasma using an electrostatic thermal insulation system. Specifically, a system of two (or three) metal grids surrounding the reactor volume was proposed. A potential difference of several tens of KeV was to be applied to the grids, so that the escape of deuterium ions was delayed or (in the case of three grids) the escape of ions was delayed in one of the gaps, and electrons in the other.

In my review, I wrote that the idea of \u200b\u200ba controlled thermonuclear reaction put forward by the author is very important. The author raised a problem of colossal importance, this indicates that he is very proactive and creative personwho deserve all kinds of support and help. In essence, I wrote Lavrent'ev's specific scheme that it seems to me unrealizable, since it does not exclude direct contact of hot plasma with the grids and this will inevitably lead to a huge heat removal and thus to the impossibility of achieving in this way temperatures sufficient for thermonuclear reactions to occur.

Probably, I should have also written that, perhaps, the author's idea would be fruitful in combination with some other ideas, but I had no thoughts about this, and I did not write this phrase. While reading the letter and writing a review, I had the first, still unclear thoughts about magnetic thermal insulation. The fundamental difference between a magnetic field and an electric field is that its lines of force can be closed (or form closed magnetic surfaces) outside of material bodies, thereby, in principle, the "contact problem" can be solved. Closed magnetic lines of force arise, in particular, in the inner volume of a toroid when a current is passed through a toroidal winding located on its surface. It is this system that I decided to consider ... "

“This time I was driving alone. In Beria's reception room, however, I saw Oleg Lavrentiev - he was recalled from the fleet. We were both invited to Beria. Beria, as always, sat at the head of the table, wearing pince-nez and a light cape draped over his shoulders, something like a cloak. Next to him sat his permanent assistant Makhnev, in the past the head of the camp in Kolyma. After the elimination of Beria, Makhnev moved to our Ministry as the head of the information department; in general, then they said that MSM is a "reserve" for former employees of Beria.

Beria, even with some ingenuity, asked me what I thought about Lavrentiev's proposal. I repeated my review. Beria asked Lavrentiev a few questions, then let him go. I never saw him again. I know that he entered the physics department or some radiophysical institute in Ukraine and after graduation came to LIPAN. However, after staying there for a month, he had big disagreements with all the staff. He went back to Ukraine ...

In the 70s, I received a letter from him in which he informed that he was working as a senior researcher in some applied research institute, and asked to send documents confirming the fact of his proposal in 1950 and my review of that time. He wanted to issue a certificate of invention. I had nothing on hand, I wrote from memory and sent it to him, officially certifying my letter in the FIAN office.

For some reason, my first letter did not reach me. At Lavrentiev's request, I sent him a letter a second time. I don't know anything more about him. Maybe then, in the mid-50s, Lavrentiev should have been allocated a small laboratory and given freedom of action. But all the LIPAN members were convinced that nothing but trouble, including for him, would come of it ... "

How clearly visible from this passage is the mental suffering of the great "Father of the hydrogen bomb" - later "the father of Russian democracy"! At first Sakharov was silent, but Lavrentyev sent a second letter. After all, no one except Sakharov can confirm his authorship! The letters are either hidden in the distant Beria archives or destroyed. Well, well ... Sakharov, after some deliberation, confirmed the facts of the existence of Lavrentiev's proposals ...

The opinion and reference of A.D.Sakharov found in 2001 on the works of O.A. Lavrentieva.

And now, as an additional illustration to our story, I want to dwell quite briefly on the segment of life that the young physicists Lavrentiev and Sakharov passed before meeting in Beria's office.

Lavrentiev, as we already know, went through a harsh school in a completely ordinary Soviet family, not having time to finish the Pskov school before the war, endured difficult years in occupied Pskov, volunteered for the war, fought in 1944-1945 and served as an intelligence officer and radio operator on Sakhalin until 1950, fulfilling official duties and devoting all his free time to the education and study of his beloved physics and eager to study at Moscow State University in order to learn and devote himself to the creation of a formidable weapon for defending his great beloved Motherland. He devoted his whole life to his favorite physics and work at the Kharkov Phystech.

Oleg Lavrentiev - the victorious warrior, 1945.

Andrey Sakharov graduated from the last course of Moscow State University in evacuation in 1942, Ashgabat, until the end of 1944 he worked in the measuring laboratory in Ulyanovsk.

And Andrei Sakharov, born into a wealthy Moscow family on May 21, 1921. Father - physics teacher Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov, author of the famous textbook on physics. Mother Ekaterina Alekseevna Sakharova (ur. Sophiano) - the daughter of Alexei Semyonovich Sophiano hereditary military Greek origin - a housewife. The grandmother on the mother's side Zinaida Evgrafovna Sophiano is from the Belgorod noble family Mukhanovs. The godfather is a famous musician and composer Alexander Borisovich Goldenveiser. After graduating from high school in 1938, Sakharov entered the physics department of Moscow State University.

After the start of the war, in the summer of 1941, he tried to enter military academybut was not accepted for health reasons. In 1941 he was evacuated to Ashgabat. In 1942 he graduated from the university with honors. In the 42nd year, Sakharov graduated from Moscow State University and left for the Ulyanovsk cartridge plant. Volodarsky, where he first worked in felling. In 1943 he got a good job in a factory laboratory as an engineer, invented a very useful magnetic method for controlling the hardening of projectile cores. Also planting potatoes, getting married. In July 1944, he wrote an application for admission to graduate school exams.

At the end of 1944 he entered the postgraduate course of the FIAN (scientific adviser - I.E. Tamm). Until his death, he was an employee of FIAN. In 1947 he defended his Ph.D. thesis. At the request of Academician Tamm, he was hired at MPEI. In 1948 he was enrolled in a special group and until 1968 worked in the development of thermonuclear weapons, participated in the design and development of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb according to the scheme called Sakharov's puff. Simultaneously, Sakharov, together with I.E. Tamm in 1950-1951 carried out work on a controlled thermonuclear reaction.

So, what are our heroes doing in their declining years?

Oleg Aleksandrovich devoted his whole life to finding solutions to the problems of controlled thermonuclear fusion in order to obtain the energy so necessary for mankind. Deeply worried about the collapse of his once great beloved country - the Soviet Union ...

Doctor f.-m. Oleg Aleksandrovich Lavrentyev at his workplace at the KIPT.

And after participating in the creation of the hydrogen bomb and the Tsar Bomb, the so-called "Kuz'ka mother", Sakharov proposed to implement the project of the T-15 nuclear torpedo with a direct-flow water-steam atomic jet engine with a 100-megaton charge to destroy the ports of the US coast with the inevitable very large human sacrifice, "cannibalistic character" (the expressions of Andrei Dmitrievich himself), who were shocked even by the Soviet admirals and marshals who passed the Great Patriotic War ...

According to Valentin FalinSakharov proposed a project for the deployment of super-powerful nuclear warheads along the sea borders of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United States.

Nobel laureate, human rights activist Sakharov, treated kindly and beloved by the West, at the First Congress of USSR People's Deputies while singing the USSR anthem ...

Since the late 60s of the last century, especially after meeting and marrying Elena Bonaire, Andrei Dmitrievich turned to the other extreme, he moved away from solving issues and problems of nuclear physics and completely focused on political and human rights activities ... After receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, Sakharov is actually actively involved in the destruction of the USSR.

During the years of Gorbachev's perestroika, being a delegate to the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, he wrote a draft of a new constitution in accordance with the fashion trends ... of the then policy of the US State Department (?!) Towards the USSR - "The Law on Captive Peoples." According to him, Russia itself (not to mention the USSR and its member republics) was proposed to be divided into at least seven puppet pseudo-states.

Sakharov acted like a real enemy of the peoplewhen he began to voice the "great plans" for the reorganization of Russia. The essence of all his plans was to destroy the USSR (Great Russia). At the first stage, Sakharov proposed to divide the state into small independent regions, and at the second - to place them under the control of the world government. HELL. Sakharov called this "a political expression of rapprochement with the West."

Draft constitutiondrawn up by Sakharov, proposed to proclaim the complete independence of all national-territorial republics and autonomous regions of the USSR, including Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Buryatia, Yakutia, Chukotka. Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Each republic had to have all the attributes of independence - a financial system (print its own money), armed forces, law enforcement agencies, etc.

The rest of Russia seemed too large to the academician, so he proposed to divide it into four parts. In addition, Sakharov proposed to divide the world community into a "clean" part (environmentally friendly, favorable for living), to take out all the "dirty", harmful industries to other regions. It is clear that the areas the former USSR were supposed to be the location of the "dirty" industries ...

Both heroes have results of life worthy of their fate, fully correspond to the life path they have traveled ... Who is more valuable for the mother-story?

For you, dear Reader, I have no ready answer ...

Think and decide for yourself ...

Good luck to you, prosperity and peaceful sky!

Today, atomic lobbyists know most about Oleg Aleksandrovich Lavrentyev - both gunsmiths and those who are engaged in the peaceful problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion (CTF). This is due to the fact that Oleg Aleksandrovich, in his youth, expressed two fundamental ideas. One fundamentally changed the appearance of atomic weapons, transferring them to the "thermonuclear" category. But the same idea was expressed independently of Lavrent'ev by V.L. Ginzburg, a young theoretician from the group of I.E. Tamm, and it was she who gave impetus to the practical creation of the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb. But Lavrent'ev's priority in relation to the second idea related to the energy dream of mankind - controlled thermonuclear fusion, is absolute and is widely recognized today.

In 2009, the so-called golovin's listfound by the son of the greatest Soviet physicist L.A. Artsimovich Denis in the papers of his late father. Titled "The Creators of the Soviet Fusion", it was compiled by I.N. Golovin, who himself was one of the founders of this trend, and included fifty names. Among them are academicians I.V. Kurchatov, L.A. Artsimovich, A.M. Budker, M.A. Leontovich, K. D. Sinelnikov, V.D. Shafranov, E.P. Velikhov, R.Z. Sagdeev, R.A. Demerkhanov ... However, they were separately taken out and stood immediately under the heading only three names, united by curly braces and marked "initiators": Lavrentiev, Sakharov, There M... Moreover, the first name stood in this place not only in alphabetical order.

Lavrent'ev's "thermonuclear" priority was also recorded in a peculiar way by Academician V.D. Shafranov. In 1967, parodying "The History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev," he wrote "The history of opium fusion"... Opiysky - this is from OPI - the Department of Plasma Research of the Institute of Atomic Energy. I.V. Kurchatov. "History ..." began like this:

Listen guys
His story.
It all started with a soldier
Served in the ranks.

Thick-cheeked yourself
Lavrenty namerek,
In the Far East
That person served.

This very uncle,
That he served in the army
Nuclear fusion without explosion
He offered to arrange.

He imitates the sun
Conceived a thermonuclear ...

And so it was - it all started with the soldier Lavrentyev, who, from a young age, puzzled over how to curb "solar" processes on Earth. His early idea, dating back to the late 40s, about the possibility of confining high-temperature plasma by an electrostatic field was completely original. Both Soviet and world research in the field of thermonuclear energy began with its understanding.

Then came the Sakharov-Tamm magnetic toroidal reactor, "Tokamak" Artsimovich, who made this word international, the world hobby for "tokamaks" ... Lavrentyev's idea was for the world's scientists the same as for a traveler who does not know where to go in the pitch darkness of the night steppe, it turns out to be a distant light. It flashed, and the direction of movement was determined.

Not immediately, but it was officially recognized in the 70s, including by Academician A.D. Sakharov, who is considered the father of not only the Soviet hydrogen bomb, but also the Soviet thermonuclear. However, this informal honorary title should be attributed to Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentyev.

In August 2001, Lavrent'ev's personal file and his proposal to B.L. Ioffe. Siberian Physical Journal. # 2. 1966. P. 70, sent from Sakhalin on July 29, 1950, the reviewer Sakharov's review and Beria's instructions, which were kept in the Archives of the President of the Russian Federation in a special folder classified as secret.

It should be noted that Lavrent'ev, along with Ginzburg, proposed to use lithium deuteride ( LiD) as a thermonuclear fuel, and the idea of \u200b\u200ba hydrogen bomb was formulated, which served to some extent as a catalyst for the movement of our nuclear physicists in the right direction in the matter of its practical implementation. Lavrentyev himself directly to work on the hydrogen bomb in Arzamas was not allowed under the formal pretext that until 1944 he was in the territory occupied by the Nazis in Pskov.

The indisputable role of Lavrent'ev lies in the initial initiation of work on controlled thermonuclear fusion. Unfortunately, from practical work in this direction after the death of his “well-wisher, L.P. Beria "from was also, as it were, more correctly expressed - physically pushed aside and removed, through a" voluntary "move to Kharkov to work at the KIPT. In many countries of the world, research on TCF is being conducted. The key idea of \u200b\u200bthese studies is the idea of \u200b\u200bO.A. Lavrentieva 1950 on the thermal insulation of the field plasma.

This is how the plasma inside the START tokamak looks like.

I will cite an excerpt from the book by B.S. Gorobets “Nuclear Revenge of the USSR”, published in 2014: “When asked by a journalist, and they say Sakharov invented a hydrogen bomb, Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg replied:“ No. After all, what was the difficulty there. It is necessary that the atoms of deuterium and tritium combine, and the reaction proceeds. How to bring them closer together? Sakharov proposed his own method of compression - using layers of solid matter and deuterium. And I suggested using lithium-6. The fact is that the reaction requires tritium - a radioactive element, which is terribly difficult to obtain. So I suggested using such a reaction, as a result of which tritium is produced by itself - already in the bomb. And this idea went ... "

Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg (1916-2009) theoretical physicist, doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, professor. Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Nobel laureate for the creation of a semi-phenomenological theory of superconductivity. Quote: “I understand patriotism this way: to the best of his ability, a person should try to educate the population. Do whatever is good for his country. The state and the country must strive to educate the population. "

Really went. First expressed by Ginsburg in the March 3 report 1949 the idea of \u200b\u200ba solid product - lithium deuteride (more precisely, for Ginzburg - lithium deuteride-tritide) as the main thermonuclear "fuel" was correct, but by no means obvious. Suffice it to recall that in the United States the first thermonuclear explosive device "Mike", detonated on November 1, 1952 at Bikini Atoll, gave a power of 10 Mt, but contained a cryostat with a liquid tritium-deuterium mixture and weighed 74 tons... It was a demonstration of a principle that did not translate into an aviation version in any way. Sakharov's Sloika and Ginzburg's lithium idea gave us the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb, the RDS-6s.

But the sergeant Lavrentiev came to the most important "weapon" idea on his own - back in Sakhalin, and before Ginzburg - in winter 1948 years, reflecting on the possibility of using thermonuclear reactions for energy purposes. Lavrentyev immediately focused on radiation safe lithium deuteride 6LiDpromising for the bomb. And his idea in real time was not lost - a keen interest was shown in Moscow and its author.

It is a pity that in our time it is even difficult to imagine that, for example, the Prime Minister of Russia or the Deputy Prime Minister would spend their personal time, seek funds and resources to resolve issues about the organization of the study of a talented young man or girl at Moscow State University or another leading Russian university for state account, as did the first Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Chairman of the Special Committee in the difficult post-war period Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria...

“To regret the past is empty. The main thing is that I did what I was interested in! " - said in his declining years our compatriot, the outstanding physicist Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentyev. Living in the history of the life and work of the Russian physicist Lavrentiev, it is easy for the interested reader to understand that he was an outstanding scientist who lived in science, and at the same time an outstanding son of the Fatherland, a Russian Soviet patriot.

On September 4, 2007, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II presented a diploma to Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentyev for his sacrificial service to the Fatherland and a significant contribution to the creation of a nuclear weapons complex.

The scientist died on February 10, 2011 at the age of 85. He was buried in the cemetery in the village of Lesnoye near Kharkov, next to his wife.

It is not difficult to come to the conclusion that the name of Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentiev is worthy of the widest popularization and veneration. We need to understand this at least now, when Russia needs the memory of the physicist Lavrentiev more than the late Oleg Aleksandrovich, an organically modest man, as, in fact, a person should be, great not only in his professional talents, but also in human nature.

His name is becoming more and more respected in Sarov, in which he could and should have worked and in which, better than anywhere else, they are able to appreciate the essence of his pioneering weapons ideas, even if they did not become the practical basis for the development of domestic thermonuclear charges.

After all, the Lavrentiev phenomenon does not detract from the merits of Andrei Sakharov and his colleagues at KB-11. The purely scientific scale of Oleg Alexandrovich's ideas is first-class. No wonder one of Sarov's leading theorists, Doctor of Technical Sciences, wrote about him warmly and respectfully more than once B.D. Bondarenko - the person himself is non-standard and rough.

On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the scientist, a scientific and practical conference was held in Pskov on the basis of the State Technical University - a possible prototype of the annual Laurentian readings, but this is only the beginning of the return of one of its great names to Russia.

Boris Paton congratulates O.A. Lavrentieva happy anniversary. In March 2004, when visiting the NSC Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology, President L.D. Kuchma met with Oleg Lavrentyev.

Gradually, his name becomes popular in his homeland - in the ancient Pskov, a city so akin to Russian history that the appearance of Lavrentyev here can be considered symbolic. After the "black redistribution" of 1991, Kharkiv found itself outside the homeland, there was no opportunity to leave, and the years were not the same. But when Lavrentiev was courted, hinting at the possibility of conferring the title of Hero of Ukraine, he rejected all advances. But he was proud of the title of an honorary citizen of Pskov, and now there is at the house where O.A. Lavrentyev, a memorial plaque was installed in honor of the outstanding Russian nuclear physicist.

Memorial plaque in Pskov on the house where the outstanding nuclear physicist Oleg Lavrentiev lived until 1944.

Deputy Head of the Pskov City Administration Alexander Kopylov and a teacher at the Pskov State Pedagogical University are opening a memorial plaque on the house of Oleg Alexandrovich.

Once it was precisely noticed that talent by itself only property of mindand even a scoundrel can be talented. Character, moral core is also important, only they create genius. Oleg Lavrentyev was a talent with a strong human core in his soul. There are never many such people, and to pay tribute to them is not only the duty, but also the right of descendants.

Young Lavrentyev dreamed of giving people an abundance of energy, but he, a soldier of the Great Patriotic War, could not help but think about how to protect the peace and security of Russia from the thermonuclear threat. And a similar synthesis of the two sides scientific life Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentyev only enhances the greatness of his figure.

Declassification expert, designer of a nuclear anti-aircraft charge B.D. Bondarenko appreciated the genius of Pskovich and wrote a book "How a student solved the world problem", which is awarded to all those who entered the Moscow Engineering and Technical Institute (MEPhI is the forge of Russian nuclear scientists).

The Pskovites collected signatures on conferring the title of Hero of Russia (posthumously) on Oleg Alexandrovich and on the creation of the Oleg Lavrentyev Center in Pskov. Unfortunately, I do not know how this initiative ended, but the Lavrentiev Center did not appear on the Pskov land ...

LIST OF LINKS

1) http: //vpk-news.ru/articles/31 ...

2) http: //bookre.org/reader? File \u003d ...

3) "Siberian Physical Journal" No. 2, Novosibirsk, 1996

4) G.A. Goncharov. UFN 171. No. 8. 2001.

5) "Bulletin on Atomic Energy" TsNIIUEI Rosatom, Moscow, No. 7, 2001

6) B.D. Bondarenko. UFN 171. No. 8. 2001.

7) V.D. Shafranov. UFN 171. No. 8. 2001.

8) http: //www.zn.ua/3000/3760/414 ...

9) http: //www.sakharov-archive.ru ...

10) https: //topwar.ru/34956-mif-ob ...

11) B.L. Ioffe. Siberian Physical Journal. # 2. 1966, p. 70

12) http: //velikieberega.blogspot ....

Oleg Lavrentyev. In the beginning there was a soldier

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Who is the father of the hydrogen bomb?
Most people will just shrug their shoulders at this seemingly simple question. Like, how is this who? Don't you know? The father of the hydrogen bomb in the USSR is considered to be Academician Sakharov, later a famous dissident and democrat. And in Nizhny Novgorod, in honor of him, the avenue was even named and there is a museum. Now I want to digress a little and remember the American action movie The Recruit. It shows how in a closed school for the training of CIA agents called "farm", repeatedly from the lips of one of the main characters, a seasoned and hardened instructor, the same idea sounds in different versions - what you see in front of you may turn out to be not what you think.
I remember that many years ago, at the institute, my acquaintances, closely connected with the world of science, told a story about a certain soldier who supposedly made an important discovery, and now, on the basis of these ideas, Sakharov slightly improved them and created a hydrogen bomb. Moreover, I heard this bike in different variations. According to another legend, the discovery was made by a sailor from the Pacific Fleet. A little later, a young graduate student Sergey Egorov proved to me that this is not a story, but a real reality. In doing so, he referred to data from a small-circulation book called, it seems, "Nuclear Storm". Unfortunately, I could not get to know her, so I had to be content with official data from the scientific world. Frankly, a legend that looks more like a modern fairy tale about resourceful soldier, I really liked it then. Like, this is what our country and army are, in which the rank and file, by the savvy of the academicians, wipe their nose. However, later, already going through an urgent one, I was filled with a fair amount of skepticism. What discoveries can be when constantly hard training, exhausting courses of the basics of survival in extreme conditions, and so on and so forth. As the saying goes, service from dawn to dawn. Yes, to make such a discovery you have to be a genius. Anyway ...

Was there a SOLDIER?
- There was such a soldier. In early February, unfortunately, he passed away. And the name of that soldier was Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentyev. Moreover, he himself had already become a well-known and authoritative physicist, academician, - a familiar scientist from the Sarov Nuclear Center Yuri Terentyevich Sinyapkin assured me, - to admit that at one time I myself, having worked in this area for many years, adhered to the generally accepted point of view that the father of the hydrogen bomb is Sakharov, especially since he worked with us in Sarov. Of course, before I heard rumors about a certain soldier who found a solution to a difficult problem. In science, the most important thing is the idea. Then, based on it, solutions are developed, calculations are made and equipment is created. An idea in the scientific world is a starting point. When I first heard about this, I myself wanted to understand the origins of the true "paternity" of a thermonuclear product. But, in those years, it was very difficult to do this due to the highest degree of super-secrecy of the project. For several years, through my acquaintances, I carefully inquired about, as you said, the legendary soldier. Imagine my surprise when I learned that this is not a legend, but the real truth. I even decided to personally visit him in Kharkov, where he worked at the institute until the last hour of his life. Agree that vague rumors are rarely confirmed in our time. Usually this is typical gossip. I talked with this amazing person for a long time, and I learned first-hand the whole truth, which turned out to be shocking even for me, a scientist of the most secret nuclear center. At that time in our country, no one knew these secrets. It wasn't until the mid-nineties that something began to seep into the press. Today, as far as I know, books have been published on this issue, which show real events. Oleg Alexandrovich was an unusually modest, and at the same time, courageous man. I tried to maintain a relationship with him. We congratulated each other on the holidays by mail. And a few years ago he was invited on his own initiative to visit him. We walked around Sarov for a long time, and then went to the museum of nuclear weapons. And he first saw the hydrogen bomb, which was created largely thanks to his idea. So that many scientists and politicians do not tell me today, but I personally consider the father of the hydrogen bomb not Sakharov, but Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentiev. It is thanks to him that they managed to save the world from atomic destruction. And these are not just words, but the very real reality. However, nowadays a lot of materials on this topic have appeared on the Internet. -
Personally, I fully believe in the words of Yuri Terentyevich. I respect him for his honesty and civil position. He is a real scientist who created and developed a unique technology. His invention was included in the register of one hundred of the most outstanding developments in our country. Of course he's right. Lavrentiev's fate is unique and unrepeatable. There is simply no second such case in the world. Oleg Alexandrovich is a native of the Pskov region. Before the war, he got a scientific book in which questions of nuclear physics were raised, and the inquisitive boy was so carried away by them that he decided to devote his life to science. Then there was the war. An eighteen-year-old boy volunteered for the front. He fought as a scout. Needless to say once again about all the hardships and mortal danger of this military specialty. He received well-deserved military awards for his exploits. After the war, he was transferred to serve on Sakhalin, where he was actively engaged in self-education. The leadership of the unit, realizing that he was an extraordinary person, tried to create all conditions for his development. I independently studied the higher course of mathematics, physics and other sciences. In a year in evening school I finished three classes and received a high school diploma. He gave lectures on nuclear physics to colleagues and officers of the unit. The central committee of the party also sent its thoughts on this matter to Moscow to Stalin. In 1948, a twenty-two-year-old Russian front-line sergeant in a letter to the leader wrote the following words - "I know the secret of the hydrogen bomb."

SELF-LEARNER. TALENT. GENIUS.
By 1949, the Americans had already in their arsenal three hundred nuclear bombs and a detailed plan to bomb the USSR. There were only a few months left before the atomic destruction of the country, but why there were weeks! If representatives of the Anglo-Saxon civilization realized their sadistic plans, then the Chernobyl tragedy today would seem to everyone as a childish prank in the sandbox. Crowds of mutants and degraded mad people would walk on the radioactive ashes of the destroyed country, devouring each other from hunger. And, naturally, we would, today's descendants. Including the recorded domestic "democrats" and "human rights activists" American lovers, there simply would not be. Observing the actions of the United States in our time, there should be no doubts or illusions. And most importantly, the Yankees would not feel any remorse. They would find excuses. A striking example of this. There is evidence that the Americans once celebrated the one-year anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japan. They blew up a simulator, which with its cap looked like a real nuclear explosion. Huge crowds of the US electorate were simply delighted with the devilish picture. They had a lot of fun. But, as they say, God is their judge. It is no coincidence that Stalin, after the successful test of the domestic atomic bomb in 1949, gathered scientists and honestly admitted that before we had time to create this weapon, then in the very near future, on our own skin, we would have experienced the next Nagasaki and Hiroshima on a thousandfold larger scale. And Stalin knew what he was talking about. He was not the right person to throw such terrible words so easily. He was not an idiot like Khrushchev. He knew the price in his words. The USA was convinced that the USSR would not be able to create such a bomb for another ten to fifteen years. Not only did they have a colossal advantage, but they also wanted to create an even more powerful and destructive weapon - hydrogen. But there was a problem that American and Russian scientists could not solve in the forties. The fuel for the hydrogen bomb was initially gaseous components - deuterium and tritium. To charge them with powerful compressors, they were compressed to a liquid state and stored in liquid helium and nitrogen at a temperature close to absolute zero. Therefore, the weight of such a device reached hundreds or more tons. The hassle of servicing such a monster would be a lot. In 1949, Russian scientists proposed to deliver such a complex colossus on ships to the shores of a potential enemy and blow up there. But here the Soviet sailors were outraged. In the harshest and crudest form, they abandoned the role of executioners. It is one thing to destroy military targets, and another to destroy civilians. And they made these statements during Stalin's lifetime. And they got nothing for that. only for such a position of our sailors should be respected and appreciated. Here it is - a manifestation of the marine character. It became clear that a compact device was needed that could be delivered to the target by an aircraft or rocket and accurately hit the object. And at that moment Lavrent'ev's work came, in which he proposed to use solid-state lithium 6 deuteride instead of deuterium and tritium. Moreover, it was much cheaper and easier to manufacture it in the required quantity. The fuel began to react from the explosion of an atomic bomb and gave out tremendous power. Oleg Alexandrovich still had the first proposal to the country's leadership to create a thermonuclear reactor for generating electricity. Simply put, the speed of the explosion of a hydrogen bomb using an electric field slowed down a million times, and the entire process of releasing a colossal release of energy was controlled by the electric field. And in this direction Lavrentyev was the first. Today scientists all over the world are working on this problem. But the government became more interested in the ideas of weapons for the defense of the country, all the more time was running out, since in the beginning of the nuclear arms race the Americans were far ahead of us. The work of Lavrentiev was given to scientists, and a promising Sakharov gave an opinion on it. He highly appreciated Lavrentyev's ideas and called them very timely. There is documentary evidence of this. By order of Beria, who oversaw the committee on atomic weapons, the gifted intelligence soldier was demobilized ahead of schedule and sent to Moscow State University, where he graduated from the Faculty of Nuclear Physics ahead of schedule with honors. By the way, Sakharov and Lavrentyev met for the first time and met at a reception at the People's Commissar Lavrenty Pavlovich. After Beria's death, spiteful critics were found who accused the young scientist of helping him realize his childhood dream of nuclear physics himself Lavrenty Pavlovich, although they themselves did not refuse awards and support from the state. When the hydrogen bomb was created and tested in the USSR, many were awarded who, in one way or another, were involved, up to the cleaning ladies, in its creation. But in the lists, by a strange coincidence, Lavrentyev was not, and he was practically exiled to Kharkov, away from the "luminaries" of science and, in addition, unknown "well-wishers" on the phone said a lot of nasty things about him to the leadership of the institute. Time has put everything in its place. Today it is recognized in the world that all thermonuclear bombs were created precisely according to the Lavrent'ev scheme. And, oddly enough, these super-powerful bombs showed everyone the absurdity of the outbreak of an atomic war. It doesn't matter who started it, but there were absolutely no survivors left after the "Kuzka's mother" was triggered. But in principle, even today the presence of a hydrogen bomb in Russia's arsenal saves us from final destruction by "sworn friends" from overseas. Who would doubt it.

WHO HAS MORE TRUTH IS POWER
Yet there are tar drops in this amazing story. Sometimes sarcastic voices sound from the gateway that, they say, at the end of the forties some scientists were close to Lavrentiev's idea. Yes, fear God, dear ones! How can these things be compared. Modern tank and carriage. Then, in a devastated and hungry country, by inhuman efforts, entire institutes on the thermonuclear problem were created, intelligence was involved, which played a huge role. Fantastic money was invested in the study and search for a solution. Later, Teller, the "father" of the American hydrogen bomb, also spoke more than once about the monstrous costs. Teams of hundreds and thousands of highly paid scientists worked, expensive equipment for research was created. And how much money was allocated for the Stalin and State Prizes in this area - do not count. And suddenly, against this background, a front-line soldier appears, a sergeant - a reconnaissance officer who, with tremendous power of mind and insight in a remote Sakhalin garrison, without expensive instruments and consultations, was able to penetrate the secrets of the atom, and find a way out of the impasse. And then there were so many ambiguities in these questions that at times they seemed insoluble. I am sure that if such a person like Lavrentiev was found in America, then today Hollywood would flood the world with its ribbons about its genius citizen. And about nobel prize and there is nothing to say. Yes, just for this alone, not only streets should be named in his honor, but also settlements in our country. And most importantly, he did not go over to the side of the destroyers of the USSR and did not exchange his God's gift for lentil soup. He did not become a dissident, did not pass secrets over the hill. Isn't that why they push him so diligently? It is a pity that they tried to belittle his talent in due time. It is no coincidence that one academician said about him - "what a guy they ruined!" However, the real talent cannot be destroyed, which was later proved by his work physicist, academician Oleg Alexandrovich Lavrentyev - a real person and defender of the homeland. May the earth rest in peace to him.

Aleksandr Kuznetsov,

No matter how scolded Andrey Karaulov, he remains for me a talented TV journalist and freelancer and, in general, a source of unique information. And his financial and family affairs are his business, don’t go into someone else’s pocket, don’t peep through the bedroom window. I am glad that his program "Moment of Truth" has resumed on the TVC channel. I watched it on Monday, March 10, 2008 and never ceased to be surprised. I was struck by the ingenuous story of another Russian nugget and my colleague at the Physics Department of Moscow State University, Oleg Aleksandrovich Lavrentyev, about his invention of a device for carrying out a thermonuclear reaction. It turns out that Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov met him at the entrance of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) in 1950 and with him was present at a conversation with Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich, when Lavrentyev received the go-ahead to continue research, and Sakharov agreed and was at first equal with Lavrentiev.

"According to the recollections of Sakharov himself," the impetus, contributing to the acceleration of work on this topic, was the acquaintance with the work of Lavrentiev. " In 1948, Oleg Lavrentyev, a sergeant of one of the units located on Sakhalin, sent a letter to Stalin with the only phrase: "I know the secret of the hydrogen bomb." Then in the USSR there was not even an atomic bomb, but the idea of \u200b\u200ba hydrogen bomb, according to Sakharov's recollections, had "quite vague outlines." The first letter in the secretariat of the leader was ignored, and after the second, an NKVD colonel was sent to the unit where the young sergeant served, who, after checking the author's adequacy, took him to Moscow to Beria.

In 1950 Lavrentiev formulated the principle of thermal insulation of plasma by an electrostatic field "for the purpose of industrial utilization of thermonuclear reactions." The fathers of the Russian hydrogen bomb, however, rejected the idea of \u200b\u200ban inventor with a seven-year education and suggested holding the plasma by an electromagnetic field.
In 1950, Sakharov and Tamm carried out calculations and detailed studies and proposed a scheme for a magnetic thermonuclear reactor. Such a device is essentially a hollow donut (or torus), on which a conductor is wound, which forms a magnetic field. (Hence its name - toroidal chamber with a magnetic coil, in abbreviated form - tokamak - became widely known not only among physicists).

To heat up the plasma in this device to the required temperatures, an electric current is excited with the help of a magnetic field, the strength of which reaches 20 million amperes. It is worth recalling that modern materials, created by man, deal with a maximum of 6 thousand degrees Celsius (for example, in rocketry) and after a single use are only suitable for scrap. Any material will evaporate at 100 million degrees, so a very high magnetic field must hold the plasma in vacuum inside the "donut". The field does not allow charged particles to fly out of the "plasma filament" (the plasma is in a tokamak in a compressed and twisted form and looks like a filament), but the neutrons formed during the fusion reaction are not retained by the magnetic field and transfer their energy to the inner walls of the installation (blanket), which are cooled with water. The resulting steam can be sent to a turbine as in conventional power plants.

In the early 1950s, Lyman Spitzer, an American astronomer and physicist who worked at the Princeton Laboratory, had similar thoughts on curbing thermonuclear reactions. He proposed a slightly different method of magnetic confinement of plasma in a device called a "stellarator". In it, the plasma is confined by magnetic fields created only by external conductors, in contrast to the tokamak, where a significant contribution to the creation of the field configuration is made by the current flowing through the plasma itself.

In 1954, the first tokamak was built at the Institute of Atomic Energy. At first, they did not spare money to implement the idea: the military saw in such a reactor a source of neutrons for enriching nuclear materials and producing tritium. At first, even Sakharov believed that ten to fifteen years remained before the practical generation of energy in such installations. The military was the first to understand the ambiguity of the prospects for using controlled thermonuclear fusion, and when in 1956 Academician Igor Kurchatov asked Khrushchev to declassify this topic, they did not object. It was then that we learned about stellarators, and the Americans - about tokamaks. "

Yes, the rise of our science was colossal in the post-war period, and when I entered the physics department of Moscow State University in 1955, I took the advanced laboratory equipment for granted, and when I did my internship in Obninsk at the first nuclear power plant, I generally lived like in paradise and mastered in the library and even kept the latest Western magazine and book products, including the most authoritative English and German-language publications on philosophy.

And what was the fate of Oleg Lavrentyev after the execution of his patron Lavrenty Beria in 1953? By the way, Lavrentyev spoke of Beria in Karaulov's TV program "Moment of Truth" very respectfully ("good man!"). The journalist Valentina Gatash writes in her article Super-secret physicist Lavrentiev:

“Oleg Lavrentiev was born in 1926 in Pskov. After reading the book "Introduction to Nuclear Physics" in the 7th grade, he fired up a dream to work in the field of nuclear energy. But the war began, the occupation, and when the Germans were driven out, Oleg volunteered for the front. The young man met the victory in the Baltics, but his studies had to be postponed again - he had to continue his military service on Sakhalin, in the small town of Poronaysk.

Here he returned to nuclear physics. The unit included a library with technical literature and university textbooks, and even Oleg subscribed to the journal Uspekhi fizicheskikh nauk (Uspekhi fizicheskikh nauk) for his sergeant's allowance. The idea of \u200b\u200ba hydrogen bomb and controlled thermonuclear fusion first originated in him in 1948, when the unit's command, distinguished by a capable sergeant, instructed him to prepare a lecture on the atomic problem.

Having several free days to prepare, I rethought all the accumulated material and found a solution to the issues that I had been struggling with for more than one year, - says Oleg Alexandrovich. To whom and how to report this? There are no specialists in Sakhalin just liberated from the Japanese. The soldier writes a letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), and soon the command of the unit receives an order from Moscow to create conditions for Lavrentiev to work. He is given a guarded room where he writes his first articles. In July 1950 he sent them by secret mail to the heavy machine building department of the Central Committee.

The Sakhalin work consisted of two parts - military and peaceful.

In the first part, Lavrent'ev described the principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb, where solid lithium deuteride was used as fuel. In the second part, he proposed using controlled thermonuclear fusion to generate electricity. The chain reaction of the synthesis of light elements should proceed here not in an explosive manner, as in a bomb, but slowly and regulated. Having outstripped both domestic and foreign nuclear scientists, Oleg Lavrentyev solved the main question - how to isolate the plasma heated to hundreds of millions of degrees from the walls of the reactor. At that time, he proposed a revolutionary solution - to use a force field as a shell for plasma, in the first version - an electric one.

Oleg did not know that his message was immediately sent for review then to the candidate of sciences, and later to the academician and three times Hero of Socialist Labor A.D. Sakharov, who said this about the idea of \u200b\u200bcontrolled thermonuclear fusion: "... I consider it necessary to discuss Comrade Lavrentyev's project in detail. Regardless of the results of the discussion, it is necessary to note the author's creative initiative right now."

In the same 1950, Lavrentiev was demobilized. He comes to Moscow, successfully passes the entrance exams and enters the Physics Department of Moscow State University. A few months later, he was summoned by the minister of instrumentation V.A. Makhnev was the name of the Ministry of Atomic Industry in the kingdom of secrecy. Accordingly, the Institute of Atomic Energy was called the Laboratory of Measuring Instruments of the USSR Academy of Sciences, that is, LIPAN. At the minister's place, Lavrentyev first met Sakharov and learned that Andrei Dmitrievich had read his Sakhalin work, but they managed to talk only a few days later, again at night. It was in the Kremlin, in the office of Lavrenty Beria, who was then a member of the Politburo, chairman of the special committee in charge of the development of atomic and hydrogen weapons in the USSR.

Then I heard many warm words from Andrey Dmitrievich, - Oleg Aleksandrovich recalls. - He assured me that now everything will be fine and offered to work together. I, of course, agreed to the proposal of a person I liked very much.

Lavrentyev did not even suspect that his idea of \u200b\u200bcontrolled thermonuclear fusion (CTF) liked A.D. Sakharov that he decided to use it and, together with I.E. Tamm also started working on the TCB problem. True, in their version of the reactor, the plasma was held not by an electric, but by a magnetic field. Subsequently, this direction resulted in reactors called "tokamak".

After meetings in "high offices" Lavrentiev's life changed like in a fairy tale. He was given a room in a new house, given an increased scholarship, and delivered the necessary scientific literature on demand. He took permission to attend classes freely. To him was assigned a teacher of mathematics, then a candidate of sciences, and later an academician, Hero of Socialist Labor A.A. Samara.

In May 1951, Stalin signed a decree of the Council of Ministers, which laid the foundation for the State Program for Thermonuclear Research. Oleg received admission to LIPAN, where he gained experience in the emerging physics of high-temperature plasma and at the same time comprehended the rules of work under the heading "Sov. Secret". In LIPAN, Lavrentyev first learned about Sakharov and Tamm's ideas on a thermonuclear reactor.

It was a big surprise for me, - recalls Oleg Aleksandrovich. - When meeting with me, Andrei Dmitrievich did not say a single word about his work on the magnetic thermal insulation of plasma. Then I decided that we, myself and Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, came to the idea of \u200b\u200bplasma isolation by a field independently of each other, only I chose an electrostatic thermonuclear reactor as the first option, and he was a magnetic one.

On August 12, 1953, the USSR successfully tested a thermonuclear charge using lithium deuteride. Participants in the creation of new weapons receive state awards, titles and prizes, but Lavrentiev, for a completely incomprehensible reason for him, loses a lot overnight. / MY COMMENT: Everyone knew that he was patronized by L.P., who had been arrested by that time. Beria /. In LIPAN, the permit was withdrawn, and he lost his permanent pass to the laboratory. The fifth-year student had to write a thesis project without going through practice and without a supervisor on the basis of theoretical work on TCF already done by him. Despite this, he successfully defended himself, receiving an honors degree. However, the discoverer of this idea was not hired to work in LIPAN, the only place in the USSR where they were then engaged in controlled thermonuclear fusion.

In the spring of 1956, a young specialist with an unusual fate came to our city / Kharkov / with a report on the theory of electromagnetic traps, which he wanted to show to the director of the institute K.D. Sinelnikov. But Kharkov is not Moscow. The inventor of the TCB was again settled in a dormitory, in a room where eleven people lived. Gradually, Oleg had friends and associates, and in 1958 the first electromagnetic trap was built at the KIPT.

At the end of 1973, I sent an application to the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries for the discovery of "The thermal insulation effect of a force field," says Lavrentyev. - This was preceded by a long search for my first Sakhalin work on thermonuclear fusion, which was demanded by the State Committee. When I was asked, I was told that the secret archives of the 1950s had been destroyed, and I was advised to contact its first reviewer for confirmation of the existence of this work. Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov sent a certificate confirming the existence of my work and its content. But the State Committee needed the very handwritten Sakhalin letter that has sunk into oblivion.

But finally, in 2001, in the August issue of the journal Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk, a series of articles “On the history of research on controlled thermonuclear fusion” appeared. Here, for the first time, the details of the Lavrentyev case are described, his photograph from a personal file half a century ago is placed and, most importantly, the documents found in the Archives of the President of the Russian Federation, which were kept in a special folder under the heading "Sov. Secret", are presented for the first time. Including Lavrentyev's proposal sent from Sakhalin on July 29, 1950, and Sakharov's August response to this work, and instructions from L.P. Beria ... Nobody destroyed these manuscripts. Scientific priority was restored, the name of Lavrent'ev took its real place in the history of physics.

The Academic Council of KIPT, after publication in the journal Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk, unanimously decided to apply to the Higher Attestation Commission of Ukraine for awarding Lavrentiev a doctoral degree based on the totality of published scientific works - he has over a hundred of them. The Ukrainian Higher Attestation Commission refused. "