Lev Artsimovich

Lev Andreyevich Artsimovich (Russian: Лев Андреевич Арцимович, February 25, 1909 – March 1, 1973), also transliterated Arzimowitsch, was a Soviet physicist known for his contributions to the Tokamak— a device that produces controlled thermonuclear fusion power.

Prior to conceiving the idea on nuclear fusion, Artsimovich participated in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons, and was a recipient of many former Soviet honors and awards. His family had Polish nobility roots; nonetheless, he was described as Russian by his biographer in 1985. His grandfather, a professor, was exiled to Siberia after the Polish uprising against Tsarist Russia in 1863 and married a Russian woman, later settling in Smolensk. But the uranium enrichment under Artsimovich failed when it proved too costly since the electricity required for this work could not be produced by the Soviet power grid at that time.

From 1951 to his death in 1973, Artsimovich was the head of the fusion power program in the former Soviet Union and became known as "the father of the Tokamak", a special concept for a fusion reactor. Once Artsimovich was asked when the first thermonuclear reactor would start its work. He replied: "When mankind needs it, maybe a short time before that."

In 1953, he became an academician of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and then a member of its Presidium in 1957. He has been a foreign member of German Academy of Sciences at Berlin since 1969, and a member of the Czechoslovak, Yugoslav and Swedish Academies of Sciences. On 1 March 1973, Artsimovich died due to cardiac arrest in Moscow. The crater Artsimovich on the Moon is named after him.

Honours and awards 1946 – Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union 1953 – Academician of the USSR 1953 – Stalin Prize, first class 1957 – Academician-secretary of the Department of General Physics and Astronomy, USSR Academy of Sciences, member of the Presidium of the USSR 1958 – Lenin Prize 1965 – Honorary Member of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences 1966 – Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1968 – Foreign Member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences 1969 – Honorary Member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences 1969 – Hero of Socialist Labour 1970 – Honorary Citizen of Texas (USA) 1971 – USSR State Prize 1972 – Honorary Doctor of the University of Warsaw Four Orders of Lenin Two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour