Artsimovich, Lev

Born Feb. 12 (25), 1909, in Moscow. Soviet physicist, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (AN SSSR, 1953), member of the Presidium of the AN SSSR (since 1957), and Hero of Socialist Labor (1969).

Artsimovich graduated from the Byelorussian University in Minsk (1928). From 1930 to 1944 he worked in the Physicotechnical Institute of the AN SSSR, and since 1944 he has worked in the Institute of Atomic Energy of the AN SSSR. His basic works are devoted to problems of atomic and nuclear physics. He has conducted research on the physics of fast electrons. Artsimovich, A. I. Alikhanov, and A. I. Alikhan’ian proved the validity of the law of conservation of momentum when the electron and positron are annihilated (1936). Artsimovich has also done important work in the field of electron optics. Under his direction the electromagnetic method of extracting isotopes was first worked out in the Soviet Union. He conducted a large cycle of experiments on high-temperature plasma physics in connection with the problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion. He and his colleagues discovered the hard radiation of the pulse discharge, and they were the first to obtain a physical thermonuclear reaction in a stable quasistationary plasma. He won the State Prize of the USSR in 1953 and the Lenin Prize in 1958. He has been awarded four Orders of Lenin, two other orders, and medals. Artsimovich has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1966.