Viktor Adamsky

Viktor Borisovich Adamsky (also Adamskii, Russian: Ви́ктор Бори́сович Ада́мский; 30 April 1923 – 14 December 2005) was a Soviet theoretical physicist and mathematician. He was a chief researcher at Arzamas-16, now the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics in the closed city of Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod region. He was a theorist involved with the RDS-37, the first Soviet two-stage thermonuclear bomb and, with Vyacheslav Feodoritov, was the project leader of the RDS-220, the largest-ever-yield bomb, and also its co-designer.

Adamsky was sent to Arzamas-16 in 1950 after he graduated from Moscow State University. He knew little of what it was but understood he would be working on the hydrogen bomb; he was put up in a hotel, then a flat and was finally invited to share part of a cottage with Igor Tamm and Yuri Romanov. He found a collegial spirit amongst his workmates, who were very aware of the importance and personal limitations of their situation. His theoretical physics was first practised under the direction of Yakov Zel'dovich and Andrei Sakharov. Theoretical development of the RDS-220 began in July 1961 with a design team chosen by Sakharov (who had met with premier Nikita Khrushchev on 10 July). By October a report (authored by Sakharov, Adamsky, Yuri Babayev,  [ru] and Yuri Trutnev) including the design proposal and calculations had been completed and sent to the design engineers for construction. Under huge political pressure and a strict timetable, the typical mathematical rigour associated with previous nuclear bomb development had been replaced by some omissions and the usage of estimates and approximations. As a result, fellow theoretical physicist Evsei Rabinovich suggested that the design might not work; Sakharov, Adamsky and Feodoritov argued otherwise, but Sakharov did ask the engineers to make some design changes to improve the level of confidence.^[1][2]

Sakharov once visited Adamsky in his office to show him a short story in English by Leo Szilard (the nuclear bomb patent-holder who conceived of nuclear chain reactions) called My Trial as a War Criminal. Szilard's tale of the aftermath of the usage of weapons of mass destruction affected them strongly. Later, both Sakharov and Adamsky provided warnings about the dangers to humanity of nuclear proliferation and the governments behind it.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Two years after the RDS-220 test, Adamsky made a key proposal in a memorandum which it is believed was used to overcome an impasse a few months later during negotiations leading to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty between the U.S.A., the U.K. and the U.S.S.R. in 1963. As a result of Khruschev's acceptance of Adamsky's proposal (it is not known if he actually read it) the ban was agreed upon in the atmosphere, underwater and outer space. ^{[2][8][9][10][1][11]}

Adamsky is buried in Sarov cemetery.^[9]

Awards[]

• 1962: Lenin Prize.

References[]