A Designer in the Atomic Problem; A book of David Abramovich Fishman

Sarov: RFNC-VNIIEF, 2007. Three-hole punched Xerox-like copy in English. Disbound in accordion folder. 460 pages. In English. Illustrations (some in color). Sarov is a closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It was known as Gorkiy-130 and Arzamas-16, after a (somewhat) nearby town of Arzamas, from 1946 to 1991. Until 1995, it was known as Kremlyov/Kremlev/Kremljov. The town is closed as it is the Russian center for nuclear research. In 1993, the town became a sister city to Los Alamos, New Mexico, the home of the U.S. nuclear weapons design laboratory (Los Alamos National Laboratory, or LANL). Scientists from LANL and VNIIEF have cooperated on various arms control and nuclear safeguards programs, under which the Los Alamos scientists learned, to their amusement, that their Russian colleagues paid homage to their American rivals by irreverently calling their own laboratory "Los Arzamas." It was the first Soviet nuclear weapon development and production center. Initially a KB-11 design bureau was established there, that was developing nuclear weapons. Research and development activities began in 1947. During the same year security forces began to build a perimeter across the closed area. In 1947 the city was removed from all official Soviet maps and statistical documents. The isolation of the area was completed by 1948. The existence of this city was made public and it appeared on the maps only in 1994. This city is a home to two nuclear weapon facilities - design institute and warhead assembly/disassembly facility. Today this city is known as Sarov. It is the main Russian nuclear weapons development and production center. David Abramovich Fishman (1917-1991 was the, creator of the Soviet nuclear warheads. Honored worker of science and technics of the USSR, hero of socialist labor, Lenin Prize, two Stalin state prizes. From 1959 until the last day of life Fishman led the entire design charging all-union research institute of experimental physics in arzamas-16 (sarov), creating unique and effective engineering school. Before the great patriotic war he started as a designer tank of diesel at the Kirov plant, and during the war years continued the business in the urals. In 1948 he was transferred to the nuclear KB-11, stationed in the town of sarov (arzamas then, and later gorky region). Over time, he became one of the leaders of this oldest center of the development of soviet nuclear weapons. The essence of the activity "Atomic" designer is very different from all other spheres of engineering practices not only extreme isolation, but also by the peculiarities of these unique and delicate systems, like nuclear and thermonuclear munitions. David Abramovich perfectly felt these subtleties, he made his way from creating a simple design to mature and extremely reliable charges included in nuclear combat equipment and modern Russian systems, providing a mode of deterrence. Condition: Good.

Keywords: Soviet Union, Cold War, Nuclear Weapons, Sarov, Atzamas-16, Weapon Designer, VNIIEF, KB-11, Weapon Engineering, Thermonuclear, Deterrence

[Book #84058]

Price: $250.00