Abram A. Slutskin
Encyclopedia
Abram A. Slutskin was a Russian scientist and professor who had a major role in shaping radio science in the Soviet Union
. He was a pioneer in cavity magnetron development and the application of these devices in radio-location (radar
) systems.
Slutskin, a native of Ukraine
, entered the Kharkov University (KU) in 1910. He received the Kandidat Nauk (Candidate of Science – approximately equivalent to the Ph.D. degree) from the Physics-Mathematics Department in 1916, and remained there as a docent
and researcher during the turbulent times of the Russian Revolution. In 1921, prominent physicist Dmitry Rozhansky started a research department of physics at KU. Slutskin joined this activity as soon as it was formed.
Rozhansky had a strong interest in high-frequency electromagnetic oscillations, and influenced Slutskin to begin research in this area. The earlier work on magnetrons by Albert Hull
(American), August Žáček (Czech), and Erich Habann (German) was studied and improved, resulting in devices generating oscillations with wavelengths between 300 to 40 cm., (It is noted that Shteinberg was the supervisor of the research unit, and, by custom, his name was added as such.) During 1928-1930, Slutskin studied in Germany under Heinrich Barkhausen
at the Dresden Technische Hochschule
. While there, he published another important paper on magnetrons in Annalen der Physik
, a highly respected and widely read German journal.
In 1928-1929, the Ukrainian Physico-Technical Institute (UPTI) was established as a Soviet research organization in Kharkov. (The Institute was later renamed Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, but the original name is used herein.) The primary staff, including Ivan V. Obreimov, the director, was transferred from the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute (LPTI), but the UPTI shared many senior personnel with KU. Upon his return from Germany, Slutskin was awarded the D.Sc. degree from KU, elevating him to the rank of professor. He was also added to the UPTI staff, heading a newly formed Laboratory of Electromagnetic Oscillations (LEMO). Here he continued with the development of magnetrons and other ultra-high-frequency (UHF) devices. At KU, his students included Aleksandr S. Usikov, Semion Y. Braude, and Ivan D. Truten, all of whom would later make major contributions in this field at the LIPT.
Under Slutskin’s leadership, research at the LEMO resulted in water-cooled magnetrons generating continuous power up to 17 kW at 80 cm, and a magnetron tunable over a 30 percent wavelength variation (only reported much later). Research was also performed on frequency control and pulsed modulation. Work on magnetrons and their applications was also underway at the LIPT, and the LEMO supplied their products to researchers in Leningrad. The development of the L-Band (15–30 cm, 2–1 GHz) magnetron gained the attention of the Technical Department of the Red Army
. The UPTI was tasked to investigate magnetrons for use in radio-location (radar) units. From this, an un-cooled magnetron was developed that generated pulsed power up to 60 kW at 60 to 65 cm.
In March 1937, the LEMO started an internally funded project to develop a pulsed, electromagnetic, gun-aiming system. Slutskin was responsible for the overall project under the code name Zenit, the name of a popular football team at that time. Development of the pulsed, L-band transmitter was under Usikov, and Braude designed a superheterodyne receiver
using a low-power magnetron as the local oscillator
. This system, with transmitting and receiving antennas separated by about 50 m, was first tested in October 1938, detecting an aircraft at 3 km in its first version.
The receiver of the initial Zenit system was not sufficiently sensitive, and was redesigned by Truten using a 955 acorn triode from RCA
. In September 1940, Slutskin demonstrated the revised Zenit to the Red Army and Red Navy, detecting aircraft at ranges up to 25 km. This was the first full three-coordinate, radio-location system in the Soviet Union. However, the time required to measure the coordinates (distance, azimuth, and elevation) was too long for gun-laying in anti-aircraft batteries. Although not accepted by the military, the Zenit did show the way for further developments.
While the Zenit was being developed, there was major discord within the UPTI. The radio-location work at the LEMO was conducted in great secrecy, and other units of the UPTI objected to the lack of “freedom of scientific knowledge.” It was also learned that LEMP scientists were paid substantially more than other UPTI professionals. This resulted in a push to have LEMP become a totally separate organization. At this same time, Joseph Stalin
’s Great Purge
swept the nation, and the UPTI was a target. Many persons were arrested under charges of sabotage and two were executed by a firing squad. Slutskin and his LEMO staff, however, remained safe and turned to converting the Zenit to a new, improved system.
Germany started the invasion of the USSR in June 1941, and Kharkov was a primary target. In a short while, all of the critical operations in Kharkov were ordered to evacuate into the Far East. For this, the UPTI was split, most going to Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan
, and the LEMO to Bukhar in Uzbekistan
, separated by 1,500 km; thus the war accomplished what the scientists had earlier failed to do. The evacuation started in October 1941, but it was well into 1942 before facilities in Bukhara were in operation.
With Slutskin remaining the director, the new radio-location project was placed under Truten. Code-named Rubin, this system used an improved transmitter and receiver from Zenit, but had a single antenna, made possible by a device (a duplexer) personally developed by Truten. The times for determining coordinates were greatly reduced by displaying measurements on a cathode-ray tube. By August 1943, a prototype Rubin system was completed and transported to Moscow, where it was demonstrated in an anti-aircraft battery. While the Rubin was being developed, however, the USSR received a GL Mk II radar from the British. This was a well-tested, gun-laying system and was immediately reverse-engineered
and placed into production, thus eliminating the need for the Rubin.
As the war closed in the summer of 1945, both the UPTI and the LEMO returned to Kharkov (changed in spelling to Kharkiv), but remained fully separate organizations. Slutskin, then in his mid-60s, continued to head the LEMO as well as serving as a professor at Kharkiv State University. Earlier, in 1939, Slutskin had been elected as a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and in 1948, his status was upgraded to Academician
. Before he died in 1950, Slutskin gradually turned the LEMO leadership over to Truten and Usikov. In 1955, the LEMO became the Institute of Radio-Physics and Electronics (IRE), initially headed by Usikov.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. He was a pioneer in cavity magnetron development and the application of these devices in radio-location (radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
) systems.
Slutskin, a native of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, entered the Kharkov University (KU) in 1910. He received the Kandidat Nauk (Candidate of Science – approximately equivalent to the Ph.D. degree) from the Physics-Mathematics Department in 1916, and remained there as a docent
Docent
Docent is a title at some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks below professor . Docent is also used at some universities generically for a person who has the right to teach...
and researcher during the turbulent times of the Russian Revolution. In 1921, prominent physicist Dmitry Rozhansky started a research department of physics at KU. Slutskin joined this activity as soon as it was formed.
Rozhansky had a strong interest in high-frequency electromagnetic oscillations, and influenced Slutskin to begin research in this area. The earlier work on magnetrons by Albert Hull
Albert Hull
Albert W. Hull is most remembered for his early invention of the magnetron.-Education and early career:...
(American), August Žáček (Czech), and Erich Habann (German) was studied and improved, resulting in devices generating oscillations with wavelengths between 300 to 40 cm., (It is noted that Shteinberg was the supervisor of the research unit, and, by custom, his name was added as such.) During 1928-1930, Slutskin studied in Germany under Heinrich Barkhausen
Heinrich Barkhausen
Heinrich Georg Barkhausen , born at Bremen, was a German physicist.Born into a patrician family in Bremen, he showed interest in natural sciences from an early age...
at the Dresden Technische Hochschule
Dresden University of Technology
The Technische Universität Dresden is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony and one of the 10 largest universities in Germany with 36,066 students...
. While there, he published another important paper on magnetrons in Annalen der Physik
Annalen der Physik
Annalen der Physik is one of the oldest physics journals worldwide. The journal publishes original, peer-reviewed papers in the areas of experimental, theoretical, applied and mathematical physics and related areas...
, a highly respected and widely read German journal.
In 1928-1929, the Ukrainian Physico-Technical Institute (UPTI) was established as a Soviet research organization in Kharkov. (The Institute was later renamed Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, but the original name is used herein.) The primary staff, including Ivan V. Obreimov, the director, was transferred from the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute (LPTI), but the UPTI shared many senior personnel with KU. Upon his return from Germany, Slutskin was awarded the D.Sc. degree from KU, elevating him to the rank of professor. He was also added to the UPTI staff, heading a newly formed Laboratory of Electromagnetic Oscillations (LEMO). Here he continued with the development of magnetrons and other ultra-high-frequency (UHF) devices. At KU, his students included Aleksandr S. Usikov, Semion Y. Braude, and Ivan D. Truten, all of whom would later make major contributions in this field at the LIPT.
Under Slutskin’s leadership, research at the LEMO resulted in water-cooled magnetrons generating continuous power up to 17 kW at 80 cm, and a magnetron tunable over a 30 percent wavelength variation (only reported much later). Research was also performed on frequency control and pulsed modulation. Work on magnetrons and their applications was also underway at the LIPT, and the LEMO supplied their products to researchers in Leningrad. The development of the L-Band (15–30 cm, 2–1 GHz) magnetron gained the attention of the Technical Department of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. The UPTI was tasked to investigate magnetrons for use in radio-location (radar) units. From this, an un-cooled magnetron was developed that generated pulsed power up to 60 kW at 60 to 65 cm.
In March 1937, the LEMO started an internally funded project to develop a pulsed, electromagnetic, gun-aiming system. Slutskin was responsible for the overall project under the code name Zenit, the name of a popular football team at that time. Development of the pulsed, L-band transmitter was under Usikov, and Braude designed a superheterodyne receiver
Superheterodyne receiver
In electronics, a superheterodyne receiver uses frequency mixing or heterodyning to convert a received signal to a fixed intermediate frequency, which can be more conveniently processed than the original radio carrier frequency...
using a low-power magnetron as the local oscillator
Local oscillator
A local oscillator is an electronic device used to generate a signal normally for the purpose of converting a signal of interest to a different frequency using a mixer. This process of frequency conversion, also referred to as heterodyning, produces the sum and difference frequencies of the...
. This system, with transmitting and receiving antennas separated by about 50 m, was first tested in October 1938, detecting an aircraft at 3 km in its first version.
The receiver of the initial Zenit system was not sufficiently sensitive, and was redesigned by Truten using a 955 acorn triode from RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
. In September 1940, Slutskin demonstrated the revised Zenit to the Red Army and Red Navy, detecting aircraft at ranges up to 25 km. This was the first full three-coordinate, radio-location system in the Soviet Union. However, the time required to measure the coordinates (distance, azimuth, and elevation) was too long for gun-laying in anti-aircraft batteries. Although not accepted by the military, the Zenit did show the way for further developments.
While the Zenit was being developed, there was major discord within the UPTI. The radio-location work at the LEMO was conducted in great secrecy, and other units of the UPTI objected to the lack of “freedom of scientific knowledge.” It was also learned that LEMP scientists were paid substantially more than other UPTI professionals. This resulted in a push to have LEMP become a totally separate organization. At this same time, Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
’s Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
swept the nation, and the UPTI was a target. Many persons were arrested under charges of sabotage and two were executed by a firing squad. Slutskin and his LEMO staff, however, remained safe and turned to converting the Zenit to a new, improved system.
Germany started the invasion of the USSR in June 1941, and Kharkov was a primary target. In a short while, all of the critical operations in Kharkov were ordered to evacuate into the Far East. For this, the UPTI was split, most going to Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, and the LEMO to Bukhar in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
, separated by 1,500 km; thus the war accomplished what the scientists had earlier failed to do. The evacuation started in October 1941, but it was well into 1942 before facilities in Bukhara were in operation.
With Slutskin remaining the director, the new radio-location project was placed under Truten. Code-named Rubin, this system used an improved transmitter and receiver from Zenit, but had a single antenna, made possible by a device (a duplexer) personally developed by Truten. The times for determining coordinates were greatly reduced by displaying measurements on a cathode-ray tube. By August 1943, a prototype Rubin system was completed and transported to Moscow, where it was demonstrated in an anti-aircraft battery. While the Rubin was being developed, however, the USSR received a GL Mk II radar from the British. This was a well-tested, gun-laying system and was immediately reverse-engineered
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
and placed into production, thus eliminating the need for the Rubin.
As the war closed in the summer of 1945, both the UPTI and the LEMO returned to Kharkov (changed in spelling to Kharkiv), but remained fully separate organizations. Slutskin, then in his mid-60s, continued to head the LEMO as well as serving as a professor at Kharkiv State University. Earlier, in 1939, Slutskin had been elected as a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and in 1948, his status was upgraded to Academician
Academician
The title Academician denotes a Full Member of an art, literary, or scientific academy.In many countries, it is an honorary title. There also exists a lower-rank title, variously translated Corresponding Member or Associate Member, .-Eastern Europe and China:"Academician" may also be a functional...
. Before he died in 1950, Slutskin gradually turned the LEMO leadership over to Truten and Usikov. In 1955, the LEMO became the Institute of Radio-Physics and Electronics (IRE), initially headed by Usikov.
General references
- Erickson, John; “Radio-location and the air defense problem: The design and development of Soviet Radar 1934-40,” Social Studies of Science, vol. 2, pp. 241–268, 1972
- Tvrnov, O. F. and B. G. Yemets; “Fifty years of Kharkov University’s Department of Radio Physics,” Proc. of the IEEE International Crimean Conference, pp. 824–826, Sept. 2003
- Watson, Raymond C., Jr.; Radar Origins Worldwide: History of its Evolution in 13 Nations Through World War II, Trafford Publishing, 2009