Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov
Encyclopedia
Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov (born 13 February 1903 in Tarascha
Tarascha
Tarascha or Tarashcha is a city in the Kiev Oblast in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Taraschanskyi Raion .-History:...

 - died 3 February 1994 in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

) was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n physicist, director of the Kurchatov Institute
Kurchatov Institute
The Kurchatov Institute is Russia's leading research and development institution in the field of nuclear energy. In the Soviet Union it was known as I. V. Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy , abbreviated KIAE . It is named after Igor Kurchatov....

, academician (from 1953) and the President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1975–1986). By the end of his life he became the third most decorated man in the Soviet Union.

Anatoly Alexandrov was born on 13 February 1903 into the family of a prominent judge in the town of Tarascha
Tarascha
Tarascha or Tarashcha is a city in the Kiev Oblast in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Taraschanskyi Raion .-History:...

, Kiev Governorate
Kiev Governorate
Kiev Governorate , or Government of Kiev, was an administrative division of the Russian Empire.The governorate was established in 1708 along with seven other governorates and was transformed into a viceroyalty in 1781...

, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 (now located in modern-day Ukraine).

Alexandrov became prominent during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, when he devised in collaboration with Igor Kurchatov
Igor Kurchatov
Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov , was a Soviet nuclear physicist who is widely known as the director of the Soviet atomic bomb project. Along with Georgy Flyorov and Andrei Sakharov, Kurchatov is widely remembered and dubbed as the "father of the Soviet atomic bomb" for his directorial role in the...

 a method of demagnetizing ships to protect them from German mines
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

. The method was effective by the end of 1941 and was in active use through the end of the war and afterwards. Both Alexandrov and Kurchatov worked at the Ioffe Institute by that time (their laboratory separated from the Ioffe Institute and moved to Moscow in 1943 for the work on the Soviet atomic bomb project
Soviet atomic bomb project
The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb , was a clandestine research and development program began during and post-World War II, in the wake of the Soviet Union's discovery of the United States' nuclear project...

). Yevgeni Velikov said that Alexandrov was instrumental in developing the Soviet nuclear-powered fleet, both surface vessels and submarines. . Alexandrov is a member of Communist Party since 1962
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...

.

Alexandrov led the Soviet effort to develop Chernobyl
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant or Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant is a decommissioned nuclear power station near the city of Pripyat, Ukraine, northwest of the city of Chernobyl, from the Ukraine–Belarus border, and about north of Kiev. Reactor 4 was the site of the Chernobyl disaster in...

-type nuclear reactors. He advocated the use of graphite-moderated reactors like the one that exploded at the Chernobyl
Chernobyl
Chernobyl or Chornobyl is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, in Kiev Oblast, near the border with Belarus. The city had been the administrative centre of the Chernobyl Raion since 1932....

 nuclear power plant in 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...

 in 1986. Western scientists say such reactors do not meet international safety standards.

Described by colleagues as a brilliant scientist and organizer, he was deeply affected by the Chernobyl disaster
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...

, the worst nuclear accident in history. It killed at least 32 people and caused widespread radioactive contamination. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated as a result. The accident subsequently prompted the Soviet Government to review and suspend the ambitious nuclear power program.

Alexandrov died of cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...

 on 3 February 1994 in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

.

Honours and awards

  • Hero of Socialist Labour (1954, 1960, 1973)
  • Order of Lenin
    Order of Lenin
    The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...

    , nine times (1945, 1949, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1960, 1973, 1978, 1983)
  • Order of the October Revolution
    Order of the October Revolution
    The Order of the October Revolution was instituted on October 31, 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was awarded to individuals or groups for services furthering communism or the state, or in enhancing the defenses of the Soviet Union, military and civil...

     (1971)
  • Order of the Red Banner of Labour
    Order of the Red Banner of Labour
    The Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...

     (1945)
  • Medal for the Defence of Stalingrad
    Medal for the Defence of Stalingrad
    The Medal for the Defence of Stalingrad was established on December 22, 1942. It was designed to commemorate the deeds of all the soldiers and civilians who had actively fought in the defence of Stalingrad from the Germans, in the Battle of Stalingrad, between July 12 and November 19, 1942.The...

     (1945)
  • Medal for the Defence of Sevastopol
    Medal for the Defence of Sevastopol
    thumb|right|125px|Medal for the Defence of SevastopolThe Medal for the Defence of Sevastopol was established on December 22, 1942, and was awarded to all members of the Soviet Army, Navy, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and civil citizens who took part in the defense of Sevastopol during its siege by...

     (1945)
  • Lenin Prize
    Lenin Prize
    The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...

     (1959)
  • Stalin Prize (1942, 1949, 1951, 1953)
  • Diploma of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation (1993)
  • Kurchatov Medal
    Kurchatov Medal
    The Kurchatov Medal, or the Gold Medal in honour of Igor Kurchatov is an award given for outstanding achievements in nuclear physics and in the field of nuclear energy...

     (1968)
  • Lomonosov Gold Medal
    Lomonosov Gold Medal
    The Lomonosov Gold Medal, named after Russian scientist and polymath Mikhail Lomonosov, is awarded each year since 1959 for outstanding achievements in the natural sciences and the humanities by the USSR Academy of Sciences and later the Russian Academy of Sciences . Two medals are awarded...

     (1978)
  • Vavilov Gold Medal (1978)
  • XXXVIII Mendeleev Reader
    Mendeleev readings
    Mendeleev readings — a solemn act, the annual reports of leading Soviet/Russian scholars on topics affecting all areas of chemistry and its related sciences: physics, biology and biochemistry...

     (4 February 1982)
  • Order of Sukhbaatar (Mongolia, 1982)
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