Khariton, Julius Borisovich

His father, Boris Osipovich Khariton , was a well-known journalist, executive editor of the organ of the Constitutional Democratic Party , the newspaper Rech . He was expelled from the USSR in 1922 ^[1] , lived in Riga, after Latvia joined the USSR in 1940, he was sentenced to 7 years in prison and died two years later in camp ^{[2] [3]} .

Grandfather, Joseph Davidovich Khariton, was a merchant of the first guild in Feodosia ; the father’s sister, Etla (Adele) Iosifovna Khariton, was married to the historian Julius Isidorovich Hessen (their son is a journalist and screenwriter Daniil Yulievich Hessen ) ^{[4] [5]} . A cousin (son of his father’s other sister) is a journalist and correspondent for Izvestia David Efremovich Yuzhin (real surname Rakhmilovich; 1892-1939).

Mother, Mirra Yakovlevna Burovskaya (in the second marriage, Eitingon; 1877-1947), was an actress (stage name Mirra Birens), in 1908-1910 she played at the Moscow Art Theater ^{[6] [7]} .

Parents divorced in 1907 , when Yu. B. Khariton was a child, his mother remarried psychoanalyst Mark Efimovich Eitingon in 1912 and left for Germany , and from there in 1933 to Palestine ^{[4] [8] [9]} . Boris Osipovich raised his son himself.

Julius Borisovich Khariton was born in St. Petersburg on February 14 ( 27 ), 1904 into a Jewish family ^[10] .

From the age of 13, Julius Khariton worked at the same time as a student at a real school — a clerk, mechanic apprentice, and fitter ^[11] .

From 1920 to 1925, he was a student of the Electromechanical Faculty of the Polytechnic Institute , and from the spring of 1921, a physicomechanical one.

In 1921, he began research at the Physics and Technology Institute under the leadership of N. N. Semenov .

In 1926-1928 he trained at the Cavendish Laboratory ( Cambridge , England ). Under the guidance of Ernest Rutherford and James Chadwick, he received his Doctor of Science degree ( D.Sc., Doctor of Science ), the topic of the dissertation: “On the count of scintillations produced by alpha particles”. Upon returning from a business trip, together with G.M. Frank, he dealt with issues of mitogenetic radiation ; later returned to chemical kinetics - questions of the theory of explosives.

From 1931 to 1946 he was the head of the explosives laboratory at the Institute of Chemical Physics ; conducted research on detonation , combustion theory and explosion dynamics. In combination, he taught the general physics course at the Leningrad Industrial Institute and edited the journal Experimental and Theoretical Physics ^[12] .

Since 1935 - Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in the aggregate of his work.

In 1939-1941, Julius Khariton and Yakov Zeldovich first carried out the calculation of the chain reaction of uranium fission.

He participated in the atomic project since 1945, by order of the GKO of the USSR of August 20, 1945 No. 9887ss / s “On the special committee [on the use of atomic energy] in GKO”, was included in the Technical Council of the Special Committee ^[13] . He was composed of a group of scientists ( A.I. Alikhanov (chairman), L.D. Landau , A. B. Migdal , S. A. Reinberg , M. A. Sadovsky , S. S. Vasiliev, and A. P. Zakoshchikov ) at a meeting on November 30, 1945, it was instructed to analyze all available materials on the consequences of the use of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and determine the effectiveness of the blast wave factor, the thermal factor and the radiation factor ^[14] .

Since 1946, Khariton was the chief designer and scientific director of KB-11 (Arzamas-16) in Sarov at Laboratory No. 2 of the USSR Academy of Sciences . The best physicists of the USSR were involved in the work on the implementation of the nuclear weapons program under his leadership. In an atmosphere of strict secrecy, work was carried out in Sarov, culminating in the test of the first Soviet atomic ( August 29, 1949 ) and hydrogen ( August 12, 1953 ) bombs. In subsequent years, he worked on reducing the weight of nuclear charges, increasing their power and increasing reliability.

In 1955 he signed the " Letter of Three Hundred ." Member of the CPSU since 1956 .

Since 1946, he has been a corresponding member, since 1953, an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences . Member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 3-11 convocations.

He was one of the academicians of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR who signed in 1973 a letter from scientists to the newspaper Pravda condemning the "behavior of Academician A. D. Sakharov ." In the letter, Sakharov was accused of “making a number of statements defaming the state system, foreign and domestic policy of the Soviet Union”, and academics rated his human rights activities as “defaming the honor and dignity of the Soviet scientist” ^{[15] [16]} .

He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow (9th section).

• Wife - Maria Nikolaevna Khariton (nee Vulfovich, 1902–1972), actress of the “Balaganchik” theater; her sister Vera Nikolaevna was married to a translator V.I. Stenich , and in her second marriage to a doctor of economic sciences, professor A. A. Iotkovsky (1904-1977).
• Daughter - Tatyana Yulievna Khariton (1926-1985), historian, researcher at the Institute for Information Transfer of the USSR Academy of Sciences ^{[ specify ]} , the wife of Doctor of Philosophy Yu. N. Semenov (1925-1995).
• Grandson - Doctor of Biological Sciences Alexei Yuryevich Semenov (born 1951).

• three times Hero of Socialist Labor (10/29/1949; 12/08/1951; 04/01/1954)
• Six Orders of Lenin (10.29.1949; 09.11.1956; 03.03.1962; 02.27.1964; 02.26.1974; 02.24.1984)
• Order of the October Revolution (04/26/1971)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (06/10/1945) ^[17]
• Order of the Red Star (09.24.1944) ^[17]
• medals
• Lenin Prize (07/07/1956)
• Three Stalin Prizes (10/29/1949, 12/06/1951, 12/31/1953)
• Gold Medal named after I.V. Kurchatov ( 1974 )
• Grand Gold Medal named after M.V. Lomonosov ( 1982 )

• As a tribute to the scientist in the city of Sarov, annually from March 1, 2001, a scientific conference of schoolchildren from all over Russia is held: School Khariton readings.
• A bust of Yu. B. Khariton was installed in St. Petersburg on the Alley of Heroes of Moscow Victory Park.
• A memorial plaque was erected on house 9 on Tverskaya St. in which he lived in Moscow on November 28, 2004 (sculptor G. S. Pototsky).
• In 2004, a postage stamp of Russia dedicated to Khariton was released.
• In St. Petersburg there is Academician Khariton Street . A street with the same name is in Sarov.

• Khariton Yu. B., Shalnikov A.I. Condensation mechanism and colloid formation. - M .: GTTI , 1934 . - 66 p. - 2,000 copies.
• Khariton Yu. B., Smirnov Yu. N. Myths and reality of the Soviet atomic project. - Arzamas-16: VNIIEF, 1994. - ISBN 5-85165-057-5

• page of Yu. B. Khariton - Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk journal (see also here and here )
• Khariton Yuliy Borisovich // Big Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
• Hariton Star // Science and Life. - 2004. - No. 9 .
• Man of the Century : Julius Borisovich Khariton: Popular Science Edition / Ed. V. N. Mikhailova. - M: IzdAT, 1999 .-- 664 p., 48 p. silt - 3000 copies. - BBK 53 (09) . - UDC . - ISBN 5-866656-089 -5.
• Khramov Yu. A. Khariton Yuliy Borisovich // Physicists: Biographical Reference / Ed. A.I. Akhiezer . - Ed. 2nd, rev. and add. - M .: Nauka , 1983 .-- S. 288. - 400 p. - 200,000 copies. (per.)
• N. Fuchs. Book review by Yu.B. Khariton and A.I.Shalnikov "The mechanism of condensation and the formation of colloids" // Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk. - 1934. - No. 6 . - S. 819-820 .
• Andryushin I.A. Yuliy Borisovich Khariton: pages of a creative biography. - Sarov: RFNC-VNIIEF, 2014 .-- 283 p. - ISBN 978-5-9515-0260-5 .

• Profile of Julius Borisovich Khariton on the official website of the RAS
• Khariton, Julius Borisovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".