Lev Artsimovich


Lev Andreevich Artsimovich was a Soviet physicist, academician of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, member of the Presidium of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and Hero of Socialist Labor.

Academic research

Artsimovich worked on the field of nuclear fusion and plasma physics.
From 1930 to 1944 he worked at the Ioffe Institute, and in 1944 he joined the "Laboratory number 2" for work on the Soviet atomic bomb project. From 1951 to his death in 1973, he was the head of the Soviet fusion power program.
He was known as "the father of the Tokamak", a special concept for a fusion reactor. Once Artsimovich was asked when the first thermonuclear reactor would start its work. He replied: "When mankind needs it, maybe a short time before that."
Under his guidance a thermonuclear fusion reaction was produced in the laboratory for the first time.
From 1963 to 1973 he was the vice-chairman of the Soviet Pugwash Committee and the chairman of the National Committee of Soviet Physicists.
He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1966. The crater Artsimovich on the Moon is named after him.

Honours and awards