Konstantin Petrzhak

Konstantin Petrzhak
Native name Константин Антонович Петржак
Born (1907-09-04)September 4, 1907
Łuków, Congress Poland, Russian Empire
(now Łuków, Poland, or in Dombrovo, now Kaliningrad oblast, Russia)
Died October 10, 1998(1998-10-10) (aged 91)
Russia
Residence
Nationality Pole
Fields Physics (Nuclear)
Institutions
Alma mater Saint Petersburg State University
Doctoral advisor Igor Kurchatov
Other academic advisors Vitaly Khlopin
Known for
Discovery of spontaneous fission


Soviet nuclear program

Notable awards

Konstantin Petrzhak (alternatively Pietrzak;[1] Russian: Константи́н Анто́нович Петржак; IPA: [kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɐnˈtonəvʲɪtɕ pʲɛdʐak]; 1907–1998) was a Soviet–Russian nuclear physicist and university professor of Polish origin. He discovered spontaneous fission of uranium with Georgy Flyorov in 1940; in addition, he also aided in Soviet Union's atomic bomb project .[2]

Biography

Konstantin Petrzhak was born on 4 September 1907[3] in Łuków (Congress Poland, Russian Empire, now in Poland; another source also states he was born in Dombrovo, now Kaliningrad oblast. When Konstantin was 12 years old, he started working as a painter at a glass-making factory in Malaya Vishera (Russia). In 1928, he went to Saint-Petersburg to study at the rabfak of Saint Petersburg State University (then called Leningrad State University). In 1931, he joined a radiology group there.[4] Konstantin Petrzhak completed his diploma under the supervision of Igor Kurchatov[5] and graduated from Saint Petersburg State University in November 1936.

In 1934 he began work at Khlopin Radium Institute in Saint Petersburg (First Radium Institute),[5] headed by Igor Kurchatov. Vitaly Khlopin and Kurchatov were his scientific supervisors. He worked there for the rest of his life.[6] Konstantin Petrzhak wrote his Candidate of Sciences thesis, "study of thorium and samarium radioactivity".[7][8] under Kurchatov's guidance. Petrzhak presented this paper at the Ioffe Institute.[9]

In 1939, Igor Kurchatov asked Petrzhak and Georgy Flyorov to study uranium fission induced by neutrons of different energy levels, following Yakov Frenkel's[10] theory of fission. Georgy Flyorov and [[Tatiana Nikitinskaya]] had already made an ionization chamber to detect heavy particles. Kurchatov asked Flyorov, Nikitinskaya and Petrzhak to increase the sensitivity of the ionization chamber.[11] The team created a multilayer ionization chamber to detect decay products originating from the fission of uranium.[12][13] The ionization chamber utilized electrodes with a total surface area of about 1000 cm2.[14] The chamber's 15 plates[15] were covered with uranium oxide with approximate surface density of 10–20 mg/cm2.[12] The detector compared particle activity to a background level control.[16] When the source of neutrons was taken away, the detector still found particles. The team made three ionization chambers to prove that the effect was not an error, including a more sensitive chamber with a surface area of 6000 cm2. Despite the instrument's high sensitivity, cosmic rays were still a possible source of particle activity. The team moved to an underground lab in the Dinamo station of Moscow Metro (about 50 m below the earth surface)[17] in an attempt to rule out the effects of cosmic rays. In May 1940, they were confident that they had discovered spontaneous fission.[18] The certificate of discovery stated, "the new type of radioactivity with mother nucleus decays into two nuclei, that have kinetic energy of about 160 MeV".[19][20] Later, the discovery of spontaneous fission was confirmed by Otto Robert Frisch.[21]

In 1940, Petrzhak was recommended for the top team in the soviet atomic bomb project.[22] He is rumored to have participated in said project.

When the Soviet Union entered World War II, Petrzhak was eligible to serve in the Red Army. Winning the Stalin Prize would exempt him from front line service. In the early 1940s, the Academy of Sciences of USSR nominated him for the award, which he did not receive.[23] Sources disagree on whether Petrzhak volunteered,[9] or was drafted[24] into the army.

Petrzhak served in the military intelligence company of a CIWS regiment first as a junior lieutenant,[25] and later as a senior lieutenant.[26][27] On 28 June 1941, he participated in the battle of Karelian Isthmus. Later, he fought in Volkhov Front.[24] In March 1942 he was ordered to leave the army[6] and join evacuated Radium Institute scientists in Kazan.

In 1943, Petrzhak studied neutron induced fission of uranium under the supervision of professor Piotr Lukirski. In 1944, Petrzhak proposed a method to determine the number of neutrons present during a nuclear reaction, based on the number of protons. He also participated in the development of technology to extract plutonium from irradiated uranium blocks. Jointly with M. Yakunin, Petrzhak developed methods for the radiochemical determination of plutonium, and found the mean free path of Pu-239 alpha particles. Petrzhak founded a laboratory of neutron physics and nuclear fission at the Khlopin Radium Institute in 1947. He was the head of this laboratory until 1986,[3] when he became a part-time contractor.

In 1949, Petrzhak was appointed a member of the Uranium Commission of the USSR Academy of Sciences.[28] He was one of the founders of the Engineering faculty of the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology.[29] Petrzhak founded the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology department of nuclear physics in 1949,[3] and remained its chair for 22 years.[30] In 1958, he supervised Vladimir Georgievich Korsakov's diploma work.[31]

Konstantin Petrzhak created an express method to detect plutonium and associated radioisotopes in samples of irradiated uranium.[3] From 1963 to 1976, he published a series of articles on the measurement of photofission.[32][33] From 1973 through 1984, he took part in measuring induced fission cross-sections of U-238, U-235 and Pu-239 when irradiated by monoenergy neutrons[34][35] In 1978, Konstantin Petrzhak co-authored a paper (with Yuri Oganessian and others) about synthesis of hassium performed in JINR.[36]

Petrzhak was doktor nauk (since 1948) and a professor. He was never elected an academician or the corresponding member of any academy, but Petrzhak was a member of Nuclear Physics Department of Russian Academy of Sciences.[37] According to SCOPUS, Konstantin Petrzhak has 59 publications with Hirsch index 6.[38] Konstantin Petrzhak published articles on fission products from nuclear reactors[39] until his death in 1998. He died on October 10, 1998 and was buried in Saint Petersburg.

Personal life

Konstantin Petrzhak studied painting. He created paintings throughout his life. He used his skills in painting when he covered the plates of ionization chamber with uranium which later led to discovery of spontaneous fission. He was also an amateur violin and guitar player.[40] Konstantin Petrzhak married Galina Ivanovna Mitrofanova (b. 1918), also a radiochemist.

Awards

Selected works

Notes

  1. ↑ Константин Антонович Петржак (Konstantin Pietrzak). Ядерная физика в Интернете (in Russian). Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  2. ↑ Petrzhak KA, Flerov GN (1940). "Spontaneous fission of uranium". Proc USSR Acad Sci. 28 (6): 500.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Konstantin Petrzhak" Константин Петржак. Russian Engineers (in Russian). 2010.
  4. ↑ Драпчинский, Л.В. К 100-летию со дня рождения К.А. Петржака [To 100-year anniversary of K. A. Petrzhak]. Семейные истории. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  5. 1 2 Асташенков 1968, p. 92.
  6. 1 2 Konstantin Petrzhak obituary
  7. ↑ Гринберг, А.П.; Френкель, В.Я. (1984). Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov in Ioffe Institute (1925-1943) Игорь Васильевич Курчатов в Физико-техническом институте (1925-1943 гг.). Ленинград: Наука. p. 181. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  8. ↑ Иоффе, А. Ф. (1985). "Открытие молодых советских ученых". О физике и физиках [About physics and physicists] (PDF). Наука. Мировоззрение. Жизнь (2 ed.). Ленинград.: Наука. Ленинградское отделение. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  9. 1 2 Гапонов Ю. В. (2003). Игорь Васильевич Курчатов (1903-1960). Жизненный путь (К столетию со дня рождения) [Igor Vasilievich Kurchatov (1903-1960). Life way (to 100th anniversary)]. Физика элементарных частиц и атомного ядра. 34 (3): 530.
  10. ↑ Отто Ган [Otto Hahn] (in Russian).
  11. ↑ Асташенков 1968, p. 93.
  12. 1 2 Мухин 1974, p. 477.
  13. ↑ Oganessian, Yuri (2003). Г. Н. Флёров. Молодые годы [G. Flyorov. Early years] (DOC) (in Russian).
  14. ↑ Кузнецова, Р.В. Многослойная ионизационная камера [Multilayer ionization chamber]. Приборы и инструменты России (in Russian). p. 15.
  15. ↑ Мухин 1974, p. 478.
  16. ↑ Flerov GN, Petrzhak KA (1961). Спонтанное деление ядер [Spontaneous fission of nuclei] (PDF). Physics-Uspekhi (in Russian). LXXIII (4): 657.
  17. ↑ Асташенков 1968, p. 96.
  18. ↑ Paul Kuroda (2012). "The Origin of the Chemical Elements and the Oklo Phenomenon". Springer Science & Business Media. p. 32. ISBN 3642686672.
  19. ↑ Открытие спонтанного деления урана [Discovery of spontaneous fission in uranium] (in Russian).
  20. ↑ Флеров, Петржак – Научное открытие №33 Спонтанное деление ядер урана [Flerov, Petrzhak - Scientific discovery №33. Spontaneous fission of uranium]. Научные открытия России (in Russian). Archived from the original on 25 January 2012. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  21. ↑ Гончаров Г. А.; Рябев Л. Д. (2001). О создании первой отечественной атомной бомбы [About the creation of the first national atomic bomb] (PDF). УФН (in Russian). 171 (1): 83.
  22. ↑ Создание первой атомной бомбы в СССР [Works on creation of the first atomic bomb in USSR]. "BioFile.ru" (in Russian).
  23. ↑ Губарев, B.C. (2000). XX век. Исповеди: судьба науки и ученых в России. [20th century. Confessions: the destiny of science and scientists of Russia.] (in Russian). М.: МАИК "Наука/Интерпериодика". ISBN 5-7846-0034-6. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  24. 1 2 Рояль эмоций, Творцы - ч. 170 [Grand piano of emotions. Creators, part 170] (in Russian). Archived from the original on October 31, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  25. ↑ РФЯЦ-ВНИИЭФ 2000, p. 426.
  26. ↑ Зенькович, Николай (2004). Тайны ушедшего века. Власть. Распри. Подоплека [Mysteries of the passing century. Power. Arguments. Causes.] (in Russian). Moscow: ОЛМА Медиа Групп. ISBN 5224046769. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  27. ↑ Крюков, С.Г. Достоин ли А. Сахаров почестей? [Whether A. Sakharov is worth ceremonial?]. Своими именами (in Russian). Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  28. ↑ А.С. Дудырев; А.А. Копырин; Б.А. Лавров; А.А. Малыгин; В.Н. Нараев; А.А. Персинен; В.И. Штанько (2008). Наукоемкие технологии в начале XXI века [High technologies at the beginning of 21th century] (PDF). Известия Санкт-Петербургского государственного технологического института (in Russian) (4(30)): 80.
  29. ↑ Выпускники и преподаватели [Alumni and Faculty]. Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology (in Russian).
  30. ↑ История кафедры [History of department]. Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology (in Russian).
  31. ↑ Сырков, А.Г.; Малыгин, А.А.; Сычев, М.М. (2014). К 80-летию со дня рождения профессора В.Г. Корсакова [On 80 years of V. G. Korsakov]. Известия Санкт-Петербургского государственного технологического института (in Russian) (24(50)): 104.
  32. ↑ Kondrat'ko, M. Ya.; Korinets, V. N.; Petrzhak, K. A. (1976). "Dependence of asymmetry in the photofission of 233U and 239Pu on the maximum bremsstrahlung". Soviet Atomic Energy. 40 (1): 83–84. doi:10.1007/BF01119404.
  33. ↑ Петржак, К.А.; Кондратько, М.Я.; Никотин, О.П.; Теплых, В.Ф. (1963). Запаздывающие нейтроны при фотоделении [Delayed neutrons during photofission] (in Russian). 15: 157–158.
  34. ↑ Алхазов, И.Д.; Касаткин, В.П; Косточкин, О.И.; Малкин, Л.З.; Сорокина, A.B.; Петржак, К.А.; Фомичёв, A.B.; Шпаков, В.И.; Румянцев, Б.В.; Соколов A.M. (1974). "Измерение сечения деления 238U нейтронами с энергией 14,6 МэВ" [Measurements of cross-sections of U-238 fission when irradiated with neutrons of energy 14.5 MeV]. Нейтронная физика, Материалы II Всесоюзной конференции по нейтронной физике, Киев, 1973 [Neutron physics, proceedings of II USSR conference on neutron physics, Kiev, 1973] (in Russian). 4. Обнинск. pp. 13–17.
  35. ↑ Dushin, V. N.; Fomichev, A. V.; Kovalenko, S. S.; Petrzhak, K. A.; Shpakov, V. I.; Arl't, R.; Iosh, M.; Muziol', G.; Ortlepp, Kh.-G.; Vagner, V. (1983). "Statistical analysis of experimental data on the cross sections of 233, 235, 238U, 237Np, 239,242Pu fission by neutrons of energy 2.6, 8.5, and 14.5 MeV". Soviet Atomic Energy. 55 (4): 656–660. doi:10.1007/BF01124127.
  36. ↑ Оганесян, Ю.Ц.; Тер-Акопьян, Г.М.; Плеве, А.А.; Чепигин, В.И.; Орлова, О.А.; Зайдель, В.; Селицкий, Ю.А.; Фунштейн, В.Б.; Брухертзайфер, Х.; Константинеску, О.; Шварценберг, М.; Гаврилов, К.А.; Коваленко, С.С.; Петржак, К.А. Опыты по синтезу 108 элемента в реакции 226Ra + 48Ca [Experiments on synthesis of 108th element in reaction 226Ra + 48Ca] (PDF) (in Russian).
  37. ↑ "Members of Nuclear Physics Division of Physical Sciences Department of Russian Academy of Sciences". High Energy and Nuclear Physics in Russia.
  38. ↑ K. A. Petrzhak SCOPUS
  39. ↑ Teplykh, V. F.; Platygina, E. V.; Petrzhak, K. A. (1998). "Range of products with A=131–136 in the reactor neutron fission of 237Np, 243Am by and thermal neutron fission of 233U, 235U, and 239Pu". Atomic Energy. 84 (4): 292–294. doi:10.1007/BF02415238.
  40. ↑ Холодная, Варвара (5 June 2009). Не пропусти! [Do not miss]. Вечерний Петербург (in Russian) (102 (23946)). Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  41. ↑ "Russian discovery of atomic secrets". The Canberra Times. 20 (5869). January 29, 1946. p. 1.

References

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