Tamm physicist. Igor Evgenievich Tamm short biography. last years of life

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Tamm Igor Evgenievich(1895-1971), Russian theoretical physicist, founder scientific school, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953), Hero of Socialist Labor (1953). Proceedings on quantum theory, nuclear physics (the theory of exchange interactions), radiation theory, solid state physics, physics elementary particles. One of the authors of the Cherenkov-Vavilov radiation theory. In 1950, he proposed (together with A. D. Sakharov) to use heated plasma placed in a magnetic field to obtain a controlled thermonuclear reaction. Author of the textbook "Fundamentals of the Theory of Electricity". State Prize of the USSR (1946, 1953). Nobel Prize (1958, jointly with I. M. Frank and P. A. Cherenkov). Golden medal them. Lomonosov Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1968). Without a doubt, the biography of the theoretical physicist Igor Evgenievich Tamm is the clearest example of selfless service to science.

1. Family. Years of study

Father, Evgeny Fedorovich, an engineer, worked in different cities of Russia - in Vladivostok, where he participated in the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway (there is still the Evgenievka station named after him near Vladivostok), Odessa, Elizavetgrad (now Kirovograd, Ukraine), Kyiv . Mother, Olga Mikhailovna, nee Davydova, came from a military family. In 1913 Tamm, after graduating from a gymnasium in Elizavetgrad, entered the University of Edinburgh. Parents, fearing their son's excessive passion for politics and "revolutionary ideas", wanted him to study abroad. However, in 1914, Tamm transferred to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University, from which he graduated in 1918. His studies were interrupted by a voluntary trip to the front as a "brother of mercy" (March-September 1915) and participation in the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets in June 1917 (party delegate Mensheviks). In 1917, Tamm married Natalya Vasilievna Shuiskaya.

2. Scientific career

After graduating from Moscow State University, Tamm taught physics at the Tauride University (Simferopol), and then at the Odessa Polytechnic Institute (1919-22). Here, under the guidance of L. I. Mandelstam, whom Tamm considered his teacher all his life, he performed the first Scientific research. In 1922, Tamm moved to Moscow and in 1924 was invited to head the Department of Theoretical Physics at Moscow State University (he taught until 1941 and in 1954-57). In 1929 he published the textbook Fundamentals of the Theory of Electricity (10th edition in 1989), which was widely known and translated into many languages.

Since 1934, after the Academy of Sciences moved to Moscow, Tamm worked at the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1935, he organized the Theoretical Department at the Institute, which he led until the end of his life (since 1971, the department has been named after Tamm).

In 1933, Tamm was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in 1953, an academician. In 1946 and 1953 he was awarded the State Prize, in 1953 he received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, in 1958 - Nobel Prize.

3. Contribution of I. E. Tamm to physics

The main areas of Tamm's scientific work relate to quantum mechanics, solid state physics, radiation theory, nuclear physics, elementary particle physics, as well as to solving a number of applied problems.

In 1930, Tamm created the quantum theory of light scattering by crystals and the theory of light scattering by electrons. In 1931 he (together with S. P. Shubin) developed the quantum theory of the photoelectric effect in metals. This direction also includes works in which the possibility of special states of electrons on the surface of a crystalline body (the so-called Tamm levels, 1932) was shown. These works subsequently acquired great importance in connection with the development of the physics of surface phenomena and microelectronics.

In 1937, together with I. M. Frank, Tamm created the theory of Cherenkov-Vavilov radiation (Nobel Prize).

In 1934 and 1936 Tamm published works on the nature of nuclear forces, which influenced the solution of the problem of strong interactions. In the field of nuclear physics, the method of interpreting the interaction of nuclear elementary particles (the Tamm-Dankov method, 1945) has also become widely known. In applied physics, the work done in 1950-53, jointly with AD Sakharov, on confining and thermally insulating plasma with the help of magnetic fields was the most famous (see Controlled thermonuclear fusion).

In 1948, Tamm, despite the questionable personal data by the standards of that time (his brother, L. E. Tamm, a chemical engineer, was shot in 1937 as an “enemy of the people”), as well as a number of his employees were involved in the creation nuclear weapons(in 1950-53 Tamm lived and worked in the closed city of Arzamas-16). This was a consequence of both his high scientific reputation and the reputation of Tamm's school.

Among his students are S. P. Shubin, V. L. Ginzburg, L. V. Keldysh, M. A. Markov, and A. D. Sakharov.

A characteristic feature of the Tamm scientist is the desire to do the most topical issues physics. This desire was associated with his inherent courage - both in scientific work (choosing a topic, approach to solving a problem, etc.) and in life. The work captured Tamm entirely. In any conditions - at meetings, at home, in transport, on hiking trips - he pondered the problems that worried him, engaged in calculations. With such a preoccupation with science, he did not experience failure too keenly and quickly switched to the search for new approaches to solving the problem.

Tamm's social temperament and adherence to principles were clearly manifested in the 1950s and 60s, when he took an active part in the fight against "Lysenkoism" in biology. In 1956, at his insistence, the department of biophysics was created at the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University; the problems of pursued genetics were often discussed at the all-Moscow seminar headed by Tamm at the Physics Institute. During these years, Tamm repeatedly and openly made presentations and statements about the pernicious role of T. D. Lysenko in biology, about the pseudo-scientific nature of his theories. In connection with this activity, N. V. Timofeev-Resovsky wrote: “... I. E. was not only a charming person, but also a full-fledged personality who inspired absolute confidence in everyone. ... I. E. in my memory has been preserved among individuals unusually gifted with diverse abilities and temperament, but equally great scientists, such as Einstein, Bohr, Rutherford, Dirac, Schrödinger.

The significance of Tamm's personality for Russian physicists was determined by A. D. Sakharov: “People of my generation first learned the name of I. E. Tamm as the author of a wonderful course in the theory of electricity - for many it was a revelation ... At the same time, we heard the rumblings of battles for the theory of relativity, for quantum theory, there were captivating rumors about I.E.'s mountaineering and tourist hobbies. By this time, I.E. was already the author of many outstanding original works ... By the end of the 30s, the name of I.E. who did not know him personally) was surrounded by a halo - not in the supernatural, but in just a high human sense. In him, along with Landau, Soviet theoretical physicists saw their well-deserved and recognized head ... "

4. Last years of life

At the end of 1968, Tamm became seriously ill (atrophy of areas spinal cord responsible for the muscular activity of the diaphragm). An operation was performed to connect the body to the device artificial respiration. For the first one and a half to two years, Tamm was still actively working: remaining "connected" to the apparatus, he sat down at his desk and worked out for 5-6 hours a day. At that time, he was fascinated by the problems of field theory, constantly communicated with the staff of his department, and was interested in the news of physics, biology, and politics. In 1968, Tamm was awarded the highest award of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR - a gold medal named after
M. V. Lomonosov. The report due to the laureate at the general meeting of the Academy, written by Tamm, was read by A. D. Sakharov at his request. In the last year of his life, Tamm could no longer work at his desk, but, staying in bed, he was engaged in science to the end, carried out calculations.

Literature

1. Gernek F. Pioneers of the Atomic Age. - M.: Progress, 1974.
2. Illustrated encyclopedic Dictionary. - M, 1995.
3. Kudryavtsev P. S. Course in the history of physics. - M.: Enlightenment, 1974.
4. Cholakov V. Nobel Prizes. - M.: Nauka, 1984.

theoretical physicist, one of the developers of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953). Hero of Socialist Labor (1953). Twice winner of the State Prize of the USSR (1946, 1953); winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics (1958).

Igor Evgenievich Tamm was born on July 8, 1895 on the very edge of Russia - in Vladivostok. Soon the family moved to Ukraine, to Elisavetgrad (later Kirovograd), where Igor Evgenievich's father was appointed "manager of the water supply and electric lighting of the city" (in late XIX century, this position was respected and highly paid). Here engineer Tamm launched a tram in the city and designed a power plant.

In 1913, Igor graduated from high school and went to study at the Faculty of Exact Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Such was the will of the father, who wanted his son to be as far away as possible from the Russian students, who were delirious with revolutionary ideas. After studying in Scotland for a year, Igor moves to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. During the First World War, his studies were repeatedly interrupted - he volunteered for the front as a civilian medical service. From the war, Igor Evgenievich returns as a revolutionary (his father's bad presentiment came true), a member of the Menshevik Party. He even participates in the work of the First Congress of Soviets as a delegate from Elisavetgrad.

In 1918, I.E. Tamm graduated from the university and was left at the physics department to prepare for a professorship. But a year later he was again in Ukraine: graduates were sent to teach physics in the cities that had just been liberated from the Whites. Tamm taught first at the Tauride University in Simferopol, then at the famous Odessa Polytechnic Institute. Here he meets with the outstanding physicist L.I. Mandelstam. The friendship that began between the two scientists will last for a lifetime.

Research work of I.E. Tamma began in Odessa. In 1922 he returned to Moscow, already having his own areas of interest in theoretical physics in the field of macroscopic electrodynamics. Igor Evgenievich published his first work at the age of 29. During this period, Tamm's work was devoted to the quantum theory of light scattering in crystals, general relativity, and field theory.

By the mid-1930s, the theoretical physicist I.E. Tamm made perhaps his largest discoveries: he created the theory of light scattering in crystals, in particular, Raman scattering, in which lattice vibrations were successively quantized for the first time and the concept of a quasiparticle (photon) appeared; put forward a consistent theory of the scattering of light by electrons; theoretically predicted the surface levels of an electron in a crystal - "Tamm levels"; prepared fundamental work on the photoelectric effect in metals; developed the theory of beta forces between nucleons.

Since 1924, I.E. Tamm taught at Moscow University, from 1930 to 1941. Igor Evgenievich Tamm - Professor of Moscow State University, Head of the Department of Theoretical Physics. In 1933 he became a doctor of science and a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Tamm would be elected an academician only twenty years later, after the death of the "leader of the peoples" (the Menshevik past had an effect).

By 1937, the collaboration of I.E. Tamm with a group of physicists who discovered the amazing effect of the glow of an electron moving in a liquid at great speed. This phenomenon was called the Vavilov-Cherenkov effect, thereby perpetuating the names of the experimenters who discovered it. It took two more theorists to explain the nature of this radiation. They were Ilya Frank and Igor Tamm. In 1958, P. Cherenkov, I. Frank, and I. Tamm were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for this work. The presentation of the world's highest scientific award to three Soviet scientists at once (the first and only case in the history of the Nobel Prize) was a clear recognition of the achievements of Soviet physical science.

In 1945, I.E. Tamm organized a department of theoretical physics at the newly created Moscow Engineering Physics Institute and headed it for several years.

When in 1943 scientists began to create an atomic bomb, I.E. Tamm was not immediately admitted to secret nuclear affairs. The reason is personal data and personal hostility of the almighty A.A. Zhdanov. In 1946, Tamm was brought in to consider some questions that were more or less "safe" from the point of view of secrecy. This is how his work “On the width of the front of a shock wave of high intensity” appeared.

In 1948, by order of the USSR government, a group of researchers was created at FIAN to develop a hydrogen bomb - RDS-6s. Thanks to the assistance of I.E. Tamm led this group. Two months later, two of the three fundamental ideas that formed the basis of a thermonuclear charge were formulated.

In 1950 I.E. Tamm, together with and came to Arzamas-16, where he headed the theoretical department and continued work on the RDS-6s. In May 1952, he was appointed head of the sector. The role of I.E. Tamm was very significant in the formation and implementation of the basic ideas for creating the first hydrogen bomb. Of great importance was not only the undisputed authority of I.E. Tamm as a physicist, but above all his exceptional intuition in supporting promising directions, rigor in evaluating the results obtained, the ability to see and protect talented scientists and his art of figuratively and popularly expressing the most complex ideas.

June 15, 1953 I.E. Tamm, and signed the final report on the development of the RDS-6s. The theory was put into practice on August 12, 1953 at the Semipalatinsk test site. The atomic charge RDS-6s became the world's first compact thermonuclear charge. Tamm participated in the trials, but at the beginning of 1954 he returned to Moscow, transferring the “case” to A. Sakharov.

The main thing was that the work on the first thermonuclear charge created a scientific and technical reserve, which ensured further progress in the design of thermonuclear weapons.

Contribution of I.E. Tamm, the creation of the RDS-6s was highly noted by the government: he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and became a laureate of the Stalin Prize.

In Moscow, I.E. Tamm went to work at the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he worked until the end of his life. After completing research on defense topics, I.E. Tamm began to study the fundamental problems of elementary particle physics. The last works of Igor Evgenievich were "for the soul": he tried to systematize elementary particles, developed the idea of ​​quantizing the space-time of the microworld. Being always at the forefront of science, I.E. Tamm was extremely sensitive to the most "crazy" ideas. No wonder he participated in the work of the academic commission on ... the problem of the "Bigfoot".

The total number of scientific works of I.E. Tamma numbers in the hundreds. In addition, his achievements include the creation of the Soviet school of theoretical physicists, to which many outstanding scientists belong.

The main hobby of I.E. Tamm after physics was mountaineering. Master of Sports of the USSR, Igor Evgenievich went to the mountains until the age of seventy.

In the 1960s, I.E. Tamm was an active participant in the Pugwash movement of scientists. In 1966, he signed a letter from 25 cultural and scientific figures to the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I. Brezhnev against the rehabilitation of Stalin.

Tamm Igor Evgenievich - theoretical physicist, head of the sector of the design bureau No. 11 (Arzamas-16), academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

Born June 26 (July 8), 1895 in Vladivostok. The son of a civil engineer who worked on the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway line. From a German family that moved to Russia in the middle of the 19th century. In 1898, the family moved to the city of Elizavetgrad, Kherson province (then Kirovograd, now Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine).

He graduated from the Elizavetgrad Gymnasium in 1913. In 1913 he went to study at the University of Edinburgh (Great Britain), completed his first year at the faculty exact sciences. In the early summer of 1914 he returned home and entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. In 1915 he volunteered to join the Russian imperial army, for several months he was at the front of the First World War as part of a sanitary detachment. At the insistence of his family, he returned to Moscow and continued his studies. Graduated from Moscow University in 1918. Actively participated in the revolutionary events of 1917, belonged to the faction of the Menshevik-Internationalists, was a delegate to the 1st Congress of Soviets.

In 1919, Tamm began his career as an assistant in the Department of Physics at the Crimean University in Simferopol. Since 1921 - a teacher at the Odessa Polytechnic Institute under the guidance of the outstanding physicist L.I. Mandelstam, who had an exceptionally strong influence on the young scientist. Since 1922 - in Moscow, teacher and assistant professor (since 1923) of the Communist University named after Ya.M. Sverdlov (until 1925). At the same time, since 1923, he worked at the Faculty of Theoretical Physics of the Second Moscow State University and held a professorship there in 1927-1929. In addition, since 1924, Tamm simultaneously taught at the Moscow state university(supernumerary teacher, from 1926 - assistant professor, in 1930-1941 and from 1954 to 1957 - professor).

In this period scientific activity Tamm developed the quantum theory of light scattering in solids (1930) and the theory of light scattering by electrons (1930). In the field of quantum theory of metals, together with S.P. Shubin, he created the theory of the photoelectric effect in metals (1931). Theoretically, he showed the possibility of the existence of special states of electrons on the surface of crystals ("Tamm levels", 1932), which subsequently formed the basis for explaining various surface effects in crystals.

In 1930, Tamm became a professor and head of the Department of Theoretical Physics at Moscow State University (until 1937). When the Academy moved from Leningrad to Moscow in 1934, Tamm became the head of the department of theoretical physics at the P.N. Lebedev Academic Institute (later the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences), a post he held until the end of his life. Tamm studied the electrodynamics of anisotropic solids(that is, those that have a variety of physical properties and characteristics) and optical properties of crystals. Turning to quantum mechanics, in 1930 Tamm explained acoustic vibrations and the scattering of light in solid media. In his work, the idea of ​​quanta of sound waves was first expressed. Tamm explained the photoelectric emission of electrons from a metal, that is, the emission caused by light irradiation. He found that electrons near the crystal surface can be in special energy states, later called Tamm surface levels. Tamm and S. Altshuller predicted that the neutron, despite the absence of a charge, has a negative magnetic moment.

In 1934, Tamm tried to explain, using his beta theory, the nature of the forces that hold the particles of the nucleus together. According to this theory, the decay of nuclei, caused by the emission of beta particles, leads to the appearance of a special kind of force between any two nucleons. He discovered that beta forces do exist, but are too weak to act as "nuclear glue". Tamm later developed this quantitative theory of nuclear forces mathematically according to the scheme on which the modern meson theory of nuclear forces was created.

In 1936-1937, physicists Igor Tamm and Ilya Frank proposed a theory explaining the nature of radiation, which Pavel Cherenkov discovered by observing refractive media exposed to gamma radiation. Tamm and Frank considered the case of an electron moving faster than light in a medium. Although this is not possible in a vacuum, this phenomenon occurs in a refractive medium. Thus, I. Tamm became one of the creators of the Cherenkov-Vavilov radiation theory.

In 1943-1950 - Head of the Department of Theoretical Physics of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. In 1946-1950 - Head of the Department of Theoretical Physics of the Moscow Mechanical Institute. In 1945 he developed an approximate method for interpreting the interaction and nuclear elementary particles (the Tamm method). In 1946, Igor Tamm was involved in the creation of the first atomic bomb in USSR. According to some publications, the issue of this was decided back in 1943, but then, due to the nationality of the scientist, his candidacy was rejected. In particular, Tamm worked on the study of the nature of a high-intensity shock wave.

In 1948, the task of creating a hydrogen bomb arose. At the suggestion of I.V. Kurchatov, I.E. Tamm organized a group to study this issue, although many scientists did not even believe in the fundamental possibility of creating such a weapon. However, already in 1950, such a task was set, and with extremely strict deadlines for solving it. Tamm, with a group of employees of the Physical Institute, was transferred to KB-11 in the city of Arzamas-16, now Sarov, as the head of the department, in May 1952 he was appointed head of the sector.

Using the ideas developed since 1948, Academician Tamm's group, in particular, young employees V.L. Ginzburg and A.D. Sakharov, put forward several most important original and elegant proposals, which made it possible to create such a bomb in the shortest possible time. In particular, a method was proposed to contain the gas discharge using powerful magnetic fields, a principle that still underlies the desired achievement of a controlled thermonuclear reaction (nuclear fusion). The first Soviet hydrogen bomb was successfully tested on August 12, 1953. It is noteworthy that, unlike the American hydrogen bomb, first tested in November 1952, the domestic one operated according to a different scheme and was a complete device, quite ready for practical use.

"For exceptional services to the state in the performance of a special task of the Government" Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 4, 1954 (with the heading "secret") Tamm Igor Evgenievich He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.

In early 1954, Academician I.E. Tamm returned to Moscow and worked at the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences until the end of his life. In 1954-1957 he was again a professor at Moscow State University. The author of the fundamental course "Fundamentals of the Theory of Electricity" (1929), which was reprinted 8 times during the author's lifetime, was translated into many languages ​​of the world. Total scientific papers I.E.Tamma numbers in the hundreds. He created a school of theoretical physicists, to which many outstanding Soviet and Russian scientists belong.

Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953). Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1934). Member of the Bureau of the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1957-1959). Member of the Bureau of the Nuclear Physics Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1963-1970). Member of the editorial board of the journals "Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR" (1963-1969) and "Nuclear Physics" (1964-1971). Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (1934).

In 1958, Tamm, Frank, and Cherenkov were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their research on the theory of Cherenkov-Vavilov radiation. The presentation of the world's highest scientific award to three Soviet scientists at once (the first and only case in the history of the Nobel Prize) was a clear recognition of the achievements of domestic physical science.

I.E. Tamm was elected a member of many scientific academies of the world: full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1959), ordinary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1959), honorary member National Academy Sciences and Arts USA (Boston, 1961), honorary member of the National Academy of Sciences in New York (USA, 1970), member of the German Academy of Naturalists "Leopoldina" (GDR, 1964). Gold medal named after M.V. Lomonosov Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1968).

Since the mid-1960s, he was seriously ill, for several years he was connected to a forced breathing device, but continued to conduct scientific work until the last days of life. Lived in the hero city of Moscow. Died April 12, 1971. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow (plot 7).

He was awarded 4 orders of Lenin (09/19/1953, 01/04/1954, 09/11/1956, 07/07/1965), the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (06/10/1945), the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" (1946), other medals.

Winner of two Stalin Prizes of the USSR (1946, 1953). Nobel Prize (1958).

Monument to I.E. Tammu opened in Vladivostok. The name of Academician I.E. Tamm was given to a square in Moscow. Memorial plaques to the scientist are installed on the building of the Lebedev Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, on the building of the former gymnasium in the city of Kirovograd, where he studied, and also on the building of the All-Russian Research Institute experimental physics in the city of Sarov Nizhny Novgorod region. In 1995 Russian Academy Sciences established the I.E. Tamm Prize. The theoretical department of the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is named after him.

When talking about the meetings of the period of Stalinism, the question immediately arises about the sincerity of the speakers. The answer essentially depends on how these people perceived the idea and practice of socialism. G.S. Landsberg and I.E. Tamm got into one denunciation that came from the walls of Moscow State University, not in vain. They were close to the very emergence of Mandelstam's school at Moscow University. The very invitation to Mandelstam began with Landsberg's letter to him in the summer of 1924, which, in particular, stated:

"According to the deep conviction of many of us, you are the last hope for the improvement of the Physical Institute of Moscow University. Only the appearance of such a person as you can initiate the formation of a circle of people who are willing and able to work, put an end to the endless intrigues that have completely saturated the entire soil of the institute. There is a large group of students who yearn for real scientific guidance and, despite their youth, are already disillusioned with the current leaders of the institute.

The people who entered this circle were not united by a political orientation. This is convincingly evidenced by the memorandum to the Central Committee "On the political situation at Fizmat 1 of Moscow State University", compiled in the fall of 1929 by professional philosophical overseer A.A. Maksimov. In this denunciation, together with general scientific assessments"main professorial groups" - A.K. Timiryazev, V.K. Arkadiev and L.I. Mandelstam, surprisingly accurate, determines their attitude towards Soviet power.

About Tamm it is said: "quite loyal." And about Landsberg: "the right is set." This difference, supplemented by the peculiarities of temperament, also affected the behavior at the Fianovsky meeting in 1937. Landsberg was much more concise:

“I categorically declare that any kind of accusation that I am trying to keep something quiet is a lie. I cannot provide any evidence in this regard, of course, because you cannot prove that you do not know something ".

In university studies, Landsberg showed no less obstinacy. When whistle-blower enthusiasts at Moscow State University saw Hessen's sabotage in the "defects" of the curriculum, Landsberg adamantly declared that he had drawn up the program himself.

It was harder for Tamm, because he believed that the government was building a socialist society, the idea of ​​​​which was dear to him from early youth. However, he did not accept the Soviet practice of the 37th sample. This is evidenced by the speech at the Fianovo meeting of his former graduate student D.I. Blokhintsev, who had replaced Tamm as head two weeks earlier. Theoretical department of NIIF MSU:

“I have known Igor Evgenievich for a long time, since 1929, I met him extremely often, and I had to talk with him on a wide variety of topics, not only scientific, but also political. And I must say that I never heard from Igor Evgenievich that I could not even catch a hint in his words, which could be called not Soviet.Meanwhile, I must say that I can not say this about all workers, because often, simply because of the red in a word, people tend to be sarcastic. And my attitude towards Igor Evgenievich was definite: I could vouch for him as a completely Soviet scientist. A series of events took place here, which are all fairly well known ... In the beginning, I misjudged Gessen's activities, and in my time I talked a lot about this with him.He himself said here that Hessen's inactivity was explained by a neurasthenic state, by psychological factors.

It had long been clear to me that there was much that was unfavorable in Gessen's activities, although I did not attach any political significance to this. Now Igor Evgenievich understands political significance these ideas, but he came to this rather late. The events with my brother seemed to make the situation even worse. I must say that the question really arose in me: how could a person who came into contact with his brother not be able to catch in him at least one or another anti-Soviet nuance? For me it remains a mystery. But I don’t think that Igor Evgenievich could know everything, because one can consider his act crazy when, after the list of witnesses was published, where his brother appears, he could go and say: “I vouch for my brother!”.

It is striking that 1937 did not destroy Tamm's faith in socialism. Indeed, a week after the Fianovsky asset, he learned that Semyon Petrovich Shubin (1908-1938), his beloved student, who headed the theoretical department of the Ural Physicotechnical Institute, had been arrested in Sverdlovsk. In May, Alexander Adolfovich Witt (1902-1938), a professor at Moscow State University and a prominent representative of the Mandelstam school, was arrested. In August - the remarkable Leningrad theorist Matvey Petrovich Bronstein (1906-1938), whom Tamm was an opponent in defending his doctoral dissertation. Thirty years later, summing up the results of the development of theoretical physics over half a century of Soviet power, Tamm noted the untimely death of these three - "exceptionally brilliant and promising" theoretical physicists.

The same trait seems to have determined one of the key components in the birth of the Soviet thermonuclear bomb, which, as is known, was invented at FIAN in 1948.

Igor Tamm

Nobel Prize in Physics in 1958 (shared with Pavel Cherenkov and Ilya Frank). The wording of the Nobel Committee: "for the discovery and interpretation of the Cherenkov effect."

Surprisingly, Igor Tamm received his award far from the main research and discoveries in his life, moreover, his Nobel students are now much more famous than he himself. But during his lifetime, Tamm was the same legend as Landau, perhaps not as shocking.

We can say that his last name was "speaking." There are three versions of its origin. The most common is from the Estonian word tamm, oak. In addition, in German it is "dam, dam." Another etymology is from short form personal name Tancmar - from words with the meanings "to think" and "famous". Not bad, right?

His father was a military builder. In Vladivostok, where the future Nobel laureate was born, he ended up because he built mills for the needs of Pacific Fleet. When Igor was six years old, the family made a long journey and moved to the territory of modern Ukraine, to Elizavetgrad (now Kirovograd). There Igor graduated from high school, and there he became addicted to the main youth fashion of that time - politics and Marxism. Parents, out of harm's way, sent the child to study at the University of Edinburgh ... And the boy finally became a Marxist.

Vladivostok in 1880

Wikimedia Commons

For some time, the future scientist was more involved in politics than physics, but the war happened, and Tamm, who was already studying at Moscow University, went to the front in 1915 as a brother of mercy. However, Tamm returned a few months later and graduated from the university in 1918. By that time, our hero had already married (to the sister of a classmate Natalia Shuiskaya) and joined the Mensheviks. However, he did not seem to become a member of the party.

Tamm left to teach - first to Simferopol, to the Tauride University (by the way, one of Tamm's students at that time was a certain Igor Kurchatov), ​​and then to Odessa. There's a lot on my mind young man has changed.

This happened thanks to Leonid Mandelstam, who taught at the Odessa Polytechnic University. It was the meeting with Mandelstam that showed Tamm that politics is nothing and physics is everything. Tamm maintained a relationship with his teacher until the latter's death in 1944.

Leonid Mandelstam

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However, there is a tale going around, according to which, just at the time civil war and the Odessa period of Tamm's life, everything could end. It was published in Walter Gratzer's book "Eurekas and Euphorias", it was told from the words of Tamm himself by another "physicist from Odessa", Georgy Gamov.

“During the Civil War, the future Nobel Prize winner in physics, Igor Tamm, was captured by one of Makhno's gangs. He was taken to the ataman - "a bearded man in a high fur hat, who had machine-gun belts crossed on his chest, and a pair of hand grenades dangled from his belt."

You son of a bitch, communist agitator, why are you undermining Mother Ukraine? We will kill you.

Not at all, Tamm replied. - I am a professor at Odessa University and came here to get at least some food.

Bullshit! - exclaimed the ataman. - What kind of professor are you?

I teach mathematics.

Mathematics? - asked the ataman. - Then find me an estimate for the approximation of the Maclaurin series by the first n terms. If you decide, you will go free, if not, I will shoot you.

Tamm could not believe his ears: the task belonged to a rather narrow area higher mathematics. With trembling hands and at gunpoint, he managed to deduce the solution and showed it to the ataman.

Right! - said the ataman. - Now I see that you really are a professor. Well then, go home.

Tamm never knew the ataman's last name.

In 1922, Tamm came to Moscow and worked at the Sverdlov Communist University (there was one from 1918 to 1937). I managed to complete a six-month internship in Germany and Holland, made friends with, met with. By the way, one of the very first scientific works of Tamm was devoted to the theory of relativity.

Gradually, Tamm began teaching at Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, but he was afraid to go into "pure science", since they paid little money in it. The wife helped - she began to sell family jewels. Very quickly, Tamm began full-fledged work in science and already in 1930 for the first time put forward the idea of ​​sound wave quanta - phonons. In 1933, Tamm had already become a corresponding member (at the age of 38 - very good), in 1934 - the head of the sector physical institute named after Lebedev (now FIAN).

Russian stamp dedicated to Tamm and phonons

public domain

In 1934, Tamm - also for the first time - put forward the idea that the forces that hold the particles of the nucleus together (strong interaction) are of an exchange nature. True, unlike Hideki Yukawa, who a year later suggested that the particles that carry the strong interaction are mesons, and subsequently received the Nobel Prize for this himself, Tamm believed that the particles that carry the interaction are electrons and neutrinos.

In 1936-1937, Tamm, together with Ilya Frank, explained what caused the very strange Vavilov-Cherenkov effect, opened by paul Cherenkov in the laboratory of Sergei Vavilov as the luminescence of liquids under the action of gamma radiation.

Cherenkov radiation in a nuclear reactor

public domain

They suggested that the glow occurs when some particle moves in the medium at a speed exceeding the speed of light in it. And they built a correct theory of this phenomenon. Now we know that, for example, the bluish glow of radioactive substances in water is caused by the fact that electrons during beta decay move at a speed exceeding 225 thousand kilometers per second - the speed of light in water.

It is amazing that this work was done at a time when trouble happened in the Tamm family: his brother, a major engineer who worked in the Donbass, was shot. 1937…

Ilya Frank

Wikimedia Commons

For some time, the Tamm sector was liquidated, but the scientist himself was not touched. He was even invited to work on the creation atomic weapons, but reluctantly, and he did not have access to the most secret information. In 1948, however, Tamm's group began work on a more powerful thermonuclear weapon. First, theoretical research, then, in 1950, he left for Arzamas-16 - Sarov. With him are two of the best students, Vitaly Ginzburg and Andrei Sakharov.

At the same time, Tamm managed from 1947 to 1949 to work as a professor at the Faculty of Physics and Technology of Moscow State University, on the basis of which the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology was subsequently created.

Tamm was in Arzamas-16 until the very test of the "product" in 1953 (he personally participated in the work), while he was engaged not only in the bomb. If we don’t talk about chess and Agatha Christie (Igor Evgenievich passionately loved detective stories), then in parallel with the work on the bomb, already in 1950, together with Sakharov, they proposed the principle of magnetic plasma confinement during a thermonuclear reaction, which still underlies working thermonuclear reactors , including the currently under construction ITER.

One more important achievement of Tamm should be mentioned. It is thanks to him that the university learning programs in physics entered quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity.

Unfortunately, the last years of Igor Evgenievich's life were very difficult, and not because of problems with the authorities. He fell ill and was terminally ill. In the entire history of medicine, only two people were able not only to recover, but not to die from this disease. One of them is a world famous physicist who has recently left us. Alas, not every great scientist can cope with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In 1971, Tamm, who had been forced to live on a ventilator for three years, died (his illness spurred the development of domestic ventilators, and they were also imported into our country from abroad). They say that he tried to work to the last - this remained the only opportunity for "movement" for him and helped Tamm not feel like a "butterfly on a pin."

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