PHYSICIST

Igor Kurchatov

1903 - 1960

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Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov (Russian: Игорь Васильевич Курчатов; 12 January 1903 – 7 February 1960), was a Soviet physicist who played a central role in organizing and directing the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons. As many of his contemporaries in Russia, Kurchatov, initially educated as a naval architect, was an autodidact in nuclear physics and was brought by Soviet establishment to accelerate the feasibility of the "super bomb". Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Igor Kurchatov has received more than 533,024 page views. His biography is available in 56 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 54 in 2019). Igor Kurchatov is the 166th most popular physicist (up from 171st in 2019), the 187th most popular biography from Russia (up from 227th in 2019) and the 7th most popular Russian Physicist.

Igor Kurchatov is most famous for his work in the field of nuclear physics. He was part of the Soviet team that worked on the first atomic bomb.

Memorability Metrics

  • 530k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 65.66

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 56

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.36

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.88

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Igor Kurchatov ranks 166 out of 851. Before him are Klaus Fuchs, Benoît Paul Émile Clapeyron, Louis Néel, Yang Chen-Ning, Kai Siegbahn, and Zhores Alferov. After him are Gerd Binnig, Joseph Rotblat, Melvin Schwartz, Shin'ichirō Tomonaga, Hans Georg Dehmelt, and George E. Smith.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1903, Igor Kurchatov ranks 27. Before him are Mustafa Barzani, Galeazzo Ciano, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Hugo Theorell, Hans Jonas, and Nikolai Podgorny. After him are Jiro Horikoshi, Fahri Korutürk, Karl Hanke, Raymond Queneau, George Beadle, and John Dillinger. Among people deceased in 1960, Igor Kurchatov ranks 13. Before him are Albert Kesselring, Wilhelm Pieck, Melanie Klein, Walther Funk, Amanullah Khan, and Fausto Coppi. After him are Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, Aloysius Stepinac, Said Nursî, Walter Baade, Victor Sjöström, and Héctor Castro.

Others Born in 1903

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Others Deceased in 1960

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In Russia

Among people born in Russia, Igor Kurchatov ranks 187 out of 3,761. Before him are Roman Abramovich (1966), Sophia Alekseyevna of Russia (1657), Ivan Bunin (1870), Marina Tsvetaeva (1892), Vladimir Solovyov (1853), and Seraphim of Sarov (1754). After him are Ivan I of Moscow (1288), Gotthard Heinrici (1886), Vladimir Propp (1895), Andrei Tupolev (1888), Grigori Perelman (1966), and Alexander Herzen (1812).

Others born in Russia

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Among PHYSICISTS In Russia

Among physicists born in Russia, Igor Kurchatov ranks 7. Before him are Gustav Kirchhoff (1824), Andrei Sakharov (1921), Wilhelm Wien (1864), Mikhail Lomonosov (1711), Arnold Sommerfeld (1868), and Pavel Cherenkov (1904). After him are Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov (1928), Igor Tamm (1895), Nikolay Basov (1922), Ilya Frank (1908), Pyotr Kapitsa (1894), and Vitaly Ginzburg (1916).

Russian born Physicists

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