Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Viktor Adamsky

PhysicistRussia

ScientistSoviet Atomic Bomb Program

Viktor Adamsky was a Soviet physicist.

After graduating from Moscow University in 1950, Adamsky was assigned to Sarov (also known as Arzamus – 16), a secret closed city, where he worked in the theoretical department.  Adamsky lived alongside other scientists such as Igor Tamm, Yuri Romanov, and Andrei Sakharov. As Adamsky described it, “There was enthusiasm. We worked well. We felt we were doing our duty. It was very interesting physics.”

Adamsky worked on the Soviet hydrogen bomb project. He helped design and was present for the Tsar Bomba test, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated. His detailed account of the Tsar Bomba test can be read here.

Related Profiles

Francis Birch

Los Alamos, NM

Francis Birch (1903-1992) was an American geophysicist. In 1942, Birch worked at the MIT Radiation Lab, which was tasked with radar development.

Ralph Nobles

Los Alamos, NM

Ralph Nobles was one of three brothers to work on the Manhattan Project. He and his brother William worked at Los Alamos, while brother Robert was at the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory.

Samuel Goudsmit

Alsos Mission

Samuel Goudsmit (1902-1978) was a Dutch-American physicist. In May 1944, Goudsmit became scientific director of the Manhattan Project’s Alsos Mission, a top-secret operation responsible for gathering intelligence on Germany’s atomic program.

Geoffrey F. Chew

Los Alamos, NM

Geoffrey Chew was an American physicist. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Chew graduated from high school at the age of 16.