Konstantin Petrzhak
Konstantin Petrzhak | |
|---|---|
Константин Антонович Петржак | |
K. A. Petrzhak, photo from the archive of Radium Institute | |
| Born | Konstantin Antonovich Petrzhak September 4, 1907 |
| Died | October 10, 1998 (aged 91) |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Citizenship | Russia |
| Alma mater | Leningrad State University |
| Known for | Discovery of spontaneous fission Soviet atomic bomb project |
| Awards | Stalin Prize (1950) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | Khlopin Radium Institute |
| Thesis | Study of thorium and samarium radioactivity (1948) |
Konstantin Antonovich Petrzhak (alternatively Pietrzak; Russian: Константи́н Анто́нович Пе́тржак, IPA: [kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɐnˈtonəvʲɪtɕ ˈpʲedʐək], Polish: [ˈpjɛt.ʂak]; 4 September 1907 – 10 October 1998), D.Sc., was a Russian physicist of Polish origin, and a professor of physics at the Saint Petersburg State University.
Receiving credit with Georgy Flyorov, a physicist, for the fundamental discovery of spontaneous fission of uranium in 1940, Petrzhak's career in physics was then spent mostly in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons. Konstantin Petrzhak was among of Soviet pioneers in nuclear physics research.