History of Science and Engineering Annotation << Back Y.B. Khariton – chief designer of the Soviet atomic bomb Gorobets B.S. Professor Yuliy Borosovich Kharoton (1904–1996), a great Soviet chemical physicist, academician, thrice Hero of Socialist Labour (1949, 1951, 1954), winner of Lenin Prize (1956) and of three Stalin Prizes. Was awarded by Gold Lomonossov Medal and Gold Kurchatov Medal. In 1931, chief of the laboratory of physics of explosion in Semionov Institute of Chemical Physics. His main scientific oeuvres treat physics of combustion and explosion. In 1926 he discovered (with Z. Walta) branched chain reaction in experiment of oxiding phosphorous. Then Nikolay Semionov created the theory of this phenomenon soon developed into general theory of branched chain reactions, the base of chemical physics. In 1939–1941, Yu. Rhariton, Ya. Zeldovich and I. Gurevich were first physicists who clarified the possibility of the chain reaction of fission of uranium-235, and evaluated its crytical mass. From April, 1946, Khariton was Scientific Director and Chief Designer of the First Nuclear Center in the USSR, in Arzamas-16 (KB-11), now Sarov-town. In 1959, Khariton leaves the post of Chief Designer. He remained Scientific chief of the Nuclear center transformed, in 1966, into All-Union Scientific Research Institute (VNIIEF, in Russian abbreviation). Keywords: Yu.B. Khariton; V.K. Bobolev; atomic bomb; design office KB-11; VNIIEF; Sarov-town. Contacts: E-mail: bgorobets@rambler.ru Pp. 21-29.