History and tribute to V. Mokhov

Abstract

Vladislav Nikolaevich Mokhov, an outstanding scientist, Doctor of Science in Physics and Mathematics, professor, died on December 27, 2011 after long time of severe disease. Before this illness he was Deputy Scientific Leader of the All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (VNIIEF). V.N. Mokhov was born on April 12, 1931 in the town of Atkarsk, Saratov region, Russia. In 1955, after graduation from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, he in a group of the most brilliant and talented young theoreticians was selected by Academicians Ya.B. Zel'dovich and A.D. Sakharov for work on the nuclear weapons program at VNIIEF. In 1963, he was awarded the Lenin Prize for the development of new principles and new approaches to nuclear and thermonuclear weapons design and controlled fusion; in 1964, he received the degree of Candidate of Science, and four years later, the degree of Doctor of Science. V.N. Mokhov was always inspired by challenging projects that required teamwork of theoreticians, designers, and experimentalists. His major scientific and practical results include: Development of the theory of turbulent mixing in layered structures at intense compression. The results obtained are relevant for studying the processes occurring in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets.; Ignition of thermonuclear fuel by its heating with fast compression, which was and continues to be very important for the development of a number of special-purpose nuclear charges and fusion targets.; Development of “clean” nuclear charges for peaceful applications (jointly with the team of colleagues).; The new approach to the controlled thermonuclear fusion - the MAGO (MAGnitnoye Obzhatiye, or magnetic compression) - was proposed and developed jointly with his team. V.N. Mokhov considered MAGO to be a system that now made it possible to achieve the scientific breakeven point for fusion without the large initial capital investment that is required by the two more conventional approaches, magnetic confinement fusion and ICF.; Investigation of physical properties of materials at high energy densities provided by explosive magnetic flux compression generators (EMG). Jointly with his team, V.N. Mokhov proposed and developed methods of this investigation, obtained novel results on dynamic strength of a number of materials (aluminum, copper, polyethylene). In 1998, he and some of his colleagues were awarded the RF Government Prize for the development of EMGs and their application for scientific investigations. V.N. Mokhov was one of the pioneers of scientific cooperation between US and Russian nuclear laboratories. This mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries produced extremely interesting scientific results obtained during joint research activities, including more than 20 series of experiments, and published in more than 400 papers and presentations. Equally important is that he was a true friend of many US scientists, and this friendship between people from different countries and trust in each other made the world better. V.N. Mokhov was a very interesting person having his original opinion on nearly any issue - whether related to science, history or politics. Many of his ideas on these issues were reflected in his papers available to a broad public and in his book “Nuclear Weapons and Safe Stable World. These ideas were extremely up-to-date in due time, and they continue to be relevant these days.