The way it was

Abstract

A remarkable conference was held in Dubna, 60 miles north of Moscow on the River Volga. At Dubna, founded in the late 1940s as a center of research in nuclear and high-energy physics, over 130 papers were presented on the history of the Soviet nuclear project from 1943 to 1954. Some presentations were made by foreign guests, but the overwhelming majority of papers were presented by Russian historians and participants in the nuclear project providing a great deal of new information. The conference initiative came from a group of historians and scientists who had organized a regular seminar on the history of the Soviet project the previous two years. The Russian Academy of Sciences, the Kurchatov Institute, and the Ministry of Atomic Energy agreed to provide formal sponsorship. Many excellent papers were presented. The conference organizers hope to publish the proceedings in English as well as in Russian although that plan appears to be in doubt for lack of funds. Perhaps a foundation will provide the necessary support, so that historians will have access to this important historical material. One panel included three papers on the development of Soviet thermonuclear weapons. Two papers provide a new level of insight intomore » the Soviet effort to build thermonuclear bombs.« less