Valery Legasov: Difference between revisions

| children = 2<ref name="higginbotham">{{cite book |title= [[Midnight in Chernobyl|Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster]] |first= Adam |last= Higginbotham |year= 2019 |publisher= [[Simon and Schuster]] |isbn= {{Format ISBN|9781501134616}}978-1-5011-3461-6 |location= New York }}</ref>

Valery Alekseyevich Legasov was born on September 1, 1936, in [[Tula, Russia|Tula]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], into a family of civil workers.<ref name="newtimes">{{cite book|title=New Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_FVAAAAYAAJ|page=58|year=1996|publisher=New Times Publishing House}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UoPVBgAAQBAJ|title=Producing Power: The Pre-Chernobyl History of the Soviet Nuclear Industry|first1=Sonja D. |last1=Schmid|year=2015|isbn={{Format ISBN|9780262028271}}978-0-262-02827-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies|year=1988|page=24|title=The Current Digest of the Soviet Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=byrvAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> He attended secondary school in [[Kursk]].<ref name="newtimes" /> In 1949–1954, he attended School No. 56 in Moscow and graduated with a gold medal.<ref name="newtimes" /> While he was a shy student, he excelled in both academic work and social activities being elected secretary of his school's [[Komsomol]] committee.<ref name="legasova"/> During 1953, he proposed reforms to the Komsomol committee to address what he perceived as indifference and passivity of its members.<ref name="legasova">{{cite book|first=Margarita|last=Legasova|title=Academician Valery Alekseevich Legasov|publisher=Spektra|date=2010}}</ref> These ideas were quickly quashed by the authorities. His headmaster observed that Legasov "is a grown up man, a future statesman, a talented organizer. He can be a philosopher, а historian, an engineer..."<ref name="legasova"/> The school now bears his name, and his bronze bust stands at the entrance. For two years he worked as a released secretary of the [[Central Committee of the Komsomol]],{{Clarify|date=September 2023|reason=What is a "released secretary"?}} he was elected to the bureau of the Soviet District Committee of the Komsomol and to the Moscow City Committee of the Komsomol.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} In 1961, he graduated from the Faculty of Physicochemical Engineering at the [[D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia|Mendeleev Moscow Institute of Chemistry and Technology]],<ref name="Marples">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JJqvCwAAQBAJ|title=Ukraine under Perestroika: Ecology, Economics and the Workers' Revolt|first1=David|last1=Marples|page=21|year=1991|author-link1=David R. Marples|isbn={{Format ISBN|9781349108800}}978-1-349-10880-0}}</ref> where he learned how nuclear fuel is processed, handled and disposed of.<ref name="tapes"/>

Legasov married Margarita Mikhailovna and had two children, Inga Legasova and Aleksey Valeryevich Legasov.<ref>{{cite news |title=Как убивали академика Легасова, который провел собственное расследование Чернобыльской катастрофы |url=https://www.mk.ru/social/2017/04/25/kak-ubivali-akademika-legasova-kotoryy-provel-sobstvennoe-rassledovanie-chernobylskoy-katastrofy.html |work=www.mk.ru |language=ru}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Higginbotham |first1=Adam |title=[[Midnight in Chernobyl|Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster]] |date=2019 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn={{Format ISBN|9781501134616}}978-1-5011-3461-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/midnightincherno0000higg/page/423 423] |quote=Inga Legasova. |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Choiniere |first1=Alyssa |title=Valery Legasov: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know |url=https://heavy.com/news/2019/06/valery-legasov/ |website=Heavy.com |language=en |date=2 June 2019}}</ref> He also had two grandchildren, Misha and Valerik. In his personal life, he composed poetry and encouraged its publication.<ref name="chemistryandlife">{{cite magazine|magazine=Chemistry and Life|title=Academician Valera|date=1991}}</ref> He often visited the theater with his wife, having a love of reading Russian and foreign literature, particularly the works of [[Yuri Bondarev]].<ref name="legasova"/> He frequently made excursions with his wife and children by car and saw many parts of the country.<ref name="legasova"/> When on trips to other regions, sometimes as part of his scientific duties, he often visited the nearby cultural, artistic and religious sites.<ref name="legasova"/> Legasov was not religious but very interested in religious history and heritage.<ref name="legasova"/> Since December 1978, the Legasov family kept a high-bred pet [[chow-chow]].<ref name="legasova"/>

For around two years, Legasov worked as an engineer at the [[Siberian Chemical Combine]] in the city of [[Seversk|Tomsk-7]], as a shift supervisor. He took this role in order to gain practical experience that would be the basis for later research.<ref name="tapes"/> At [[Tomsk Polytechnic University]], he started researching gaseous [[uranium hexachloride]] in a [[gaseous fission reactor]].<ref name="tapes"/> However, news of progress made by [[Neil Bartlett (chemist)|Neil Bartlett]] in Canada caused Legasov to switch his interest to [[Noble gas compound|noble gas chemistry]].<ref name="tapes"/> In 1962, he joined the graduate school in the Department of Molecular Physics of the [[Kurchatov Institute|Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy]],<ref name="redatom">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3MJq8w8sKsC|title=Red Atom: Russia's Nuclear Power Program from Stalin to Today|last1=Josephson|first1=Paul R.|year=2005|isbn={{Format ISBN|9780822978473}}978-0-8229-7847-3}}</ref>{{rp|261}} first as a junior then senior researcher, and finally as head of the laboratory.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Bogunenko|first=N.|title=Heroes of the Atomic Project|publisher=Sarov|year=2005|isbn={{Format ISBN|5951500052}}5-9515-0005-2|pages=447–448}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> In 1967,{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} he defended his thesis at the Kurchatov Institute, under the supervisor [[Isaak Kikoin]], on the synthesis of compounds of [[noble gas]]es and the study of their properties{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}.<ref name='redatom'/>{{rp|261}} He received the degree of [[Candidate of Sciences|Candidate]] in 1967 and his [[doctorate]] in [[chemistry]] in 1972.<ref>{{cite book| author = {{nobr|Богуненко Н. Н.}}, {{nobr|Пилипенко А. Д.}}, {{nobr|Соснин Г. А.}} | title = Герои атомного проекта | edition = {{nowrap|3000 экз}} |location= Саров |date = 2005 |publisher= ФГУП «РФЯЦ-ВНИИЭФ» | page = 448 | isbn = 5-9515-0005-2| ref = Богуненко и др.}}</ref> At some stage, Legasov experienced face injuries and minor scarring as a result of chemical experimentation.<ref name="legasova"/>

In 1976, Legasov was elected a corresponding member of the [[Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Biographical Dictionary (in Russian)|publisher=Moscow State University|year=2004|isbn=5-211-05034-7|location=Moscow|page=448}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Zubacheva|first=Ksenia|date=2019-06-04|title=Who was Valery Legasov, the Soviet scientist that saved the world from Chernobyl?|url=https://www.rbth.com/history/330459-valery-legasov-chernobyl|access-date=2020-10-20|website=www.rbth.com|language=en-US}}</ref> From 1978 to 1983, he was a professor at the [[Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology]].<ref name="schmid">{{cite book |last1=D. Schmid |first1=Sonja |title=Producing Power: The Pre-Chernobyl History of the Soviet Nuclear Industry |date=2015 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn={{Format ISBN|978-0262028271}}0-262-02827-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/producingpowerpr0000schm/page/182 182] |url=https://archive.org/details/producingpowerpr0000schm|url-access=registration }}</ref> In 1981, he became a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, in the Department of Physical Chemistry and Technology of Inorganic Materials.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} He was a member of the Science and Technology Council of the [[Ministry of Medium Machine Building]].<ref name="tapes"/> From 1983 until his death, he worked as chair of the department of Radiochemistry and Chemical Technology at the Faculty of Chemistry at Moscow State University.<ref name="schmid"/> In 1983,<ref name="schmid"/> he became the first deputy director for scientific work of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ogYAAAAAMBAJ|title=A Soviet Expert Discusses Chernobyl|year=1987|journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|volume=43|issue=6|page=32|bibcode=1987BuAtS..43f..32L|last1=Legasov|first1=Valery|doi=10.1080/00963402.1987.11459553}}</ref> His colleague Yu. A. Ustynyuk said of Legasov: "His main quality, which set him sharply apart from all the great organizing scientists I knew, was his exceptional dedication to the cause. Work was the man, almost the only meaning of his life."<ref name="legasova"/>

As a national hero at the time of his death,<ref name="nadler"/> Legasov's suicide caused shockwaves in the Soviet nuclear industry.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} Extracts from his tapes were published in [[Pravda]] in May 1988.<ref name="ebel">{{cite book |last= Ebel|first= Robert E.|date= 1994|title= Chernobyl and Its Aftermath, A Chronology of Events|publisher= Center for Strategic & International Studies|page= 33|isbn={{Format ISBN|9780892063024}}978-0-89206-302-4}}</ref>

On 20 September 1996, Russian president [[Boris Yeltsin]] posthumously conferred on Legasov the honorary title of [[Hero of the Russian Federation]], the country's highest honorary title, for the "courage and heroism" shown in his investigation of the disaster.<ref>{{cite book|author=de Miranda, Paulo Emilio V. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e5t5DwAAQBAJ&q=valery+legasov+hero+of+the+russian+federation&pg=PA352 |title= Science and Engineering of Hydrogen-Based Energy Technologies|isbn = {{Format ISBN|9780128142523}}978-0-12-814252-3|date = 2018-11-12}}</ref>