View source for Abram Alikhanov

{{Short description|Soviet nuclear physicist (1904–1970)}}
{{Family name hatnote|Isaakovich|Alikhanov|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Abram Alikhanov
| image             = Абрам Исаакович Алиханов.jpg
| image_size        =
| caption           = Alikhanov in 1948
| birth_name        = Abraham Alikhanian
| birth_date        = {{OldStyleDate|4 March|1904|20 February}}
| birth_place       = [[Elizavetpol]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age |1970|12|08 |1904|03|04|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Moscow]], [[Soviet Union]]
| fields            = [[Particle physics|Particle]] and [[nuclear physics]]
| workplaces        = [[Ioffe Institute|Physical-Technical Institute]] (1927–1941)<br/>[[Kurchatov Institute|Laboratory no. 2]] (1943–1945)<br/>
[[Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics]] {{nowrap|(1945–1968)}}
| education         = 
| alma_mater        = [[Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University|First Polytechnic Institute]]
| thesis_title      = <!--(or  | thesis1_title =  and  | thesis2_title = )-->
| thesis_url        = <!--(or  | thesis1_url  =   and  | thesis2_url  =  )-->
| thesis_year       = <!--(or  | thesis1_year =   and  | thesis2_year =  )-->
| doctoral_advisor  = <!--(or  | doctoral_advisors = )-->
| academic_advisors = 
| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students  = 
| known_for         = 
[[Soviet atomic bomb project]]<br>founder of [[Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics|ITEP]]
| signature         = <!--(filename only)--> 
}}

'''Abram Isaakovich Alikhanov''' ({{respell|ahl|eek|ahn|off}};<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rhodes |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Rhodes |title=Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb |date=1995 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=0-684-80400-X |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=f113iCcn87wC&dq=Alikhanov&pg=PA671 671]}}</ref> {{langx|ru|Абрам Исаакович Алиханов}}, [[Birth name|né]] '''Alikhanian'''; {{OldStyleDate|4 March|1904|20 February}}{{spaced ndash}}8 December 1970) was a Soviet [[experimental physicist]]<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> of Armenian origin who specialized in [[particle physics|particle]] and [[nuclear physics]]. He was one of the Soviet Union's leading physicists.

Before joining the [[Soviet atomic bomb project]], Alikhanov studied [[X-rays]] and [[cosmic rays]]. Between 1945 and 1968, he directed the [[Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics]] (ITEP) in Moscow, which was named after him in 2004. He led the development of both the first research and the first industrial [[heavy water]] [[Nuclear reactor|reactors]] in the Soviet Union. They were commissioned in 1949 and 1951, respectively. He was also a pioneer in Soviet [[Particle accelerator|accelerator]] technology. In 1934 he and [[Igor Kurchatov]] created a "baby [[cyclotron]]", the first "cyclotron" operating outside of Berkeley, California. He was the driving force behind the construction of the 70 [[GeV]] [[U-70 (synchrotron)|synchrotron in Serpukhov]] (1967), the largest in the world at the time.

His brother, [[Artem Alikhanian]], was based in [[Soviet Armenia]] and led the [[Yerevan Physics Institute]] for many years.

==Early life==
Alikhanov was born '''Abraham Alikhanian''' ({{langx|hy|Աբրահամ Ալիխանյան}}){{efn|Abram is Russian for his Armenian name Abraham. He was born ''Alikhanian'' and [[Russified]] his last name to ''Alikhanov'' in Leningrad.<ref name="Frenkel"/><ref name="NYT"/>}} on {{OldStyleDate|4 March|1904|20 February}} in Elizavetpol (today [[Ganja, Azerbaijan]]) to [[Armenians|Armenian]] parents.{{refn|<ref name="isaran"/><ref name="Frenkel"/><ref name="Abov"/><ref name="UspekhiObit"/><ref name="NYT"/>}} His father, Isahak Alikhanian (d. 1925),<ref name="isaran"/> was a [[railroad engineer]] (train driver) in the [[Transcaucasus Railway]], while his mother, Yulia Artemevna (''[[née]]'' Sulkhanova), was a [[housewife]].<ref name="isaran"/><ref name="Frenkel"/><ref name="UspekhiObit"/> His younger brother, [[Artem Alikhanian]] (1908–78), was also a noted physicist.<ref name="Frenkel"/><ref name="NYT"/>{{efn|The geneticist [[Sos Alikhanian]] is often erroneously called their brother.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nazaretyan |first1=Hovhannes |title=Պետական մեդիան և «Վիքիպեդիան» սխալ տեղեկություն են տարածում. Ալիխանյան եղբայրների հայրը դերասան Ալիխանյանը չէ |url=https://fip.am/21949 |website=fip.am |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606085701/https://fip.am/21949 |archive-date=6 June 2023 |language=hy |date=28 February 2023}}</ref>}} They had two sisters: Araksia (b. 1906) and Ruzanna (b. 1913).<ref name="isaran"/><ref name="Frenkel"/> His family lived in Alexandropol (today [[Gyumri]]) in 1912–13, where Abram attended a commercial college.<ref name="isaran"/> The family then moved to Tiflis (today [[Tbilisi]]), where they lived until 1918. They again moved to live in Alexandropol until the [[Turkish–Armenian War]] of 1920. They returned to Tiflis and Abram graduated from a Tiflis commercial college in 1921.<ref name="isaran"/><ref name="Frenkel"/><ref name="UspekhiObit"/> He then enrolled in the [[Georgian Technical University|Polytechnic Institute of Tiflis]], but, for the most part, did not study in order to financially support himself and his family.<ref name="Abov"/> He worked as a cashier and telephone operator.<ref name="isaran"/>

==Early career in Leningrad (1927–41)==
In 1923 Alikhanov moved to [[Leningrad]] and enrolled in the chemistry department of the [[Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University|Polytechnic Institute]].<ref name="Abov"/> In 1924 he transferred to the department of physics and mechanics, founded by [[Abram Ioffe]]. Besides Ioffe, other prominent scientists taught there, including [[Nikolay Semyonov]] and [[Yakov Frenkel]].<ref name="isaran"/> In 1925–27 he worked at the [[:ru:Больница Петра Великого|Mechnikov Hospital]] as a [[radiographer]].<ref name="isaran"/> He graduated in 1929.<ref name="isaran"/>

===X-rays (1927–33)===
In 1927 Alikhanov began working part-time at the [[Ioffe Institute|Physical-Technical Institute]] in Leningrad as a researcher focusing on [[X-rays]], [[X-ray crystallography#X-ray diffraction|X-ray diffraction]], and [[solid-state physics]].<ref name="isaran"/><ref name="UspekhiObit"/> In 1929 he published his first paper on the use of X-ray analysis in investigating the crystal structure of the [[Aluminium bronze|copper-aluminium alloy]].<ref name="UspekhiObit"/><ref name="isaran"/> In 1929, after graduating from the Polytechnic Institute, he was employed by the Physical-Technical Institute full-time.<ref name="isaran"/> He began a long-time collaboration with his younger brother, [[Artem Alikhanian|Artem]], and [[Lev Artsimovich]] in 1930.<ref name="isaran"/> Under the supervision of [[:ru:Лукирский, Пётр Иванович|Pyotr Ivanovich Lukirskii]], head of the X-ray laboratory, Alikhanov and Artsimovich studied [[X-ray optics]] from 1930 to 1933.<ref name="isaran"/><ref name="Frenkel"/> Results included a "study of total internal reflection of X-rays from thin layers of various substances."<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> He showed that [[aluminium]] does not undergo [[Allotropy|allotropic]] transformation when X-rayed at 550–600&nbsp;°C. He also did a "study of the total internal reflection of X rays from thin layers and the estimation of the depth of their penetration into the medium. Alikhanov also proved that the laws of classical optics can be applied to the reflection of hard X rays."<ref name="Frenkel"/> Alikhanov summarized the results in a 1933 monograph titled ''X-Ray Optics'' (Оптика рентгеновских лучей).<ref name="Abov"/><ref name="isaran"/>

===Nuclear physics (1933–41)===
[[File:Alihanov Kurchatov Ioffe.jpg|thumb|Ioffe, Alikhanov and Kurchatov in the early 1930s]]

Alikhanov switched to [[nuclear physics]] in 1933, following the discovery of the [[neutron]] and the [[positron]] in 1932.<ref name="isaran"/><ref name="Abov"/><ref name="UspekhiObit"/> [[Abram Ioffe]] appointed Alikhanov head of the positron laboratory at the Department of Solid-State Physics at the Physical-Technical Institute.<ref name="Abov"/><ref name="isaran"/> His group studied [[pair production]] and [[gamma ray]]s and made observations of positrons using [[Geiger counter]]s. According to Viktor Frenkel, their work became a "starting point for the application of radio engineering to experimental nuclear physics in the Soviet Union."<ref name="Frenkel"/>

Abov wrote that in 1933–34 Alikhanov and his colleagues were the "first to study in detail the spectrum of positrons from external pair conversion over the entire energy range. Among other things, they showed that, in accord with relevant theoretical results, the maximum of the spectrum occurs in the vicinity of the positron energy equal to half the endpoint energy."<ref name="Abov"/> He added, "those investigations made it possible to reveal gamma lines that had previously been unknown, whereby it was possible to reconstruct the diagrams of decays of excited nuclei."<ref name="Abov"/>

They went on to study [[beta decay]] using not the usual [[Wilson cloud chamber]], but a [[spectrometer]] developed by Alikhanov and [[:ru:Козодаев, Михаил Силыч|Mikhail Kozodayev]].<ref name="Frenkel"/> It was a "radically improved" version of the "classical magnetic spectrometer with transverse field, fitting it with a system of coincidence-coupled gas-discharge counters. The use of this registration system was an important methodological novelty. It opened the way to development of Soviet nuclear electronics, which has been advanced in many of its aspects by Alikhanov's students. The new magnetic spectrometer was capable of registering the comparatively infrequent processes of positron production and could be used to investigate their energy spectra, the dependence of positron yield on γ-quantum energy and on the atomic number of the element, etc."<ref name="UspekhiObit"/>

In 1934 Alikhanov and [[Igor Kurchatov]] built a "baby [[cyclotron]]", which became the first "cyclotron" operating outside of Berkeley, California where [[Ernest Lawrence]] had invented it years earlier. It did not operate for long, though some experiments were conducted.<ref name="Josephson87">{{cite journal |last1=Josephson |first1=Paul R. |title=Early years of Soviet nuclear physics |journal=[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]] |date=1987 |volume=43 |issue=10 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-wUAAAAAMBAJ&dq=first+cyclotron&pg=PA38 36-39] |doi=10.1080/00963402.1987.11459617 |bibcode=1987BuAtS..43j..36J }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Josephson |first1=Paul R. |title=Physics and Politics in Revolutionary Russia |date=1991 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=9780520911475 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=35LwFQVyJhsC&dq=alikhanov&pg=PA180 180]}}</ref> The first proper cyclotron in the Soviet Union was built at the [[V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute|Radium Institute]] in Leningrad by 1936.<ref name="Josephson87"/>

Alikhanov "discovered that positrons were present even in the absence of a converter made from a heavy element, and this led him to the discovery of a new phenomenon—production of an electron-positron pair as a result of internal conversion of the energy of the excited nucleus." This was later used in [[nuclear spectroscopy]]. Alikhanov's group also studied scattering of fast electrons in matter and beta spectra of radioactive substances.<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> In 1938 Alikhanov discovered a new method of determining the rest mass of the [[neutrino]] using decay of the nuclei of [[Isotopes of beryllium|<sup>7</sup>Be]].<ref name="Frenkel"/>

He was awarded a PhD in Physical and Mathematical Sciences in 1935.<ref name="isaran"/> He lectured at the [[St. Petersburg State Transport University]] in 1939–41 and chaired its Department of Physics.<ref name="isaran"/>

==Cosmic rays and Armenia (1941–43)==
Alikhanov planned to study [[cosmic rays]], the only source of high-energy particles known at that time,<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> in the [[Pamir Mountains]] in the summer of 1941, however, due to the approaching Nazi forces, Alikhanov and the [[Institute for Physical Problems]] were evacuated to [[Kazan]] in October 1941. In April 1942 he moved to [[Yerevan]], Soviet Armenia with the intention to study cosmic rays at [[Mount Aragats]].<ref name="isaran"/><ref name="Frenkel"/><ref name="UspekhiObit"/> The expedition to Aragats resulted in the discovery of the "presence of an intense group of protons with comparatively small energies in the soft cosmic-radiation component"<ref name="UspekhiObit"/><ref name="isaran"/> and "presence of a stream of fast protons in cosmic radiation."<ref name="Frenkel"/>

Alikhanov and his group, including his brother [[Artem Alikhanian]], also erroneously concluded in the existence of cosmic radiation particles, called by them ''varitrons'', which supposedly possessed a broad [[Mass spectrum|spectrum of masses]]. Alikhanov-Alikhanian brothers were widely criticized for the claim.<ref name="Frenkel"/><ref name="Abov"/> Turkevich noted in 1956 that "this claim was questioned in the West and attacked by a group of Soviet physicists, with a subsequent bitter polemic in the Soviet physics journals. The controversy has never been settled officially, and Soviet cosmic ray research has suffered a lack of prestige."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Turkevich |first1=John |title=Soviet Science in the Post-Stalin Era |journal=[[The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science]] |date=January 1956 |volume=303 |page=143 |jstor=1032298 |doi=10.1177/000271625630300113 |s2cid=144642715 }}</ref> [[Luis Walter Alvarez]] noted that the brothers received the Lenin Prize for their unverifiable discoveries and "for them to have retracted their claims would have been embarrassing to their government."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alvarez |first1=Luis W. |author1-link=Luis Walter Alvarez |title=Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist |date=1987 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0465001163 |page=[https://archive.today/nVNpM/4ba8845f97b10c65a6025a5d3653cf37930e9464.jpg 209]}}</ref>

Alikhanov and his brother Artem established the [[Yerevan Physics Institute]] (YerPhI) in 1943 as a branch of [[Yerevan State University]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Պատմություն [History] |url=https://www.aanl.am/?control=h11&d=hmenu2&lang=am |website=aanl.am |publisher=A. Alikhanyan National Laboratory |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721173628/https://www.aanl.am/?control=h11&d=hmenu2&lang=am |archive-date=21 July 2022 |language=hy |quote=Երևանի ֆիզիկայի ինստիտուտը (ԵրՖԻ) հիմնադրել են անվանի ֆիզիկոսներ Աբրահամ և Արտեմ Ալիխանյան եղբայրները  1943 թ.-ին` որպես Երևանի պետական համալսարանի մասնաճյուղ:}}</ref>

==Career in Moscow (1943–68)==
After returning to Russia from Armenia, Alikhanov worked at the [[Institute for Physical Problems]] in Moscow from 1944 to 1946.<ref name="isaran"/>

Between 1947 and 1951 Alikhanov headed the Department of Structure of Matter at the Faculty of Physics and Technology of [[Moscow State University]].<ref name="isaran"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Алиханов Абрам Исаакович [Alikhanov Abram Isaakovich] |url=http://letopis.msu.ru/peoples/2904 |website=letopis.msu.ru |publisher=[[Moscow State University]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118034300/http://letopis.msu.ru/peoples/2904 |archivedate=18 January 2019 |language=ru}}</ref> He helped organize the Nuclear Physics Division of the [[Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union|Soviet Academy of Sciences]].<ref name="UspekhiObit"/>

Among Alikhanov's students were [[:ru:Джелепов, Борис Сергеевич|Boris S. Dzhelepov]], [[:ru:Джелепов, Венедикт Петрович|Venedikt P. Dzhelepov]], [[:ru:Козодаев, Михаил Силыч|Mikhail S. Kozodaev]], [[:ru:Никитин, Сергей Яковлевич (физик)|Sergey Ya. Nikitin]], [[:ru:Спивак, Пётр Ефимович|Pyotr E. Spivak]].<ref name="isaran"/>

===Atomic bomb project===
Alikhanov was involved in the [[Soviet atomic bomb project]].<ref name="NYT"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gubarev |first1=Vladimir |authorlink1=:ru:Губарев, Владимир Степанович |title=Белый архипелаг. Новые неизвестные страницы "Атомного проекта СССР" [The White Archipelago. New Unknown Pages of the "Atomic Project of the USSR"] |journal=[[Nauka i Zhizn]] |date=2004 |issue=1 |url=https://nkj.ru/archive/articles/5050/|quote=Абрам Исаакович Алиханов - один из лидеров "Атомного проекта СССР".}}</ref> After the Soviet authorities learned of the German, British and American programs of [[nuclear weapons]] in mid-1942, works began on the Soviet project led by [[Igor Kurchatov]]. At [[Kurchatov Institute|Laboratory no. 2]], Alikhanov was assigned to develop a [[nuclear pile]] with [[heavy water]].<ref name="Holloway81"/> [[Lev Artsimovich]], [[Isaak Kikoin]], and [[Anatoly Alexandrov (physicist)|Anatoly Alexandrov]] worked on electromagnetic isotope separation, gaseous diffusion process and thermal diffusion process, respectively.<ref name="Holloway81"/> While Alikhanov led the research on the construction of a [[Pressurized heavy-water reactor|heavy-water reactor]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Medvedev |first1=Zhores A. |authorlink1=Zhores A. Medvedev |editor1-last=Coates |editor1-first=Ken |editor1-link=Ken Coates |title=Stalin and the Atomic Bomb |journal=[[The Spokesman]] |date=2000 |issue=67 |pages=50–65 |url=http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/Spokesman/PDF/medvedev.pdf |publisher=[[Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418200521/http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/Spokesman/PDF/medvedev.pdf |archive-date=2016-04-18 }}</ref> In August 1945 the [[:ru:Специальный комитет при СМ СССР|Special Committee]] under the [[Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union|Council of Ministers]] (Council of People's Commissars) was formed to oversee works on [[uranium]], headed by [[Lavrentiy Beria]]. The Scientific-Technical Council was headed by [[Boris Vannikov]] and included Alikhanov (initially as it scientific secretary), [[Igor Kurchatov]], [[Pyotr Kapitsa]], [[Abram Ioffe]] and others.<ref name="Holloway81"/><ref name="mephi2010"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Soviet Atomic Program - 1946 |url=https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/soviet-atomic-program-1946 |website=atomicheritage.org |publisher=[[Atomic Heritage Foundation]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191005134722/https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/soviet-atomic-program-1946 |archivedate=5 October 2019 |date=June 5, 2014}}</ref>

===ITEP===
[[File:Cheremushki Estate Flickr 06.jpg|thumb|The [[Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics]] (ITEP) in Moscow]]

On December 1, 1945, Laboratory no. 3 of the Soviet Academy of Sciences was established in Moscow with Alikhanov as its head.<ref name="AbovITEP"/><ref name="isaran"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mikhailov |first1=V. N. |last2=Goncharov |first2=G. A. |title=I. V. Kurchatov and the development of nuclear weapons in the USSR |journal=Atomic Energy |date=April 1999 |volume=86 |issue=4 |pages=266–282 |doi=10.1007/BF02673142 |s2cid=98362582 }}</ref><ref name="Abov"/> The laboratory was renamed to Heat-Engineering Laboratory (Теплотехническая лаборатория) in 1949<ref name="AbovITEP"/> and received its modern name, the [[Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics]] (ITEP), in 1958.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tsukerman |first1=I. S. |title=Академик А.И.Алиханов – основатель ИТЭФ: Атомный проект и организация Лаборатории № 3 – ТТЛ |url=http://www.itep.ru/upload/iblock/d58/Alikhanov2014.pdf |website=itep.ru |publisher=[[Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics]] |page=2 |language=ru}}</ref><ref name="Abov"/><ref name="Frenkel"/> Alikhanov lead the institute for 23 years, until he retired in 1968.<ref name="ShifmanShort"/> [[Lev Landau]] and his student [[Isaak Pomeranchuk]] headed the theory division of the institute in 1945–46 and 1946–66, respectively.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vysotsky |first1=M. I. |last2=Dolgov |first2=A. D. |last3=Novikov |first3=V. A. |title=70 years of ITEP: some theoretical results |journal=[[Physics-Uspekhi]] |date=2016 |volume=59 |issue=8 |page=787 |doi=10.3367/UFNe.2015.12.037733 |bibcode=2016PhyU...59..787V |s2cid=125221099 |quote=In December 1945, all the theoretical work of Laboratory No. 3 was put under the charge of Lev Davydovich Landau (1908-1968), and in 1946, Isaak Yakovlevich Pomeranchuk (1913-1966), his former student, became the head of the Theoretical Department. Until 1958, Landau collaborated with and was a regular seminar participant at ITEP.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Померанчук Исаак Яковлевич (1913—1966) [Pomeranchuk Isaak Yakovlevich (1913-1966)] |url=http://www.biblioatom.ru/founders/pomeranchuk_isaak_yakovlevich/ |website=biblioatom.ru |publisher=[[Rosatom]] |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202173040/http://www.biblioatom.ru/founders/pomeranchuk_isaak_yakovlevich/ |archive-date=2 December 2021}}</ref>

At ITEP, Alikhanov led research on and advanced [[Scintillation (physics)|scintillation]] techniques, [[bubble chamber]]s, and [[spark chamber]]s.<ref name="UspekhiObit"/>

====Nuclear reactor====
The laboratory/institute initially focused on what Alikhanov had already begun working on: construction of a [[nuclear reactor]] based on [[heavy water]].<ref name="mephi2010"/> With a small staff, Alikhanov led the design of the first reactor by 1947.<ref name="Abov"/><ref name="isaran"/> It was built in 1948 and successfully put into operation on April 25, 1949.<ref name="mephi2010"/><ref name="UspekhiObit"/> Alikhanov was personally heavily involved in the project. He solved all the "physical and technical problems that arose in construction of the reactor," and tackled the "dirtiest jobs without hesitation; thus the reactor was for the most part his creature."<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> It was the first heavy-water research reactor in the USSR.<ref name="Heavywater"/> A number of studies and discoveries were done based on it. It was shut down in 1987.<ref name="Heavywater"/>

The reactor was not invented for nuclear power generation,<ref name="Abov"/> but instead for experiments that would advance the design and construction of other reactors.<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> In 1959 Alikhanov led the design of 10 MW experimental research heavy-water reactors, which were built in China and Yugoslavia under his supervision.<ref name="Heavywater"/><ref name="Abov"/><ref name="UspekhiObit"/>

Alikhanov also led the project<ref name="Heavywater"/> of design the first industrial heavy-water reactor in the Soviet Union.<ref name="Cochran"/><ref name="AbovITEP"/> Named OK-180, it was commissioned in October 1951 in [[Chelyabinsk-65]]. Its heat exchangers froze shortly after it began operating.<ref name="Cochran">{{cite journal |last1=Cochran |first1=Thomas B. |last2=Norris |first2=Robert S. |title=A First Look at the Soviet Bomb Complex |journal=[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]] |date=1991 |volume=47 |issue=4 |page=27 |url=https://fas.org/nuke/norris/nuc_05009101a_101.pdf|doi=10.1080/00963402.1991.11459972 |bibcode=1991BuAtS..47d..25C }}</ref> It was decommissioned in 1965 and subsequently disassembled.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Egorov |editor1-first=Nikolai N. |editor2-last=Novikov |editor2-first=Vladimir M. |editor3-last=Parker |editor3-first=Frank L. |editor4-last=Popov |editor4-first=Victor K. |title=The Radiation Legacy of the Soviet Nuclear Complex: An Analytical Overview |date=2014 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=9781134197149 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=a8dQAwAAQBAJ&dq=nuclear+first+ok-180&pg=PA145 145] |chapter=Plutonium Production and Radiochemical Reprocessing of Spent Nuclear Fuel |quote=The first heavy-water reactor, the 100-MW OK-180, was put into operation on 17 October 1951. The OK-180 reactor was decommissioned in 1965 and then disassembled.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bukharin |first1=Oleg |last2=Von Hippel |first2=Frank |authorlink2=Frank N. von Hippel |title=Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces |date=2004 |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |isbn=9780262661812 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CPRVbYDc-7kC&dq=nuclear+first+ok-180&pg=PA95 95]}}</ref> Until the end of his career, Alikhanov "remained a renowned head and a strong advocate" of heavy-water reactors, though [[graphite-moderated reactor]]s were given the preference for their price.<ref name="Abov"/>

====Accelerators====
By 1952, after the completion of the heavy-water reactor, the main direction of Alikhanov's institute became construction of a high-energy accelerator.<ref name="UspekhiObit"/><ref name="isaran"/> A [[proton]] [[Particle accelerator|accelerator]] with a [[strong focusing]] of 7 GeV ([[gigaelectronvolt]]) was completed and commissioned at the institute in 1961.<ref name="UspekhiObit"/><ref name="Abov"/><ref name="Frenkel"/> The accelerator made it possible to conduct research on [[elementary particle]] physics on a broader scale at ITEP.<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> Alikhanov led several studies and investigations based on the new instrument,<ref name="Abov"/> most notably research on "[[pion]] scattering on nucleons with large momentum transfer."<ref name="UspekhiObit"/>

The 7-GeV accelerator served as a prototype or an operating model for the [[U-70 (synchrotron)|70-GeV accelerator]] in [[Serpukhov]], which was advanced by Alikhanov.<ref name="UspekhiObit"/><ref name="Abov"/> Alikhanov "became a motive force behind construction of the Serpukhov accelerator."<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> Alikhanov and his team participated in its design.<ref name="Frenkel"/> The Serpukhov accelerator was commissioned in 1967 and became the largest proton accelerator in the world at the time.<ref name="Abov"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Soviet Starts the Most Powerful Atom Smasher; New Accelerator Generates Twice as Much Energy as Any Other in the World |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/10/20/archives/soviet-starts-the-most-powerful-atom-smasher-new-accelerator.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 20, 1967}}</ref>

[[Mikhail Shifman]] noted that Alikhanov was the "driving force behind the decision to build the first strong focusing accelerators" in the Soviet Union: at ITEP and at the [[Institute for High Energy Physics]] (IHEP) in [[Protvino]], near Serpukhov.<ref name="ShifmanShort"/> The Serpukhov accelerator, construction on which had begun in 1960, was transferred to the IHEP.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tyurin |first1=Nikolai |title=Forty years of high-energy physics in Protvino |url=https://cerncourier.com/a/forty-years-of-high-energy-physics-in-protvino/ |work=[[CERN Courier]] |agency=[[CERN]] |publisher=[[IOP Publishing]] |date=1 November 2003}}</ref> Abov noted that the decision by the [[Ministry of Defense (Soviet Union)|Ministry of Defense]] was an "irreparable blow" for Alikhanov, because it "deprived the institute of any prospects for further development."<ref name="Abov"/> The Ministry had alleged that the construction of the accelerator was slow, however, according to Abov, the Ministry had made a decision to transfer it to the IHEP from the very beginning.<ref name="Abov"/>

====Parity violation====
Between 1957 and 1960, following the [[Wu experiment]], Alikhanov oversaw the research on [[parity violation]] in [[beta decay]]. Studies led by him confirmed Wu's findings and explored the structure of [[weak interaction]].<ref name="Abov"/> Alikhanov was the first Soviet physicist to investigate it.<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> He measured the longitudinal polarization of electrons in β decay.<ref name="UspekhiObit"/>

==Personal life and death==
Alikhanov was known to his family and friends as "Abusha" (Абуша).<ref name="isaran"/> A group of his colleagues and students wrote that he was "extremely straightforward and generous in his dealings with people, irrespective of whether the matter was a scientific or a merely personal problem,"<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> while David Holloway described him as "hot-tempered."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holloway |first1=David |title=Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, 1939-1956 |date=1994 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=9780300066647|page=38}}</ref>

Alikhanov was a close and lifelong friend of his colleague [[Lev Artsimovich]]. He frequented Artsimovich's apartment to tell stories about his friends the satirist [[Mikhail Zoshchenko]], the poet [[Anna Akhmatova]], and the composer [[Dmitri Shostakovich]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Josephson |first1=Paul R. |title=Red Atom: Russias Nuclear Power Program From Stalin To Today |date=2005 |publisher=[[University of Pittsburgh Press]] |isbn=978-0822958819 |page=169 |url=https://archive.org/details/redatom00paul }}</ref> The Armenian artist [[Martiros Sarian]], a friend of his, painted a portrait of Alikhanov.<ref name="Frenkel"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Աբրահամ Ալիխանովի դիմանկարը [Portrait of Abram Alikhanov] |url=https://www.facebook.com/Sarianmuseum/photos/a.193116777390887/3016048185097718/ |publisher=Martiros Sarian House-Museum |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220826200551/https://www.facebook.com/Sarianmuseum/photos/a.193116777390887/3016048185097718/ |archive-date=26 August 2022 |language=hy |date=May 25, 2020}}</ref> It is owned by the Alikhanov family.<ref>{{cite book |title=Академик А. И. Алиханов: воспоминания, письма, документы [Academician A. I. Alikhanov: Memories, Letters, Documents] |date=2004 |publisher=Fizmatlit |location=Moscow |isbn=5-9221-0478-0 |url=http://elib.biblioatom.ru/text/alihanov-vospominaniya_2004/go,0/ |language=ru |page=[https://web.archive.org/web/20220826200952/http://elib.biblioatom.ru/text/alihanov-vospominaniya_2004/go,202/ 200] |quote=С А.И. Алихановым его связывали многолетние дружеские отношения, его кисти принадлежит портрет (маслом) Абрама Исааковича. Портрет, как и некоторые другие картины М.С. Сарьяна, сохранились в семье А. И. Алиханова. }}</ref>

[[File:Алиханов.jpg|thumb|The grave of Alikhanov and his second wife, Slava Roshal at Moscow's [[Novodevichy Cemetery]].]]

Alikhanov married twice. He had two children with his first wife, Anna Grigorievna Prokofieva, whom he married in 1925. His son, Ruben, was a physicist, while his daughter, Seda, was a writer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abov |first1=Yuri G. |title=Академик А. И. Алиханов: воспоминания, письма, документы [Academician A. I. Alikhanov: Memories, Letters, Documents] |chapter=Автобиография А. И. Алиханова [Autobiography of A. I. Alikhanov] |date=2004 |publisher=Fizmatlit |location=Moscow |isbn=5-9221-0478-0 |url=http://elib.biblioatom.ru/text/alihanov-vospominaniya_2004/go,0/ |language=ru |page=[http://elib.biblioatom.ru/text/alihanov-vospominaniya_2004/go,206/ 204]}}</ref> His second wife, Slava Solomonovna Roshal (1916–2016) was a [[violin]]ist. They had two children: [[:ru:Алиханов, Тигран Абрамович|Tigran]] (1943–2013), a pianist, and Yevgenia (b. 1949), a violinist.<ref name="isaran"/> Tigran served as [[Rector (academia)|rector]] (president) of the [[Moscow Conservatory]] in 2005–09.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tigran Alikhanov |url=http://www.mosconsv.ru/en/person.aspx?id=8668 |website=mosconsv.ru |publisher=[[Moscow Conservatory]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514214153/http://mosconsv.ru/en/person.aspx?id=8668 |archivedate=14 May 2016}}</ref><ref name="isaran"/>

Alikhanov suffered a [[stroke]] in 1964. He resigned from his post as director of the ITEP in 1968.<ref name="isaran"/> Alikhanov died in Moscow on December 8, 1970,<ref name="UspekhiObit"/><ref name="Frenkel"/> at the age of 66.<ref name="NYT"/> He was buried at the [[Novodevichy Cemetery]] in Moscow.<ref name="isaran"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Алиханов Абрам Исаакович (1904-1970) |url=http://nd.m-necropol.ru/alihanov-ai.html |website=nd.m-necropol.ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509034548/http://nd.m-necropol.ru/alihanov-ai.html |archive-date=9 May 2021 |language=ru |date=17 October 2014}}</ref>

==Relationship with the Communist Party==
[[File:Abram Alikhanov 2000 Armenia stamp.png|thumb|Alikhanov on a 2000 stamp of Armenia]]
Alikhanov never joined the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]].<ref name="Abov"/><ref name="1943Acad"/> According to his colleague {{ill|Boris L. Ioffe|ru|Иоффе, Борис Лазаревич}}, Alikhanov "did not like the Soviet regime" and was "fairly outspoken." He told his colleagues that [[Lavrentiy Beria]], Stalin's secret police chief, was a "dreadful person" before Beria's downfall and was the only major physicist who visited [[Pyotr Kapitsa]] when he was sent into exile near Moscow on Stalin's orders.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ioffe |first1=Boris Lazarevich |authorlink1=:ru:Иоффе, Борис Лазаревич |title=Atom Projects: Events And People |date=2017 |publisher=[[World Scientific]] |isbn=9789813146037 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zgQrDwAAQBAJ&dq=Alikhanov&pg=PA114 114]}}</ref> Alikhanov later signed a collective letter addressed to the Soviet leaders asking them to return Kapitsa to the head of the [[Institute for Physical Problems]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Khalatnikov |first1=Isaak M. |authorlink1=Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov |title=From the Atomic Bomb to the Landau Institute: Autobiography. Top Non-Secret |date=2012 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9783642275616 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5w09evl6wqYC&dq=Kapitsa+Alikhanov&pg=PA56 55-56]}}</ref>

In 1944 Alikhanov, along with Abram A. Ioffe, and Pyotr Kapitsa successfully appealed to Vice Premier [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] to prevent [[Anatoly Vlasov]] from assuming the chair of the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Faculty of Physics of the [[Moscow State University]] (MSU). Instead, [[Vladimir Fock]] was appointed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ichikawa |first1=Hiroshi |title=Soviet Physicists during the War: Jealousy, Discord and the Ideological Dispute |journal=[[Historia Scientiarum]] |date=2013 |issue=22–23 |page=224 |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831170202/https://home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/ichikawa/physicists.pdf}}</ref>

He did not collaborate with the authorities during the [[Antisemitism in the Soviet Union|antisemitic]] [[Anti-cosmopolitan campaign|anti-cosmopolitan]] and the [[Doctors' plot]] campaigns in the post-war years when Jews were fired from their workplaces.<ref name="nv.am">{{cite news |title=Атомная мечта академика Абрама Алиханова [Atomic Dream of Academician Abram Alikhanov] |url=http://nv.am/atomnaya-mechta-akademika-abrama-alihanova/ |work=Novoe Vremya |date=22 July 2017 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131124525/http://nv.am/atomnaya-mechta-akademika-abrama-alihanova/ |archivedate=31 January 2020 |language=ru }}</ref> Abov noted that Alikhanov protected his colleagues during the campaign, though "of course, there were victims, but he was able to minimize them."<ref name="Abov"/>

In October 1955 Alikhanov was among a number of leading Soviet scientists who signed the "{{ill|Letter of 300|ru|Письмо трёхсот}}" criticizing [[Trofim Lysenko]] and [[Lysenkoism]] and supporting [[genetics]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhimulyov |first1=I. F. |last2=Dubinina |first2=L. G. |title=К 50-летию "Письма трёхсот" [To the 50th Anniversary of the "Letter of 300"] |journal=Vestnik VOGiS |date=2005 |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=24 |url=http://www.bionet.nsc.ru/vogis/pict_pdf/2005/t9_1/12_33.pdf |publisher=[[Institute of Cytology and Genetics]] |language=ru |quote=75. Акад. А.И. Алиханов.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711070340/http://www.bionet.nsc.ru/vogis/pict_pdf/2005/t9_1/12_33.pdf |archive-date=2019-07-11 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Zubok |first1=Vladislav |authorlink1=Vladislav Zubok |title=Zhivago's Children: The Last Russian Intelligentsia |date=2009 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674054837 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=bw0c3wcI_34C&dq=lysenko+alikhanov&pg=PA393 393] |quote=Among the anti-Lysenko physicists supporting genetics were Yakov Zeldovich, Andrei Sakharov, Arkady Migdal, Isaac Pomeranchuk, Vitaly Ginzburg, Moisei Markov, and Abram Alikhanov.}}</ref>

In 1956 Alikhanov came under pressure when several members of the ITEP staff gave pro-democracy speeches at the institute's Communist Party organization.<ref name="OrlovSaxarov"/> The party organization was disbanded. Alikhanov had a meeting with Khrushchev and the latter told him that he sought to prevent the arrest of the dissidents. In his turn, Alikhanov told the dissidents: "If you knew what you were doing, you're heroes. If you didn't, you're fools."<ref name="OrlovSaxarov">{{cite book |last1=Orlov |first1=Yuri |authorlink1=Yuri Orlov |title=Andrei Sakharov and Human Rights |date=2010 |publisher=[[Council of Europe]] Publishing |isbn=9789287169471 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=xAhC5ZVgjpgC&dq=alikhanov+abram&pg=PA153 151-153] |chapter=In Tribute: Yuri Orlov}}</ref> [[Yuri Orlov]], one of the dissidents who was forced to leave ITEP, found work at the [[Yerevan Physics Institute]], headed by Alikhanov's brother, [[Artem Alikhanian|Artem]].<ref name="Abov"/>

Orlov noted that after [[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin]] in 1956, Alikhanov was among "some 20-30 leading physicists" who "were very active in writing collective letters (not for publication, of course) to the [Soviet] leaders protesting attempts to restore or protect Stalinism" when "the majority of scientists [...] were afraid to participate in such activity."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Orlov |first1=Yuri F. |authorlink1=Yuri Orlov |title=Science, Politics, and Human Rights |volume=25 |url=https://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/1996/october/aoct96.html |work=Physics and Society |issue=4 |publisher=[[American Physical Society]] |date=4 October 1996 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008170748/https://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/1996/october/aoct96.html |archivedate=8 October 2018}}</ref> In March 1966 he joined [[Pyotr Kapitsa]], [[Andrei Sakharov]] and others calling on [[Leonid Brezhnev]] not to [[Political rehabilitation|rehabilitate]] Stalin.<ref>{{cite web |title=Письмо 13-ти деятелей советской науки, литературы и искусства в Президиум ЦК КПСС против реабилитации И.В. Сталина |url=http://old.ihst.ru/projects/sohist/document/letters/antistalin.htm |website=old.ihst.ru |publisher=[[:ru:Институт истории естествознания и техники имени С. И. Вавилова РАН|Vavilov Institute for the History of Natural Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228034820/http://old.ihst.ru/projects/sohist/document/letters/antistalin.htm |archivedate=28 December 2019 |language=ru |date=25 March 1966 |quote=10. А.Алиханов (акад[емик])}}</ref>

==Recognition and legacy==
{{quote box
| width  = 30%
| align  = right
| quote  = "For all of the many facets of his scientific career, Alikhanov was primarily an experimental physicist—an experimentor in the highest sense of the word, as exemplified by [[Michael Faraday|Faraday]] and [[Ernest Rutherford|Rutherford]]."
| source = &nbsp;—from [[obituary]] in ''[[Soviet Physics Uspekhi|Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk]]'' (1974)<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> }}

The [[Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics]] (ITEP), which Alikhanov led from its inception in 1945 until 1968,<ref name="ShifmanShort"/> was named after him in 2004.<ref name="isaran"/>

Alikhanov is widely recognized as one of the leading Soviet physicists.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Holloway |first1=David |title=Physics, the State, and Civil Society in the Soviet Union |journal=[[Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences]] |date=1999 |volume=30 |issue=1 |page=179 |doi=10.2307/27757823 |quote=...a number of leading physicists: Ioffe, Alikhanov, Kapitsa, and Vavilov.|jstor=27757823 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Craig |first1=Campbell|author2-link=Sergey Radchenko |last2=Radchenko |first2=Sergey |title=The Atomic Bomb and the Origins of the Cold War |date=2008 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-11028-9 |page=50 |quote=Kurchatov’s efforts to bring the leading physicist Abram Alikhanov to Moscow...}}</ref> A 1974 obituary in ''[[Soviet Physics Uspekhi]]'' called Alikhanov "one of the founders of nuclear physics in our country."<ref name="UspekhiObit"/> [[Mikhail Shifman]] described Alikhanov as the founder of experimental nuclear and particle physics in the Soviet Union, along with [[Igor Kurchatov]],<ref name="ShifmanShort"/> and one of the "fathers" of Soviet [[particle physics]], along with [[Lev Landau]] and [[Isaak Pomeranchuk]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shifman |first1=M. |authorlink1=Mikhail Shifman |editor1-last=Shifman |editor1-first=Mikhail A. |editor1-link=Mikhail Shifman |title=At the Frontier of Particle Physics: Handbook of QCD. Volume 1 |date=2001 |publisher=[[World Scientific]] |chapter=Introduction |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PaoIPa2Ib5AC&dq=ALIKHANOV+physicist&pg=PA7 7] |quote=Ioffe was the student of Landau, Pomeranchuk and Alikhanov. These were the "fathers" of Soviet particle physics... }}</ref> {{Interlanguage link|Yuri Abov|ru|Абов, Юрий Георгиевич}} opined that Alikhanov's research from 1933 to 1940 was worthy of a [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize]].<ref name="Abov"/>

In a 1945 letter to Stalin, [[Pyotr Kapitsa]] wrote: "Comrades Alikhanov, Ioffe, and Kurchatov are as competent as I or even more so."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kapitsa |first1=P. |title=Peter Kapitsa: The Scientist Who Talked Back to Stalin |journal=[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]] |date=1990 |volume=46 |issue=3 |page=29 |doi=10.1080/00963402.1990.11459810 |bibcode=1990BuAtS..46c..26K }}</ref> [[Yuri Orlov]] suggested that Alikhanov "was not such a genius as Landau or Kapitsa", but argued that he was "a distinguished scientist and honest man", who transmitted to his students "his awesomely high standards."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Orlov |first1=Yuri |authorlink1=Yuri Orlov |title=Dangerous Thoughts: Memoirs of a Russian Life |date=1991 |publisher=[[William Morrow and Company|W. Morrow]] |isbn=9780688104719 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dangerousthought00orlo/page/101 101] |url=https://archive.org/details/dangerousthought00orlo/page/101 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Orlov |first1=Y. F. |authorlink1=Yuri Orlov |editor1-last=Shifman |editor1-first=Mikhail |editor1-link=Mikhail Shifman |chapter=Snapshots from the 1950s |title=Under The Spell Of Landau: When Theoretical Physics Was Shaping Destinies |date=2013 |publisher=[[World Scientific]] |isbn=9789814436588 |page=384}}</ref>

A street in Yerevan is named for the Alikhanian brothers,<ref>{{cite web |title=Երևան համայնքում տեղական տուրքերի 2021 թվականի դրույքաչափերը սահմանելու մասին |url=https://www.yerevan.am/uploads/media/default/0001/97/f649524394be1fadf7dea44caf8656ce8af1eb49.pdf |website=yerevan.am |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721172535/https://www.yerevan.am/uploads/media/default/0001/97/f649524394be1fadf7dea44caf8656ce8af1eb49.pdf |archive-date=21 July 2022 |language=hy |date=22 December 2020 |quote=Ալիխանյան եղբայրների փող.}}</ref> while {{Interlanguage link|Academician Alikhanov Street|ru|Улица Академика Алиханова}} in Moscow was renamed in 2018.<ref>{{cite news |title=На карте СВАО появилась улица Академика Алиханова [Academician Alikhanov street appeared on the map of the North-East Administrative District] |url=https://alekseevsky.mos.ru/presscenter/news/detail/7708762.html |work=mos.ru |publisher=[[Government of Moscow]] |date=20 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930071911/https://alekseevsky.mos.ru/presscenter/news/detail/7708762.html |archive-date=30 September 2020 |language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=О присвоении наименований лилинейным транспортным объектам города Москвы |url=https://www.mos.ru/upload/documents/docs/d656262387.pdf |website=mos.ru |publisher=Government of Moscow |language=ru |date=6 November 2018 |quote=5. Присвоить проектируемому проезду N 239, расположенному в районе Северный Северо-Восточного административного округа города Москвы, наименование - улица Академика Алиханова.}}</ref>

An hour long documentary film on Alikhanov was produced by the [[Public TV of Armenia]] in 2019.<ref>{{cite web |title=Փ/ֆ "Աբրահամ Ալիխանյան" [Documentary "Abraham Alikhanyan"] |url=https://www.1tv.am/hy/video/%D5%93-%D6%86-%D4%B1%D5%A2%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B0%D5%A1%D5%B4-%D4%B1%D5%AC%D5%AB%D5%AD%D5%A1%D5%B6%D5%B5%D5%A1%D5%B6/139088 |website=1tv.am |publisher=Public TV of Armenia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203140816/https://www.1tv.am/hy/video/%D5%93-%D6%86-%D4%B1%D5%A2%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B0%D5%A1%D5%B4-%D4%B1%D5%AC%D5%AB%D5%AD%D5%A1%D5%B6%D5%B5%D5%A1%D5%B6/139088 |archive-date=3 December 2021 |language=hy}}</ref>

===Honors===
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-2}}
;Awards<ref name="isaran"/><ref name="Frenkel"/>
*[[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prize]] (1941, 1948, 1953)
*[[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]] (1964)
*[[Order of Lenin]] (1945, 1953)
*[[Hero of Socialist Labour]] (1954)
{{Col-2}}
;Membership<ref name="isaran"/><ref name="UspekhiObit"/><ref name="Abov"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Ալիխանով Աբրահամ Իսահակի [Alikhanov Abraham Isahaki] |url=https://www.sci.am/m/membersview.php?l=&id=30&oid=&oid2=&d=&langid=1 |website=sci.am |publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences of Armenia]] |language=hy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921184509/https://www.sci.am/m/membersview.php?l=&id=30&oid=&oid2=&d=&langid=1 |archive-date=21 September 2021}}</ref>
*[[Corresponding member]] of the [[Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union|Soviet Academy of Sciences]] (January 1939)
*Full member ([[Academician]]) of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (27 September 1943)
*Full member ([[Academician]]) of the [[Armenian Academy of Sciences]] (1943)
*Foreign member of the [[Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts]] (1962)
{{Col-end}}

==References==
;Notes
{{notelist}}

;Citations
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |title=Abram Alikhanov, Soviet Physicist, 66 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/12/10/archives/abram-alikhanov-soviet-physicist-66.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 10, 1970 |page=50}}</ref>

<ref name="Frenkel">{{cite web |last1=Frenkel |first1=V. J. |authorlink=:ru:Френкель, Виктор Яковлевич |title=Alikhanov, Abram Isaakovich |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/alikhanov-abram-isaakovich |website=[[Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] |publisher=[[encyclopedia.com]] |date=December 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224220339/https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/alikhanov-abram-isaakovich |archive-date=24 December 2019}}</ref>

<ref name="UspekhiObit">{{cite journal |last1=Aleksandrov |first1=A. P. |last2=Dzhelepov |first2=V. P. |last3=Nikitin |first3=S. Ya. |last4=Khariton |first4=Yu. B. |authorlink1=Anatoly Alexandrov (physicist) |authorlink2=Venedikt Dzhelepov |authorlink4=Yulii Khariton |title=Abram Isaakovich Alikhanov (obituary) |translator=R. W. Bowers |journal=[[Soviet Physics Uspekhi]] |date=1974 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=283–285 |doi=10.1070/PU1974v017n02ABEH004342 }} [http://www.itep.ru/upload/iblock/892/r744f.pdf Russian original] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20170428075129/http://www.itep.ru/upload/iblock/892/r744f.pdf archived])</ref>

<ref name="Abov">{{cite journal |last1=Abov |first1=Yu. G. |authorlink=:ru:Абов, Юрий Георгиевич |title=Abram Isaakovich Alikhanov—scientist, director, personality |journal=Physics of Atomic Nuclei |date=March 2004 |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=431–437 |translator=A. Isaakyan |doi=10.1134/1.1690047 |bibcode=2004PAN....67..431A |s2cid=121253103 }} [https://web.archive.org/web/20200127100625/http://naukarus.com/abram-isaakovich-alihanov-uchenyy-direktor-chelovek Russian original]</ref>

<ref name="isaran">{{cite web |title=Алиханов Абрам Исаакович [Alikhanov Abram Isaakovich] |url=http://isaran.ru/?q=ru/person&guid=0BFF437E-81C9-29A7-266C-EC0B93D7B61B |website=isaran.ru |publisher=Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences |language=ru |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190623122757/http://isaran.ru/?q=ru%2Fperson&guid=0BFF437E-81C9-29A7-266C-EC0B93D7B61B |archivedate=23 June 2019 |access-date=8 June 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="ShifmanShort">{{cite book |last1=Shifman |first1=M. |authorlink1=Mikhail Shifman |editor1-last=Shifman |editor1-first=Mikhail A. |editor1-link=Mikhail Shifman |title=At the Frontier of Particle Physics: Handbook of QCD. Volume 1 |date=2001 |publisher=[[World Scientific]] |chapter=Editor's Comments: List of Names|page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=PaoIPa2Ib5AC&dq=Alikhanov&pg=PA53 53]}}</ref>

<ref name="Holloway81">{{cite journal |last1=Holloway |first1=David |title=Entering the Nuclear Arms Race: The Soviet Decision to Build the Atomic Bomb, 1939-45 |journal=[[Social Studies of Science]] |date=May 1981 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=159–197 |jstor=284865 |doi=10.1177/030631278101100201 |s2cid=145715873 }}</ref>

<ref name="mephi2010">{{cite web |title=К 65-летию атомной отрасли – Хроника создания советской атомной бомбы [To the 65th anniversary of the nuclear industry: Timeline of the creation of the Soviet atomic bomb] |url=https://mephi.ru/65atom/10421/ |website=mephi.ru |publisher=[[National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute)|National Research Nuclear University]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150606150256/http://mephi.ru/65atom/10421/ |archivedate=6 June 2015 |language=ru |date=14 February 2010}}</ref>

<ref name="1943Acad">{{cite book |editor1-last=Ryabev |editor1-first=L. D. |title=Атомный проэкт СССР: документы и материалы [The Atomic Project of the USSR: Documents and Materials] Volume I |date=1998 |publisher=[[Nauka (publisher)|Nauka]], [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] |page=[http://elib.biblioatom.ru/text/atomny-proekt-sssr_t1_kn1_1998/go,313/ 313] |language=ru |quote=Алиханов Абрам Исаакович — член-корреспондент Академии наук. Беспартийный. Армянин.}}</ref>

<ref name="AbovITEP">{{cite journal |last1=Abov |first1=Yu. G. |title=On the history of the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP, Moscow) |journal=Physics of Atomic Nuclei |date=October 2006 |volume=69 |issue=10 |pages=1631–1656 |doi=10.1134/S1063778806100012 |bibcode=2006PAN....69.1631A |s2cid=122970953 }}</ref>

<ref name="Heavywater">{{cite journal |last1=Ioffe |first1=B. L. |last2=Shvedov |first2=O. V. |title=Heavy water reactors and nuclear power plants in the USSR and Russia: Past, present, and future |journal=Atomic Energy |date=April 1999 |volume=86 |issue=4 |pages=295–304 |doi=10.1007/BF02673145 |s2cid=96836486 }}</ref>
}}

==External links==

{{commons category}}


==Further reading==
*{{cite web |title=Алиханов Абрам Исаакович (1904—1970) [Alikhanov Abram Isaakovich (1904-1970)] |url=http://www.biblioatom.ru/founders/alikhanov_abram_isaakovich/ |website=biblioatom.ru |publisher=[[Rosatom]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719202951/http://www.biblioatom.ru/founders/alikhanov_abram_isaakovich |archivedate=19 July 2019}}
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Garibian |editor1-first=G. M. |editor-link=Gregory Garibian |title=Աբրահամ Իսահակի Ալիխանով / Абрам Исаакович Алиханов |date=1987 |publisher=[[Armenian Academy of Sciences|Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences]] |location=Yerevan |url=http://serials.flib.sci.am/matenagitutyun/Abraham_ALixanov/book/content.html |language=Armenian, Russian}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20200127100626/http://serials.flib.sci.am/matenagitutyun/Abraham_ALixanov/book/Binder1.pdf archived PDF]
*{{cite book |last1=Abov |first1=Yuri G. |title=Академик А. И. Алиханов: воспоминания, письма, документы [Academician A. I. Alikhanov: Memories, Letters, Documents] |date=2004 |publisher=Fizmatlit |location=Moscow |isbn=5-9221-0478-0 |url=http://elib.biblioatom.ru/text/alihanov-vospominaniya_2004/go,0/ |language=ru}} ([https://archive.org/details/Alikhanov2004 archived PDF], [https://pdfupload.io/docs/305d1443 alt])
* {{cite encyclopedia |first=V. J. |last=Frenkel |title=Alikhanov, Abram Isaakovich |encyclopedia=[[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] Supplement II |editor=Frederic L. Holmes |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |date=1990 |volume=17 |pages=15–16 |isbn=0-684-19177-6}}

{{Soviet Atomic Bomb Project}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alikhanov, Abram}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery]]
[[Category:Ethnic Armenian scientists]]
[[Category:Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Heroes of Socialist Labour]]
[[Category:Nuclear weapons program of the Soviet Union people]]
[[Category:People from Elizavetpol Governorate]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize]]
[[Category:Scientists from Ganja, Azerbaijan]]
[[Category:Soviet Armenians]]
[[Category:Soviet inventors]]
[[Category:Soviet nuclear physicists]]