Scientists and Spies: The Soviet Nuclear Weapons Program

Dr. Peter Volkovitsky, a physicist with the National Institute of Standards, worked for 25 years in one of the key Soviet nuclear laboratories. Fascinated by the history of the Soviet fission nuclear bomb (A-bomb) and the fusion nuclear bomb (H-bomb), he met many of the major players in the Soviet nuclear weapons program. To mark the 50th anniversary of the explosion of the Tsar Bomba—the highest nuclear fusion bomb ever tested—Volkovitsky will give an intimate look inside the Soviet nuclear weapons program. He will share the evolution of the program, the motivations of critical scientists, the role of Soviet intelligence in the project, and some of the sources and information that the CIA and MI6 had on the Soviet’s hottest project.