- Valeri Legasov
Valeri Alekseevich Legasov ("Валерий Алексеевич Легасов";
September 1 ,1936 ,Tula ,USSR —April 27 ,1988 ,Moscow ,USSR ) was a prominentSoviet scientist in the field ofinorganic chemistry , a member of theAcademy of Sciences of the USSR . He is most famous for his work as the chief of the investigation committee of theChernobyl disaster onApril 26 ,1986 .Early life and schooling
Valeri Legasov was born in
Tula into a family of civil workers. He graduated from theMendeleev Moscow Institute of Chemistry and Technology ) and did his graduate studies in theKurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy . He received the degree of Candidate in 1967 and hisdoctorate inchemistry in 1972, a remarkable achievement for a 36-year-old scientist. From 1983 until his death he was the chair of the department of Chemical Technology at theChemistry Department ofMoscow State University . He became a full member of theAcademy of Sciences of the USSR in 1981.Chernobyl
After the
Chernobyl disaster onApril 26 ,1986 , Legasov became a key member of the government commission formed to investigate the causes of the catastrophe and to plan the liquidation of its consequences. He took the most important decisions to avoid bigger explosions and informed the government of the situation in the zone. He did not hesitate to speak to his fellow scientists and to the press about security risks of the destroyed plant and insisted on immediate evacuation of the entire population ofPripyat . In August, 1986 he presented the report of the Soviet delegation at the special meeting ofInternational Atomic Energy Agency inVienna . His report struck Western colleagues with its depth of analysis and full honesty in discussing the extent and consequences of the tragedy.Legasov's open and firm stance, however, caused a lot of trouble for him at home: the
Soviet government was very uncomfortable with the frankness and rigor of his position. As a result, when in 1986-1987 his name was twice entered into the list for those to be awarded the title ofHero of Socialist Labor in recognition for his work, both times it was rejected: the second time his name was crossed out byMikhail Gorbachev himselfFact|date=April 2008.Having exposed himself to
radiation at the "ground zero", the scientist began to feel the effects on his health, along with suffering from depression which stemmed from lack of recognition. On the second anniversary of the disaster, Legasov committedsuicide . Reportedly, before his suicide, he recorded himself onaudiotape , explaining all the unknown facts about the catastrophe, attributing the cause to a design problem. This recording was analyzed in theBBC TV series "Surviving Disaster: Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster".On
September 20 ,1996 Russian PresidentBoris Yeltsin posthumously conferred to Legasov the honorary title ofHero of the Russian Federation for his "courage and heroism" shown in the course of winding up the after-effects of theChernobyl disaster .ee also
*
Chernobyl compared to other radioactivity releases
*Chernobyl disaster effects
*Chernobyl Heart
*Chernobyl in the popular consciousness
*Chernobyl Shelter Fund
*Liquidator (Chernobyl)
*List of Chernobyl-related articles
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