Gersh Budker facts for kids

Gersh Itskovich Budker (Герш Ицкович Будкер), also known as Andrey Mikhailovich Budker, was an important Soviet physicist. He was born on May 1, 1918, and passed away on July 4, 1977. He was an expert in nuclear physics and accelerator physics, which involves studying tiny particles and how to speed them up.

A Life in Science

Gersh Budker was a brilliant scientist who made big contributions to physics. He was born in a place called Murafa, near Vinnytsia. His work helped us understand more about the smallest parts of matter and how to control them.

Becoming a Top Scientist

Budker became a special member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1958. This was a big honor, showing he was a leading scientist. Later, in 1964, he became a full "Academician" in the field of nuclear physics. This meant he was recognized as one of the top scientists in the country.

Inventing Electron Cooling

One of Budker's most famous inventions was "electron cooling" in 1968. Imagine you have a beam of tiny particles, like a stream of water. Electron cooling helps to make this beam much more focused and orderly. It does this by using another beam of electrons to "cool down" and organize the particles. This invention was very important for building better particle accelerators, which are machines that speed up particles for experiments.

Founding a Research Institute

In 1959, Budker started a very important research center. It was called the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in Akademgorodok. He was the first director of this institute. It became a famous place for scientific discoveries. After he passed away, the institute was renamed in his honor. Today, it is still known as the Budker Institute for Nuclear Physics.

Budker also helped create the Faculty of Physics at Novosibirsk State University in 1961. This helped train many new physicists.

Later Life and Legacy

Gersh Budker lived in Akademgorodok, a special town for scientists. He passed away there in 1977 from a heart attack when he was 59 years old.

His life and work were celebrated in a collection of essays. These essays were written by his friends and fellow scientists, including famous physicists like Pyotr Kapitsa and Andrei Sakharov. The book was called G. I. Budker: Reflections & Remembrances. It showed how much he was respected by other great minds in science.