In 2009 100th anniversary of the birth of academian Lev Andreevich Artsimovich - the outstanding scientist and research organizer, Lenin, Stalin and State Prize winner, Hero of Socialist Labour was celebrated.
In 1924 Lev Andreevich graduated as an external student from secondary school and entered physico-mathematical department of Belarus State University, which he finished in 1928 being 19 years old.
His scientific work began in 1930 in Leningrad physico-technical insitute. In 1937 L. A. Artsimovich defended Ph.D. thesis on "Absorption of Slow Neutrons" and in 1939 defended Dr.Sc. thesis on "Fast Electron Bremsstrahlung".
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic war Artsimovich turned to the development of night vision devices.
In 1944 Artsimovich joins in USSR Academy of Sciences Laboratory #2 (now NRC "Kurchatov Institute"), where he worked til the end of his life. In this laboratory nder his scientific supervision experimental-industrial light and heavy isotope separation setups were created.
In 1951 Lev Andreevich becomes the supervisor of the thermonuclear research program and holds that position for more than 20 years. He is one of the pioneers of the new scientific area - high-temperature plasma physics. In the experiments with plasma pinches neutron radiation was registered and the main contribution of Artsimovich was not making wrong conclusion of its thermonuclear origin.
In tokamak experiments it was shown, that plasma confinement by magnetic field correspondence idea in Bohm formula was wrong. Artsimovich and coworkers defined tokamak as the shortest route to the thermonuclear reactor. ITER is a tokamak.
In 1969 using tokamak T-3a world's first registration of neutron radiation of quasistationary deiterium plasma was conducted.
First samples of space plasma and ion electric rocket engines were developed and tested in space with active participation of Artsimovich.
The unanimous opinion of the international scientific community is that the role and influence of Lev Andreevich Artsimovich in thermonuclear plasma research achievments both in our country and in the world was determinating.
Scientists think of Artsimovich mainly as a researcher in plasma physics and controlled fusion. However his activity as a scientist, teacher and science organizer was never limited to the thermonuclear problem. He alse worked as the academian-secretary of the USSR Academy of Sciences Department of General Physics and Astronomy, actively participated in Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, professed in MEPhI and MSU.