Igor Kurchatov (12 January 1903 – 7 February 1960) was the Russian nuclear physicist who lead the Soviet atomic bomb project, starting in 1941. Under his direction the Soviet Union successfully tested its first plutonium-based nuclear device, First Lightning in 1949, and is remembered as "The Father of the Soviet Atomic Bomb". He was also part of the Soviet hydrogen bomb project, but ultimately spent the remainder of his life pushing for the peaceful use of atomic energy.