shift supervisor. He took this role in order to gain practical experience that would be the basis for later research. At Tomsk Polytechnic University, he started researching gaseous uranium hexachloride in a gaseous fission reactor. However, news of progress made by Neil Bartlett in Canada caused Legasov to switch his interest to noble gas chemistry. In 1962, he joined the graduate school in the Department of Molecular Physics of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, first as a junior then senior researcher, and finally as head of the laboratory. In 1967, he defended his thesis at the Kurchatov Institute, under the supervisor Isaak Kikoin, on the synthesis of compounds of noble gases and the study of their properties. He received the degree of Candidate in 1967 and his doctorate in chemistry in 1972. At some stage, Legasov experienced face injuries and minor scarring as a result of chemical experimentation. In 1976, Legasov was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. From 1978 to 1983, he was a professor at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. In 1981, he became a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, in the Department of Physical Chemistry and Technology of Inorganic Materials. He was a member of the Science and Technology Council of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building. From 1983 until his death, he worked as chair of the department of Radiochemistry and Chemical Technology at the Faculty of Chemistry at Moscow State University. In 1983, he became the first deputy director for scientific work of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy. His colleague Yu. A. Ustynyuk said of Legasov: "His main quality, which set him sharply apart from all the great organizing scientists I knew, was his exceptional dedication to the cause. Work was the man, almost the only meaning of his life." Legasov researched hydrogen energy as a byproduct of nuclear energy, nuclear energy strategy, energy generation safety and synthesis of unusual compounds, which he regarded as a neglected niche within the institute's activities. Under his leadership, a scientific school was created in the newest section of inorganic chemistry – chemistry of noble gases. Working on reactor design was taboo for a chemist in the institute but he focused instead on related technologies, as well as assisted with the management of the institute. Along with colleagues like Viktor Alekseyevich Sidorenko, Legasov