> Some of them out of duty, others out of ambition.
Don't forget the fear component!
> Stalin was fascinated by the thought of a “super bomb” and set up an atomic bomb project and put Lavrentiy Beria change and told him that he had five years to produce an atomic bomb or face the consequences.
> Whilst the rest of the Soviet Union suffered shortages of men, materials and food, Beria setup a secret town and put in the top scientists to work on the atomic bomb with no expense was spared. Beria had two lists, one for those who would get promotion for their work and the other for those that failed, they would face the gulag or execution.
The Tsar Bomb started development in 1961 and at that time the fear component became much lower (aka Khrushchev Thaw). Both Stalin and Beria died in 1953.
Don't forget the fear component!
> Stalin was fascinated by the thought of a “super bomb” and set up an atomic bomb project and put Lavrentiy Beria change and told him that he had five years to produce an atomic bomb or face the consequences.
> Whilst the rest of the Soviet Union suffered shortages of men, materials and food, Beria setup a secret town and put in the top scientists to work on the atomic bomb with no expense was spared. Beria had two lists, one for those who would get promotion for their work and the other for those that failed, they would face the gulag or execution.
https://curious-droid.com/1209/how-the-atomic-race-was-won/
Another "highlight" was Korolev, one of the key designers of the Soviet rocket program, being sent to the gulag. Some of the design work he did was from the gulag. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Korolev#Imprisonment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharashka