Artem Kulikov

Artem Vladimirovich Kulikov
07/01/1933 — 10/15/2020
Artem Kulikov, the first high-level Soviet physicist to seek asylum in the United States, died at home after a battle with pancreatic cancer. His wife Marti Somers and her twin brother, Richard Somers, were at his side when he passed. He was 87.

Artem was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. As a boy, he survived the siege of Leningrad. He was considered a gifted child and lived up to that distinction. In 1957 he received his Degree in Physics. He started work as a research physicist at Loffe Institute in Leningrad and, then, Particle Physics and Accelerator Physics at the Nuclear Physics Institute (PNPI). He also participated in experiments abroad at Saclay, CERN, and Fermilab.

After his daughter's untimely and tragic death, Artem needed to start over, and he dreamed of America, the land of the free.

At age 51, while he and his team of nuclear physicists were departing after a visit at Fermilab in Chicago, he requested asylum and defected while in the O'Hare International Airport on Christmas Eve.

FBI agent, James Rosser, who was assigned to Artem, called him "one of the bravest men he's ever met. Besides being a brilliant scientist he was practical, down to earth, and a kind and decent human being."

Shortly after being granted asylum, Dr. Joe Lach from Fermilab steered Artem toward the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in California, where he was offered a position under Dr. Stanley Ecklund to work on the Stanford Linear Collider (SLC) positron source, especially the flux concentrator. That was followed by work on the B Factory, or PEP II. He retired at age 75, after 23 years at SLAC.

Soon after his relocation to California, Artem met his soulmate Marti Somers. They married and bought a home in the San Carlos hills overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Artem loved his home with its spectacular view and big sky. He was a stargazer and enjoyed shooting every phase of the moon.
Artem wanted to explore America with Marti and they took many road trips together through the Southwest, Northwest, Canada, Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands.

Artem is preceded in death by his mother, Aleksandra Tokareva, father Vladimir Kulikov; daughter Aleksandra; and his beloved father-in-law and mother in-law Bob and Jean Somers. He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Marti Somers, and their Havanese, Star Baby; sister-in-law Robin Somers and brother-in-law Dennis Schirmer; brother-in-law Michael Somers and sister-in-law Emily; brother-in-law Richard Somers and sister-in-law Carla; his niece Jennifer Dunn and her husband Ian; nephew Joe Schirmer and his wife Miranda; niece Olivia Erwin, and a slew of grand nephews and nieces.