Abstract: The article is devoted to the large—circulation newspaper "Soviet Physicist" (now — "Kurchatov") of the I. V. Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy (now - SIC "Kurchatov Institute"). Having your own newspaper in a secret scientific institution is a special phenomenon. For a long time, it was printed with a note about the prohibition of removal from the territory. The newspaper was distributed only to employees. Based on archival materials of the SIC "Kurchatov Institute" and the Central State Administration of Moscow, the history of the newspaper is traced from its inception in 1967 to its renaming in 1992. The multi-circulation newspaper was created on the initiative of the Institute's staff. The general management of it was carried out by the party committee and the local committee of the institute. The pages of the "Soviet Physicist" reflect the life of the "Kurchatov" community in all its diversity. The article introduces a new historical source into scientific circulation and examines its informational potential for research on the history of the Soviet atomic project in general, as well as the main aspects of the life of the Institute's staff community in particular. The newspaper's materials are valuable for the study of social, cultural, political and scientific events and phenomena in the history of the I. V. Kurchatov Institute – the leading Soviet scientific center for nuclear physics.