Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ( rus, Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ˈdmʲitrʲɪjevʲɪtɕ ˈsaxərəf; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet
nuclear physicist
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter.
Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...
,
dissident
A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and ...
, nobel laureate and activist for
nuclear disarmament
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the Atomic nucleus, nucleus of the atom:
*Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
*Nuclear warfare
Mathematics
*Nuclear ...
, peace, and
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
.
He became renowned as the designer of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
's
RDS-37
RDS-37 was the Soviet Union's first two-stage hydrogen bomb, first tested on 22 November 1955. The weapon had a nominal yield of approximately 3 megatons. It was scaled down to 1.6 megatons for the live test.
Leading to the RDS-37
The RDS-3 ...
, a codename for Soviet development of
thermonuclear weapons
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
. Sakharov later became an advocate of
civil liberties
Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
and civil reforms in the Soviet Union, for which he faced state persecution; these efforts earned him the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
in 1975. The
Sakharov Prize
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Russian scientis ...
, which is awarded annually by the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
for people and organizations dedicated to human rights and freedoms, is named in his honor.
Biography
Early life
Sakharov was born in Moscow on May 21, 1921. His father was Dmitri Ivanovich Sakharov, a physics professor and an amateur pianist. His father taught at the
Second Moscow State University
Moscow State Pedagogical University or Moscow State University of Education is an educational and scientific institution in Moscow, Russia, with eighteen faculties and seven branches operational in other Russian cities. The institution had underg ...
. Andrei's grandfather Ivan had been a prominent lawyer in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
who had displayed respect for social awareness and humanitarian principles (including advocating the abolition of
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
) that would later influence his grandson. Sakharov's mother was Yekaterina Alekseevna Sofiano, a daughter of the army general Aleksey Semenovich Sofiano. Sakharov's parents and paternal grandmother, Maria Petrovna, largely shaped his personality. His mother and grandmother were churchgoers; his father was a nonbeliever. When Andrei was about thirteen, he realized that he did not believe. However, despite being an
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, he did believe in a "guiding principle" that transcends the physical laws.
Education and career
Sakharov entered Physics Department of
Moscow State University
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
in 1938. Following evacuation in 1941 during the
Great Patriotic War
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...
(World War II), he graduated in
Aşgabat
Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشقآباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...
, in today's
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
. He was then assigned to laboratory work in
Ulyanovsk
Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population:
The city, founded as Simbirsk (), was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (born ...
. In 1943, he married Klavdia Alekseyevna Vikhireva, with whom he raised two daughters and a son. Klavdia would later die in 1969. He returned to Moscow in 1945 to study at the Theoretical Department of
FIAN
''Fianna'' ( , ; singular ''Fian''; gd, Fèinne ) were small warrior-hunter bands in Gaelic Ireland during the Prehistoric_Ireland#Iron_Age_(500_BC_–_AD_400), Iron Age and History of Ireland (400–800), early Middle Ages. A ''fian'' was mad ...
(the Physical Institute of the
Soviet Academy of Sciences
The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
). He received his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
in 1947.
Development of thermonuclear devices
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he researched
cosmic ray
Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...
s. In mid-1948 he participated in the
Soviet atomic bomb project
The Soviet atomic bomb project was the classified research and development program that was authorized by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons during and after World War II.
Although the Soviet scientific community dis ...
under
Igor Kurchatov
Igor Vasil'evich Kurchatov (russian: Игорь Васильевич Курчатов; 12 January 1903 – 7 February 1960), was a Soviet physicist who played a central role in organizing and directing the former Soviet program of nuclear weapo ...
and
Igor Tamm
Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm ( rus, И́горь Евге́ньевич Тамм , p=ˈiɡərʲ jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvitɕ ˈtam , a=Ru-Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm.ogg; 8 July 1895 – 12 April 1971) was a Soviet physicist who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in ...
. Sakharov's study group at FIAN in 1948 came up with a second concept in August–September 1948.
[Zaloga, Steve (17 February 2002). ''The Kremlin's Nuclear Sword: The Rise and Fall of Russia's Strategic Nuclear Forces 1945–2000''. Smithsonian Books. .] Adding a shell of natural, unenriched uranium around the deuterium would increase the deuterium concentration at the uranium-deuterium boundary and the overall yield of the device, because the natural uranium would capture neutrons and itself fission as part of the thermonuclear reaction. This idea of a layered fission-fusion-fission bomb led Sakharov to call it the ''sloika'', or layered cake.
The first Soviet atomic device was tested on August 29, 1949. After moving to
Sarov
Sarov (russian: Саро́в) is a closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It was known as Gorkiy-130 (Горький-130) and Arzamas-16 (), after a (somewhat) nearby town of Arzamas,SarovLabsCreation of Nuclear Center Arzamas-16/ref ...
in 1950, Sakharov played a key role in the development of the first megaton-range Soviet hydrogen bomb using a design known as ''Sakharov's Third Idea'' in Russia and the
Teller–Ulam design
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
in the United States. Before his ''Third Idea'', Sakharov tried a "layer cake" of alternating layers of fission and fusion fuel. The results were disappointing, yielding no more than a typical fission bomb. However the design was seen to be worth pursuing because deuterium is abundant and uranium is scarce, and he had no idea how powerful the US design was. Sakharov realised that in order to cause the explosion of one side of the fuel to symmetrically compress the fusion fuel, a mirror could be used to reflect the radiation. The details had not been officially declassified in Russia when Sakharov was writing his memoirs, but in the Teller–Ulam design, soft X-rays emitted by the fission bomb were focused onto a cylinder of lithium deuteride to compress it symmetrically. This is called
radiation implosion
Radiation implosion is the compression of a target by the use of high levels of electromagnetic radiation. The major use for this technology is in fusion bombs and inertial confinement fusion research.
History
Radiation implosion was first devel ...
. The Teller–Ulam design also had a secondary fission device inside the fusion cylinder to assist with the compression of the fusion fuel and generate neutrons to convert some of the lithium to tritium, producing a mixture of deuterium and tritium. Sakharov's idea was first tested as
RDS-37
RDS-37 was the Soviet Union's first two-stage hydrogen bomb, first tested on 22 November 1955. The weapon had a nominal yield of approximately 3 megatons. It was scaled down to 1.6 megatons for the live test.
Leading to the RDS-37
The RDS-3 ...
in 1955. A larger variation of the same design which Sakharov worked on was the 50 Mt
Tsar Bomba
The Tsar Bomba () ( code name: ''Ivan'' or ''Vanya''), also known by the alphanumerical designation "AN602", was a thermonuclear aerial bomb, and the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. Overall, the Soviet physicist Andrei Sa ...
of October 1961, which was the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated.
Sakharov saw "striking parallels" between his fate and those of
J. Robert Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is often ...
and
Edward Teller
Edward Teller ( hu, Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" (see the Teller–Ulam design), although he did not care fo ...
in the US. Sakharov believed that in this "tragic confrontation of two outstanding people", both deserved respect, because "each of them was certain he had right on his side and was morally obligated to go to the end in the name of truth." While Sakharov strongly disagreed with Teller over
nuclear testing in the atmosphere and the
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively nicknamed the "''Star Wars'' program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (intercontinental ballistic ...
, he believed that American academics had been unfair to Teller's resolve to get the H-bomb for the United States since "all steps by the Americans of a temporary or permanent rejection of developing thermonuclear weapons would have been seen either as a clever feint, or as the manifestation of stupidity. In both cases, the reaction would have been the same – avoid the trap and immediately take advantage of the enemy's stupidity."
Sakharov never felt that by creating nuclear weapons he had "known sin", in Oppenheimer's expression. He later wrote:
Support for peaceful use of nuclear technology
In 1950 he proposed an idea for a controlled
nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles ( neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifest ...
reactor, the
tokamak
A tokamak (; russian: токамáк; otk, 𐱃𐰸𐰢𐰴, Toḳamaḳ) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being d ...
, which is still the basis for the majority of work in the area. Sakharov, in association with Tamm, proposed confining extremely hot ionized
plasma
Plasma or plasm may refer to:
Science
* Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter
* Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral
* Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics
Biology
* Blood pla ...
by
torus
In geometry, a torus (plural tori, colloquially donut or doughnut) is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three-dimensional space about an axis that is coplanar with the circle.
If the axis of revolution does not tou ...
shaped
magnetic field
A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...
s for controlling
thermonuclear fusion
Thermonuclear fusion is the process of atomic nuclei combining or “fusing” using high temperatures to drive them close enough together for this to become possible. There are two forms of thermonuclear fusion: ''uncontrolled'', in which the re ...
that led to the development of the tokamak device.
Magneto-implosive generators
In 1951 he invented and tested the first
explosively pumped flux compression generator
An explosively pumped flux compression generator (EPFCG) is a device used to generate a high-power electromagnetic pulse by compressing magnetic flux using high explosive.
An EPFCG only ever generates a single pulse as the device is physically d ...
s, compressing magnetic fields by
explosives
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
. He called these devices MK (for ''MagnetoKumulative'') generators. The radial MK-1 produced a pulsed magnetic field of 25
megagauss (2500
teslas). The resulting helical MK-2 generated 1000 million amperes in 1953.
Sakharov then tested a MK-driven "plasma cannon" where a small aluminum ring was vaporized by huge
eddy current
Eddy currents (also called Foucault's currents) are loops of electrical current induced within conductors by a changing magnetic field in the conductor according to Faraday's law of induction or by the relative motion of a conductor in a mag ...
s into a stable, self-confined
toroidal plasmoid
A plasmoid is a coherent structure of plasma and magnetic fields. Plasmoids have been proposed to explain natural phenomena such as ball lightning, magnetic bubbles in the magnetosphere, and objects in cometary tails, in the solar wind, in th ...
and was accelerated to 100 km/s.
[
] Sakharov later suggested replacing the copper
coil in MK generators with a large
superconductor solenoid
upright=1.20, An illustration of a solenoid
upright=1.20, Magnetic field created by a seven-loop solenoid (cross-sectional view) described using field lines
A solenoid () is a type of electromagnet formed by a helix, helical coil of wire whose ...
to magnetically compress and focus
underground nuclear explosions into a
shaped charge
A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to form an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, init ...
effect. He theorized this could focus 10
23 proton
A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...
s per second on a 1 mm
2 surface.
Particle physics and cosmology
After 1965 Sakharov returned to
fundamental science
Basic research, also called pure research or fundamental research, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenomena. In contrast, applied researc ...
and began working on
particle physics
Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...
and
physical cosmology
Physical cosmology is a branch of cosmology concerned with the study of cosmological models. A cosmological model, or simply cosmology, provides a description of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and allows study of f ...
.
[ Translated as: ]
[ Translated as: Republished as ]
[ Translated as: ]
[ Dedicated to the 30th anniversary of ]N. N. Bogolyubov
Nikolay Nikolayevich Bogolyubov (russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Боголю́бов; 21 August 1909 – 13 February 1992), also Transliteration, transliterated as Bogoliubov and Bogolubov, was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russi ...
.
[ Dedicated to the memory of I. E. Tamm.][Translated as: ][Translated as: ][ Translated as: ][ Translated as: ][ Translated as: ]
![2D didactic image of Sakharov's twin universe model](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/2D_didactic_image_of_Sakharov%27s_twin_universe_model.svg)
He tried to explain the
baryon asymmetry
In physical cosmology, the baryon asymmetry problem, also known as the matter asymmetry problem or the matter–antimatter asymmetry problem, is the observed imbalance in baryonic matter (the type of matter experienced in everyday life) and antib ...
of the universe; in that regard, he was the first to give a theoretical motivation for
proton decay
In particle physics, proton decay is a hypothetical form of particle decay in which the proton decays into lighter subatomic particles, such as a neutral pion and a positron. The proton decay hypothesis was first formulated by Andrei Sakharov ...
. Proton decay was suggested by Wigner in 1949 and
1952.
Proton decay experiments had been performed since 1954 already. Sakharov was the first to consider
CPT-symmetric events occurring ''before'' the
Big Bang
The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...
:
We can visualize that neutral spinless maximons (or photons) are produced at ''t'' < 0 from contracting matter having an excess of antiquarks, that they pass "one through the other" at the instant ''t'' = 0 when the density is infinite, and decay with an excess of quarks when ''t'' > 0, realizing total CPT symmetry of the universe. All the phenomena at t < 0 are assumed in this hypothesis to be CPT reflections of the phenomena at t > 0.
His legacy in this domain are the famous
conditions named after him:
Baryon number violation, C-symmetry and CP-symmetry violation, and interactions out of thermal equilibrium.
Sakharov was also interested in explaining why the curvature of the universe is so small. This lead him to consider cyclic models, where the universe oscillates between contraction and expansion phases.
In those models, after a certain number of cycles the curvature naturally becomes infinite even if it had not started this way: Sakharov considered three starting points, a flat universe with a slightly negative cosmological constant, a universe with a positive curvature and a zero cosmological constant, and a universe with a negative curvature and a slightly negative cosmological constant. Those last two models feature what Sakharov calls a reversal of the time arrow, which can be summarized as follows: He considers times t > 0 after the initial Big Bang singularity at t = 0 (which he calls "Friedman singularity" and denotes Φ) as well as times t < 0 before that singularity. He then assumes that entropy increases when time increases for t > 0 as well as when time decreases for t < 0, which constitutes his reversal of time. Then he considers the case when the universe at t < 0 is the image of the universe at t > 0 under CPT symmetry but also the case when it is not so: the universe has a non-zero CPT charge at t = 0 in this case. Sakharov considers a variant of this model where the reversal of the time arrow occurs at a point of maximum entropy instead of happening at the singularity. In those models there is no dynamic interaction between the universe at t < 0 and t > 0.
In his first model the two universes did not interact, except via local matter accumulation whose density and pressure become high enough to connect the two sheets through a bridge without spacetime between them, but with a continuity of geodesics beyond the Schwarzschild radius with no singularity, allowing an exchange of matter between the two conjugated sheets, based on an idea after
Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov
Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov (russian: И́горь Дми́триевич Но́виков; born November 10, 1935) is a Russian (and former Soviet) theoretical astrophysicist and cosmologist.
Novikov put forward the idea of white holes in 1964. ...
.
Novikov called such singularities a ''collapse'' and an ''anticollapse'', which are an alternative to the couple
black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...
and
white hole
In general relativity, a white hole is a hypothetical region of spacetime and singularity that cannot be entered from the outside, although energy-matter, light and information can escape from it. In this sense, it is the reverse of a black ho ...
in the
wormhole
A wormhole (Einstein-Rosen bridge) is a hypothetical structure connecting disparate points in spacetime, and is based on a special Solutions of the Einstein field equations, solution of the Einstein field equations.
A wormhole can be visualize ...
model. Sakharov also proposed the idea of
induced gravity Induced gravity (or emergent gravity) is an idea in quantum gravity that spacetime curvature and its dynamics emerge as a mean field approximation of underlying microscopic degrees of freedom, similar to the fluid mechanics approximation of Bose ...
as an alternative theory of
quantum gravity
Quantum gravity (QG) is a field of theoretical physics that seeks to describe gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics; it deals with environments in which neither gravitational nor quantum effects can be ignored, such as in the vi ...
.
[
Translated as: ]
Turn to activism
Since the late 1950s Sakharov had become concerned about the moral and political implications of his work. Politically active during the 1960s, Sakharov was against
nuclear proliferation
Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as " Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Wea ...
. Pushing for the end of atmospheric tests, he played a role in the 1963
Partial Test Ban Treaty
The Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) is the abbreviated name of the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, which prohibited all nuclear weapons testing, test detonations of nuclear weapons exce ...
, signed in Moscow.
Sakharov was also involved in an event with political consequences in 1964, when the
Soviet Academy of Sciences
The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
nominated for full membership Nikolai Nuzhdin, a follower of
Trofim Lysenko
Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (russian: Трофим Денисович Лысенко, uk, Трохи́м Дени́сович Лисе́нко, ; 20 November 1976) was a Soviet agronomist and Pseudoscience, pseudo-scientist.''An ill-educated agro ...
(initiator of the Stalin-supported anti-genetics campaign
Lysenkoism
Lysenkoism (russian: Лысенковщина, Lysenkovshchina, ; uk, лисенківщина, lysenkivščyna, ) was a political campaign led by Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko against genetics and science-based agriculture in the mid-20th cen ...
). Contrary to normal practice, Sakharov, a member of the academy, publicly spoke out against full membership for Nuzhdin and held him responsible for "the defamation, firing, arrest, even death, of many genuine scientists."
In the end, Nuzhdin was not elected, but the episode prompted Sergei Khrushchev to order the KGB to gather
compromising material on Sakharov.
The major turn in Sakharov's political evolution came in 1967, when
anti-ballistic missile
An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to counter ballistic missiles (missile defense). Ballistic missiles are used to deliver nuclear weapon, nuclear, Chemical weapon, chemical, Bioagent, biological, or conventiona ...
defense became a key issue in US–Soviet relations. In a secret detailed letter to the Soviet leadership of July 21, 1967, Sakharov explained the need to "take the Americans at their word" and accept their proposal for a "bilateral rejection by the USA and the Soviet Union of the development of antiballistic missile defense" because an arms race in the new technology would otherwise increase the likelihood of nuclear war. He also asked permission to publish his manuscript, which accompanied the letter, in a newspaper to explain the dangers posed by that kind of defense. The government ignored his letter and refused to let him initiate a public discussion of ABMs in the Soviet press.
Since 1967, after the
Six Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
and the beginning of the
Arab-Israeli conflict
The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...
, he actively supported
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, as he reported more than once in the press, and also maintained friendly relations with
refusenik
Refusenik (russian: отказник, otkaznik, ; alternatively spelt refusnik) was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authori ...
s who later made
aliyah
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
.
In May 1968, Sakharov completed an essay, "Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom". He described the anti-ballistic missile defense as a major threat of world nuclear war. After the essay was circulated in ''
samizdat
Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...
'' and then published outside the Soviet Union, Sakharov was banned from conducting any military-related research and returned to FIAN to study fundamental theoretical physics.
For 12 years, until his exile to Gorky (
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
) in January 1980, Sakharov assumed the role of a widely recognized and open dissident in Moscow.
He stood vigil outside closed courtrooms, wrote appeals on behalf of more than 200 individual prisoners, and continued to write essays about the need for democratization.
In 1970, Sakharov was among the three founding members of the
Committee on Human Rights in the USSR
The Committee on Human Rights in the USSR (russian: Комите́т прав челове́ка в СССР) was founded in 1970 by dissident Valery Chalidze together with Andrei Sakharov and Andrei Tverdokhlebov.
Members
Valery Chalidze was a ...
, along with
Valery Chalidze
Author and publisher Valery Nikolaevich Chalidze (russian: Вале́рий Никола́евич Чали́дзе; ka, ვალერი ჭალიძე: 25 November 1938 – 3 January 2018) was a Soviet dissident and human rights activis ...
and
Andrei Tverdokhlebov
Andrei Nikolayevich Tverdokhlebov (russian: Андре́й Никола́евич Твердохле́бов, 30 September 1940, Moscow – 3 December 2011, Pennsylvania, United States) was a Soviet physicist, dissident and human rights activist ...
.
The Committee wrote appeals, collected signatures for petitions and succeeded in affiliating with several international human rights organizations. Its work was the subject of many KGB reports and brought Sakharov under increasing pressure from the government.
Sakharov married a fellow human rights activist,
Yelena Bonner
Yelena Georgiyevna Bonner (russian: link=no, Елена Георгиевна Боннэр; 15 February 1923 – 18 June 2011)[ ...](_blank)
, in 1972.
By 1973, Sakharov was meeting regularly with Western correspondents and holding press conferences in his apartment.
He appealed to the
US Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washingto ...
to approve the 1974
Jackson-Vanik Amendment to a trade bill, which coupled trade tariffs to the Kremlin's willingness to allow freer emigration.
Attacked by Soviet establishment from 1972
In 1972, Sakharov became the target of sustained pressure from his fellow scientists in the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the Soviet press. The writer
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repress ...
came to his defence.
In 1973 and 1974, the Soviet media campaign continued, targeting both Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn for their pro-Western, anti-socialist positions.
Sakharov later described that it took "years" for him to "understand how much substitution, deceit, and lack of correspondence with reality there was" in the Soviet ideals. "At first I thought, despite everything that I saw with my own eyes, that the Soviet State was a breakthrough into the future, a kind of prototype for all countries". Then he came, in his words, to "the theory of symmetry: all governments and regimes to a first approximation are bad, all peoples are oppressed, and all are threatened by common dangers."
Sakharov's ideas on social development led him to put forward the principle of human rights as a new basis of all politics. In his works, he declared that "the principle '
what is not prohibited is allowed' should be understood literally", and defied what he saw as unwritten ideological rules imposed by the Communist Party on the society in spite of a democratic
Soviet Constitution
During its existence, the Soviet Union had three different constitutions in force individually at different times between 31 January 1924 to 26 December 1991.
Chronology of Soviet constitutions
These three constitutions were:
* 1924 Constitu ...
(1936).
In a letter written from exile, he cheered up a fellow physicist and free market advocate with the words: "Fortunately, the future is unpredictable and also – because of
quantum effects
Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...
– uncertain." For Sakharov, the indeterminacy of the future supported his belief that he could and should take personal responsibility for it.
Nobel Peace Prize (1975)
In 1973, Sakharov was nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
, and in 1974, he was awarded the
Prix mondial Cino Del Duca
The Prix mondial Cino Del Duca (Cino Del Duca World Prize) is an international literary award. With an award amount of , it is among the richest literary prizes.
Origins and operations
It was established in 1969 in France by Simone Del Duca (19 ...
.
Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. The
Norwegian Nobel Committee
The Norwegian Nobel Committee ( no, Den norske Nobelkomité) selects the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year on behalf of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's estate, based on instructions of Nobel's will.
Five members are appointed by ...
called him "a spokesman for the conscience of mankind".
In the words of the Nobel Committee's citation: "In a convincing manner Sakharov has emphasised that Man's inviolable rights provide the only safe foundation for genuine and enduring international cooperation."
Sakharov was not allowed to leave the Soviet Union to collect the prize. His wife,
Yelena Bonner
Yelena Georgiyevna Bonner (russian: link=no, Елена Георгиевна Боннэр; 15 February 1923 – 18 June 2011)[ ...](_blank)
, read his speech at the ceremony in
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, Norway.
[Y.B. Sakharov]
Acceptance Speech
Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, Norway, December 10, 1975.[Y.B. Sakharov]
Sakharov's Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, Norway, December 11, 1975. On the day the prize was awarded, Sakharov was in
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
, where the human rights activist
Sergei Kovalev
Sergei Adamovich Kovalyov (also spelled Sergey Kovalev; russian: link=no, Сергей Адамович Ковалёв; 2 March 1930 – 9 August 2021) was a Russian human rights activist and politician. During the Soviet period he was a diss ...
was being tried. In his Nobel lecture, "Peace, Progress, Human Rights", Sakharov called for an end to the arms race, greater respect for the environment, international cooperation, and universal respect for human rights. He included a list of
prisoners of conscience and
political prisoners
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although nu ...
in the Soviet Union and stated that he shared the prize with them.
By 1976, the head of the KGB,
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the po ...
, was prepared to call Sakharov "Domestic Enemy Number One" before a group of KGB officers.
Internal exile (1980–1986)
![C0474-NN-Sakharov-house](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/C0474-NN-Sakharov-house.jpg)
Sakharov was arrested on 22 January 1980, following his public protests against the
Soviet intervention in Afghanistan
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in 1979, and was sent to the city of Gorky, now
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
, a city that was off limits to foreigners.
Between 1980 and 1986, Sakharov was kept under Soviet police surveillance. In his memoirs, he mentioned that their apartment in Gorky was repeatedly subjected to searches and heists. Sakharov was named the 1980 Humanist of the Year by the
American Humanist Association
The American Humanist Association (AHA) is a non-profit organization in the United States that advances secular humanism.
The American Humanist Association was founded in 1941 and currently provides legal assistance to defend the constitutiona ...
.
In May 1984, Sakharov's wife,
Yelena Bonner
Yelena Georgiyevna Bonner (russian: link=no, Елена Георгиевна Боннэр; 15 February 1923 – 18 June 2011)[ ...](_blank)
, was detained, and Sakharov began a
hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
, demanding permission for his wife to travel to the United States for heart surgery. He was forcibly hospitalized and
force-fed
Force-feeding is the practice of feeding a human or animal against their will. The term ''gavage'' (, , ) refers to supplying a substance by means of a small plastic feeding tube passed through the nose ( nasogastric) or mouth (orogastric) into t ...
. He was held in isolation for four months. In August 1984, Bonner was sentenced by a court to five years of exile in Gorky.
In April 1985, Sakharov started a new hunger strike for his wife to travel abroad for medical treatment. He again was taken to a hospital and force-fed. In August, the Politburo discussed what to do about Sakharov. He remained in the hospital until October 1985, when his wife was allowed to travel to the United States. She had heart surgery in the United States and returned to Gorky in June 1986.
In December 1985, the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
established the
Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Russian scientis ...
, to be given annually for outstanding contributions to human rights.
On 19 December 1986,
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
, who had initiated the policies of
perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
and
glasnost
''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...
, called Sakharov to tell him that he and his wife could return to Moscow.
Political leader
![President Ronald Reagan meeting with Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov in the Oval Office](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/President_Ronald_Reagan_meeting_with_Soviet_dissident_Andrei_Sakharov_in_the_Oval_Office.jpg)
In 1988, Sakharov was given the International Humanist Award by the
International Humanist and Ethical Union
Humanists International (known as the International Humanist and Ethical Union, or IHEU, from 1952–2019) is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Found ...
. He helped to initiate the first independent legal political organizations and became prominent in the Soviet Union's growing political opposition. In March 1989, Sakharov
was elected to the new parliament, the
All-Union Congress of People's Deputies and co-led the democratic opposition, the
Inter-Regional Deputies Group. In November the head of the KGB reported to Gorbachev on Sakharov's encouragement and support for the coal miners' strike in Vorkuta.
In December 1988, Sakharov visited Armenia and Azerbaijan on a fact-finding mission. He concluded, "For Azerbaijan the issue of
Karabakh
Karabakh ( az, Qarabağ ; hy, Ղարաբաղ, Ġarabaġ ) is a geographic region in present-day southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura (Caspia ...
is a matter of ambition, for the Armenians of Karabakh, it is a matter of life and death".
Death
![People gathered at the grave of Andrei Sakharov, 1990](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/People_gathered_at_the_grave_of_Andrei_Sakharov%2C_1990.jpg)
Soon after 9 p.m. on 14 December 1989, Sakharov went to his study to take a nap before preparing an important speech he was to deliver the next day in the Congress. His wife went to wake him at 11pm as he had requested but she found Sakharov dead on the floor. According to the notes of Yakov Rapoport, a senior pathologist present at the autopsy, it is most likely that Sakharov died of an
arrhythmia
Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, heart arrhythmias, or dysrhythmias, are irregularities in the heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beats per minute in adults ...
consequent to
dilated cardiomyopathy
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a condition in which the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood effectively. Symptoms vary from none to feeling tired, leg swelling, and shortness of breath. It may also result in chest pain or fainting. Co ...
at the age of 68. He was interred in the Vostryakovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.
Influence
Memorial prizes
The
Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Russian scientis ...
was established in 1988 by the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
in his honour, and is the highest tribute to human rights endeavours awarded by the European Union. It is awarded annually by the parliament to "those who carry the spirit of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov"; to "Laureates who, like Sakharov, dedicate their lives to peaceful struggle for human rights."
An
Andrei Sakharov prize
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Russian scientis ...
has also been awarded by the
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...
every second year since 2006 "to recognize outstanding leadership and/or achievements of scientists in upholding human rights".
The
Andrei Sakharov Prize for Writer's Civic Courage
The Andrei Sakharov Prize for Writer's Civic Courage (1990–2007) was an annual literary prize established in the Soviet Union by the "Writers in Support of Perestroika" association (also known as the "Aprel" (April) association), in October ...
was established in October 1990.
In 2004, with the approval of
Yelena Bonner
Yelena Georgiyevna Bonner (russian: link=no, Елена Георгиевна Боннэр; 15 February 1923 – 18 June 2011)[ ...](_blank)
, an annual Sakharov Prize for journalism was established for reporters and commentators in Russia. Funded by former Soviet dissident Pyotr Vins, now a businessman in the US, the prize is administered by the
Glasnost Defence Foundation
Glasnost Defense Foundation is a non-profit organization with the stated goals of the defense of journalists, journalism, and freedom of expression in Russia. Its president is Alexei Simonov, a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Presiden ...
in Moscow. The prize "for journalism as an act of conscience" has been won over the years by famous journalists such as
Anna Politkovskaya
Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya (;, ; uk, Ганна Степанівна Політковська , 30 August 1958 – 7 October 2006) was a Russian journalist and human rights activist, who reported on political events in Russia, in partic ...
and young reporters and editors working far from Russia's media capital, Moscow. The 2015 winner was Yelena Kostyuchenko.
Andrei Sakharov Archives and Human Rights Center
Th
Andrei Sakharov Archivesand Human Rights Center, established at
Brandeis University
, mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = NECHE
, president = Ronald D. Liebowitz
, pro ...
in 1993, are now housed at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
[Harvard University. KGB file of Sakharov](_blank)
The documents from that archive were published by the
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Universi ...
in 2005.
[The KGB File of Andrei Sakharov. (edited by Joshua Rubenstein and Alexander Gribanov), New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005; ] These documents are available online.
[The KGB File of Andrei Sakharov](_blank)
, online version with original texts and the English translations in English and in Russian (text version in Windows-1251
Windows-1251 is an 8-bit character encoding, designed to cover languages that use the Cyrillic script such as Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Serbian Cyrillic, Macedonian and other languages.
On the web, it is the second most-used si ...
character encoding
Character encoding is the process of assigning numbers to Graphics, graphical character (computing), characters, especially the written characters of Language, human language, allowing them to be Data storage, stored, Data communication, transmi ...
and the pictures of the original pages).
Most of documents of the archive are letters from the head of the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
to the
Central Committee
Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...
about activities of Soviet dissidents and recommendations about the interpretation in newspapers. The letters cover the period from 1968 to 1991 (
Brezhnev stagnation
The "Era of Stagnation" (russian: Пери́од засто́я, Períod zastóya, or ) is a term coined by Mikhail Gorbachev in order to describe the negative way in which he viewed the economic, political, and social policies of the Soviet Uni ...
). The documents characterize not only Sakharov's activity, but that of other dissidents, as well as that of highest-position
apparatchik
__NOTOC__
An apparatchik (; russian: аппара́тчик ) was a full-time, professional functionary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union or the Soviet government ''apparat'' ( аппарат, apparatus), someone who held any position ...
s and the KGB. No Russian equivalent of the KGB archive is available.
Legacy and remembrance
Places
![Andrei Sakharov-IMG 0887-raffi kojian](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Andrei_Sakharov-IMG_0887-raffi_kojian.JPG)
* In Moscow, there is
Academician Sakharov Avenue and
Sakharov Center
The Sakharov Center (russian: Са́харовский центр) is a museum and cultural center in Moscow devoted to protection of human rights in Russia and preserving the legacy of the prominent physicist and Nobel Prize winning human rights a ...
.
* During the 1980s, the block of 16th Street NW between L and M streets, in front of the
Russian ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C.
The Russian ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C. historically known as the Mrs. George Pullman House, is located at 1125 16th Street NW, 16th Street Northwest, Washington, D.C. in the Downtown, Washington, D.C., Downtown neighborhood. Until 1 ...
was renamed "Andrei Sakharov Plaza" as a form of protest against his 1980 arrest and detention.
* In
Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...
, the capital of
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
, Sakharov Square, located in the heart of the city, is named after him.
* The
Sakharov Gardens
Sakharov Gardens ( he, גינות סחרוב, ''Ginot Sakharov'') is a busy intersection on the highway from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, located close to the main entry point to Jerusalem from the West. It is named after the Soviet physicist and human ...
(est. 1990) are located at the entrance to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, Israel, off the Jerusalem–Tel Aviv Highway. There is also a street named after him in
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
.
* In
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
, there is
Sakharov Museumin the apartment on the first floor of the 12-storeyed house where the Sakharov family lived for seven years; in 2014 his monument was erected near the house.
* In
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, his monument stands in Sakharov Square, and there is a Sakharov Park.
* In 1979, an
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
,
1979 Sakharov
1979 Sakharov, provisionally designated , is a stony Vestian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered during the Palomar–Leiden survey in 1960, and named after Russian phys ...
, was named after him.
* A public square in
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
in front of the Press House is named after Sakharov. The square was named on 16 March 1991, as the Press House was still
occupied by the Soviet Army.
* Andreja Saharova iela in the district of
Pļavnieki
Pļavnieki is a Riga neighbourhood situated to the right of the river Daugava.
Territory of the Pļavnieki for many centuries was used as agricultural land and was added to Riga only in 1974. The name "Pļavnieki" is derived from Latvian word "p ...
in
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
, Latvia, is named after Sakharov.
* Andreij-Sacharow-Platz in downtown
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
is named in honour of Sakharov.
* In Belarus,
International Sakharov Environmental University was named after him.
* Intersection of Ventura Blvd and Laurel Canyon Blvd in
Studio City, Los Angeles
Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...
, is named Andrei Sakharov Square.
* In
Arnhem
Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...
, the bridge over the
Nederrijn
300px, Course of the Nederrijn
Nederrijn (; "Lower Rhine"; not to be confused with the section called Lower Rhine further upstream) is the name of the Dutch part of the Rhine from the confluence at the town of Angeren of the cut-off Rhine bend ...
is called the Andrej Sacharovbrug.
* The Andrej Sacharovweg is a street in
Assen
Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the ...
, Netherlands. There are also streets named in his honour in other places in the Netherlands such as
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
,
Amstelveen
Amstelveen () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 92.353 as of 2022. It is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area.
The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the historical villages o ...
,
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
,
Hellevoetsluis
Hellevoetsluis () is a small city and municipality in the western Netherlands. It is located in Voorne-Putten, South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water and it includes the population centres Nieuw-Helvoet, Nieuwenhoorn ...
,
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
,
Purmerend
Purmerend () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and in the region of West Friesland. The city is surrounded by polders, such as the Purmer, Beemster and the Wormer. The city became the tra ...
,
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
,
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
* A street in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, Denmark.
* Quai Andreï Sakharov in
Tournai
Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Euromet ...
, Belgium, is named in honour of Sakharov.
* In Poland, streets named in his honour in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
,
Łódź
Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...
and
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
.
* Andreï Sakharov Boulevard in the district of
Mladost in
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, is named after him.
* In New York, a street sign at the southwest corner of Third Avenue and 67th Street reads ''Sakharov-Bonner Corner'', in honor of Sakharov and his wife,
Yelena Bonner
Yelena Georgiyevna Bonner (russian: link=no, Елена Георгиевна Боннэр; 15 February 1923 – 18 June 2011)[ ...](_blank)
. The corner is just down the block from the Russian (then Soviet) Mission to the United Nations and was the scene of repeated anti-Soviet demonstrations.
* In Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, there is Academician Andrei Sakharov street.
Media
* In the 1984 made-for-TV film ''Sakharov'' starring
Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill, Robards received two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes ...
.
* In the television series ''
Star Trek: The Next Generation'', one of the
''Enterprise''-D's
Shuttlecraft
A shuttlecraft, also known as a shuttle spacecraft, shuttle ship, drop shuttle, drop spacecraft, or dropship, is a type of spacecraft described in theory and science fiction. Serving the same purpose as a ship's tender, it is a smaller vessel that ...
is named after Sakharov, and is featured prominently in several episodes. This follows the ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' tradition of naming Shuttlecraft after prominent scientists, and particularly in ''The Next Generation'', physicists.
* The fictitious interplanetary spacecraft ''
Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov'' from the novel ''
2010: Odyssey Two'' by
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.
He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...
is powered by a "Sakharov drive". The novel was published in 1982, when Sakharov was in exile in
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
, and was dedicated both to Sakharov and to
Alexei Leonov
Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov. (30 May 1934 – 11 October 2019) was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut, Air Force major general, writer, and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first person to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during th ...
.
* Russian singer
Alexander Gradsky
Alexander Borisovich Gradsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Бори́сович Гра́дский; born Alexander Borisovich Fradkin, 3 November 1949 – 28 November 2021) was a Russian rock singer, bard, multi-instrumentalist and composer. H ...
wrote and performed the song "Памяти А. Д. Сахарова" ("In memory of Andrei Sakharov"), which features on his ''Live In "Russia" 2 (Живем в "России" 2)'' CD.
* The faction leader of the Ecologists in the PC game
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and
its prequel is a scientist named Professor Sakharov.
Honours and awards
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Hero of Socialist Labour
The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...
(three times: 12 August 1953; 20 June 1956; 7 March 1962).
* Four
Orders of Lenin
The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...
.
*
Lenin Prize (1956).
*
Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to:
* The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize
* The Stalin Peace Prize, awarded 1949 to 1955, later known as the Lenin Peace Prize
The Int ...
(1953).
* Elected member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
(1969)
* Elected member of the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
(1973)
In 1980, Sakharov was stripped of all Soviet awards for "anti-Soviet activities". Later, during
glasnost
''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...
, he declined the return of his awards and, consequently,
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
did not sign the necessary decree.
*
Prix mondial Cino Del Duca
The Prix mondial Cino Del Duca (Cino Del Duca World Prize) is an international literary award. With an award amount of , it is among the richest literary prizes.
Origins and operations
It was established in 1969 in France by Simone Del Duca (19 ...
(1974).
*
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
(1975).
* Elected member of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
(1978)
*
Laurea
In Italy, the ''laurea'' is the main post-secondary academic degree. The name originally referred literally to the laurel wreath, since ancient times a sign of honor and now worn by Italian students right after their official graduation ceremony ...
Honoris Causa
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
of the
Sapienza University of Rome
The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...
(1980).
* Grand Cross of
Order of the Cross of Vytis
The Order of the Cross of Vytis ( lt, Vyčio Kryžiaus ordinas) is a Lithuanian presidential award conferred for heroic defence of Lithuania's freedom and independence. November 23 is a holiday in honour of the Order of the Cross of Vytis. His ...
(
posthumously
Posthumous may refer to:
* Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death
* Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death
* ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987
* ''Posthumous'' (E ...
on January 8, 2003).
Bibliography
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See also
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Sakharov conditions
In physical cosmology, baryogenesis (also known as baryosynthesis) is the physical process that is hypothesized to have taken place during the early universe to produce baryonic asymmetry, i.e. the imbalance of matter (baryons) and antimatter (an ...
*
Sakharov Prize
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Russian scientis ...
*
List of peace activists
This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work ...
*
Natan Sharansky
Natan Sharansky ( he, נתן שרנסקי; russian: Ната́н Щара́нский; uk, Натан Щаранський, born Anatoly Borisovich Shcharansky on 20 January 1948); uk, Анатолій Борисович Щаранський, ...
*
Stanislaw Ulam
Stanisław Marcin Ulam (; 13 April 1909 – 13 May 1984) was a Polish-American scientist in the fields of mathematics and nuclear physics. He participated in the Manhattan Project, originated the Teller–Ulam design of thermonuclear weapon ...
*
Omid Kokabee
Omid Kokabee (Persian: امید کوکبی; born 1982) is an Iranian experimental laser physicist at the University of Texas at Austin who was arrested in Iran after returning from the United States to visit his family on January 30, 2011. He was ...
*
Mordechai Vanunu
Mordechai Vanunu ( he, מרדכי ואנונו; born 14 October 1952), also known as John Crossman, is an Israeli former nuclear technician and peace activist who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israe ...
References
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* The ''Regesto delle lauree honoris causa dal 1944 al 1985'' is a detailed and carefully commented register of all the documents of the official archive of the
Sapienza University of Rome
The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...
pertaining to the honoris causa
degrees awarded or not. It includes all the awarding proposals submitted during the considered period, detailed presentations of the work of the candidate, if available, and precise references to related articles published on Italian newspapers and magazines, if the laurea was awarded.
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External links
The Andrei Sakharov Archivesat the
Houghton Library
Houghton Library, on the south side of Harvard Yard adjacent to Widener Library, is Harvard University's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. It is part of the Harvard College Library, the library system of Harvard's Faculty of Art ...
.
*
Andrei Sakharov: Soviet Physics, Nuclear Weapons, and Human Rights. Web exhibit at the American Institute of Physics.
Annotated bibliography of Andrei Sakharov from the Alsos Digital Library*
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Videos
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakharov, Andrei Dmitrievich
1921 births
1989 deaths
20th-century Russian writers
Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by the Soviet Union
European democratic socialists
Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Grand Crosses of the Order of the Cross of Vytis
Heroes of Socialist Labour
Lenin Prize winners
Members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union
Moscow State University alumni
Nobel Peace Prize laureates
Nuclear weapons program of the Soviet Union
Perestroika
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Hunger strikers
Soviet atheists
Soviet inventors
Soviet memoirists
Soviet anti–nuclear weapons activists
Soviet dissidents
Soviet male writers
20th-century male writers
Soviet Nobel laureates
Soviet non-fiction writers
Soviet nuclear physicists
Soviet prisoners and detainees
Soviet psychiatric abuse whistleblowers
Stalin Prize winners
Writers from Moscow
Political prisoners
Russian people of Greek descent
Political party founders
20th-century memoirists
Male non-fiction writers
World War II refugees
Members of the American Philosophical Society
Soviet reformers
Soviet human rights activists
Deaths from cardiomyopathy
Fellows of the American Physical Society