Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Sakharov, Andrei Dmitriyavich


was the Soviet physicist most responsible for developing that nation's hydrogen bomb. He later became an internationally known social philosopher and an advocate for human right and world harmony. Harrison E. Salisbury's introduction to Sakharov's manifesto for world harmony, Progress, Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom (1968), described Sakharov as an "Oppenheimer, Jeller, and Hans Bethe all rolled into one," who grew into a philosopher and social architect on a world scale. Graduating with honors from Moscow State University (1942), Sakharov showed intellectual talents so remarkable that he was exempted from military service to continue his studies during World War II (1939-1945). In 1945, he became an associate at the P. N. Le-bedev Physics Institute in Moscow, where he earned a Ph.D. in physical and mathematical sciences (1947). In the Soviet Union, this degree was generally reserved for more experienced scientists. Between 1948 and 1956, Sakharov was engaged in secret research on nuclear weapons specifically directing development of the hydrogen bomb. In 1953, he became the youngest scientist ever to be elected to the prestigious Soviet Academy of Sciences. In the early 1960's, while he continued his research on the theoretical aspects of controlled fusion at the Lebedev Institute, Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner, became outspoken critics of human rights violations in the Soviet Union and around the world. By the mid-1960's, Sakharov's research interest had changed from nuclear physics to the nature of the universe In 1968, The New York Times printed Sakharov's Progress, Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom. In this declaration, Sakharov laid out his plan for world peace and progress based on cooperation between the world's superpowers, with an emphasis on human rights and intellectual freedom. In 1970, Sakharov and two other physicists formed the Committee for Human Rights to give a stronger voice to their efforts to stop human rights violations within the Soviet Union. In 1975, Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his work in promoting world harmony and opposing violence
Reacting to his ceaseless criticism, the Soviet government arrested Sakharov in 1980, exiling him from Moscow to Gorki (now Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia), then an industrial center closed to foreigners. He was released in 1986 and returned to Moscow where he became part of a changed and changing government. In 1989, Sakharov was elected to the newly formed Soviet legislature, the Congress of People's Deputies. Sakharov's Memoirs, published in 1990 after his death, describe his life as a scientist and human rights advocate.

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