Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich (born 05.21.1921, died 12/14/1989) - an outstanding physicist, one of the creators of the hydrogen bomb, the first Soviet human rights activist, politician, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Sakharov’s scientific and political works have been translated into many foreign languages, and his views, beliefs, and discoveries have been recognized by scientists and statesmen around the world.
In 1988, the European Parliament established the annual Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
Sakharov Andrey. Biography
A.D. was born Sakharov in Moscow, where he spent his childhood and early youth. He did not go to primary school, but was educated at home, studying with his father, a physics teacher. Sakharov's mother was a housewife. The future scientist began to attend school only from the 7th grade, and after graduation he entered the University of Moscow at the Faculty of Physics.
When the war began, Andrei Sakharov tried to enter the military academy, but he was not accepted because of poor health. Together with Moscow University, Andrei evacuated to Ashgabat, where he graduated with honors in 1942.
The beginning of scientific activity
After graduating from the University, Sakharov got to the Ulyanovsk cartridge plant by distribution. Here he immediately finds ways to improve product quality control, and also introduces his first inventions into production.
In 1943-44, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov independently prepared several scientific papers and sent them to the head of the theoretical department of the Physics Institute named after Lebedeva Tammu I.E. And already at the beginning of 1945, Sakharov was summoned to Moscow to take exams and enroll in graduate school. In 1947, he defended his thesis, and in 1948 became part of a classified group of scientists involved in the creation of thermonuclear weapons in the closed city of Arzamas-16. In this team, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov became a participant in the design and construction of the first hydrogen bomb, conducted his research until 1968. At the same time, he and Tamm conducted experiments on controlling the thermonuclear reaction.
In 1953, Sakharov became a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences and was elected a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Political Beliefs of Andrei Sakharov
In the late 1950s, Sakharov began to actively oppose nuclear weapons tests. As a result of his activities, an agreement was signed on the prohibition of tests in three environments (atmosphere, ocean and space), and in 1966, in collaboration with other scientists, he published a collective letter against the rehabilitation of Stalin.
In 1968, Sakharov’s political convictions found their way out in an article global in its content and political significance, where the scientist reflected on comprehensive progress, intellectual freedom and the possibility of peaceful coexistence of various political systems. In his work, he spoke about the need for a mutual rapprochement between the capitalist system and the socialist system to create the foundation for further development and peace on the planet. This article was translated into several languages, and its circulation abroad amounted to more than 20 million copies. The Soviet government did not appreciate the work of Sakharov, which differed from the implanted ideology. He was suspended from secret work on nuclear weapons in Arzamas-16, and the scientist returned to work at the Physics Institute.
Andrei Sakharov became more and more interested in the idea of human rights activities, as a result of which in 1970 he joined the group that founded the Human Rights Committee. He began to actively defend fundamental human freedoms: the right to receive and disseminate information, to leave the country and return to it, and freedom of conscience.
The book "On the country and the world"
As an expert in the field of nuclear weapons, Sakharov often made a call for disarmament, and in 1975 his book "On the Country and the World" was published. In this work, a scientist, and now a politician, severely criticizes the then existing political regime, one-party ideology, and restrictions on human rights and freedoms. Sakharov calls the Soviet Union "a closed, totalitarian police state dangerous to the world, armed with super-powerful weapons and possessing enormous resources." The academician proposes a series of reforms relating to both the political and economic components of state activity, leading, in his opinion, to "improving the social situation in the country."
Regarding the Western countries, Sakharov spoke of their “weakness and disorganization”, called the United States a leader and called for unity, once again emphasizing the need for joint disarmament.
As a separate point, the scientist emphasized the importance of protecting human rights around the world, especially the right to choose a country of residence and to receive information, as well as the need for comprehensive assistance to the countries of the "third world".
Awarding Nobel Prize
After the publication of the book “On the Country and the World”, translated and published in the countries mentioned in it, not a single politician or scientist of the Soviet Union could boast of such worldwide fame as Sakharov. The Peace Prize found its hero on October 9, 1975. In the wording of the Nobel Committee, Sakharov’s activity was called “fearless support of the fundamental principles of the world”, and the scientist himself was called “a courageous fighter against abuse of power and various forms of suppressing human dignity”.
The Soviet leadership decided that such a dangerous person as Andrei Sakharov could not go abroad. The Nobel Prize was awarded to his wife Elena Bonner, who read her husband's lecture on "Peace, Progress and Human Rights." And again, through the mouth of his wife, Sakharov exposed the imperfection of political power and the situation as a whole, both in the USSR and throughout the world.
Deprivation and link
The last straw that overflowed the patience of the Soviet leadership was Sakharov’s harsh speech in 1979 against the entry of troops into Afghanistan. By the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the academician was deprived of all awards, including the title of three times Hero of Socialist Labor in January 1980.
Sakharov was arrested right on the street and sent to Gorky, where the scientist lived with his wife sharing his fate for 7 years under house arrest.
Being in exile, the scientist saw unlimited hunger strikes as the only way to fight injustice. But he was placed in a hospital and fed forcefully.
Return and rehabilitation
With the start of perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev, who was in power, allowed Sakharov to return and continue his scientific work. Sakharov resumed his appeals for disarmament and became a deputy of the Supreme Council from the Academy of Sciences. And again, the academician had to seek the right to talk about the problems that troubled him.
The constant struggle against the restrictions of the existing political regime and exhausting years of exile greatly undermined Sakharov’s health. After another debate and futile attempts to prove his innocence from a heart attack, the great scientist and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov died at home. The biography of this person is full of significant dates and fateful events. His contribution to the defense of human rights and the development of nuclear physics is invaluable.
Sakharov Prize “For Freedom of Thought”
The foreign scientific community, the political elite, as well as the population of Western countries, appreciated the importance of Sakharov’s convictions and the depth of his contribution to the global cause of protecting human rights. In Germany, Lithuania, the USA and other countries there are streets, squares and parks named after this great man.
While the scientist was still alive, in 1988, the European Parliament approved the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The award is presented annually in December and amounts to 50 thousand euros. The Sakharov Prize may be awarded for achievements in any of the following human rights activities:
- protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
- protection of minority rights;
- respect for international law;
- development of democratic processes and confirmation of the predominant role of the letter of the law.
Winners of the Freedom of Thought Award
The first laureates to be awarded the Sakharov Prize were the South African fighter with apartheid N. Mandela and the Soviet political prisoner A. Marchenko.
In subsequent years, the Andrei Sakharov Prize was awarded to the Argentine organization “Mothers of May Square” (1992), a newspaper from Bosnia and Herzegovina (1993), the UN (2003), the Belarusian Association of Journalists (2004), and the Cuban Movement “Women in White” (2005) and a number of other organizations and individuals whose activity is to uphold human rights and freedoms.
Human Rights Organization Memorial
In 2009, the year of the twentieth anniversary of the death of A. Sakharov, the European Parliament awarded the Peace Prize to the human rights organization Memorial. It is noteworthy that one of the founders of this organization and the first chairman of a very small society at that time was academician Sakharov. Memorial has fully absorbed all Sakharov's ideas about the predominant role of human rights, and especially intellectual freedom, for the possibility of the progressive development of the whole world.
Currently, Memorial is a huge non-governmental organization with representative offices in Germany and countries of the former socialist camp. The main activities of this community are human rights, research and educational work.
Modern winners of the Freedom of Thought Award
In 2013, the former CIA agent E. Snowden and Belarusian political prisoners were nominated for the award, and the Sakharov Prize was awarded to fifteen-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yusufzai, who waged an unequal struggle against the Taliban and the entire system for the right of her compatriots to attend school. From the age of eleven, Malala had a blog for the Air Force, which described in detail the difficulties of her life and the attitude of the Taliban towards girls' education.
In 2014, the Sakharov Prize was awarded to Deni Mukwega, a gynecologist from Congo. This man attracted the attention of the European Parliament by organizing a center in his country where psychological and medical assistance is provided to victims of sexual violence.
