Andreĭ Sakharov

Biography

Abstract

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 for his human rights activism in the Soviet Union. Sakharov’s scientific work as a physicist lead him to work on the Soviet Union’s first hydrogen bomb, alongside his mentor Igor Tamm. These actions as well as the state of Soviet society brought him to deep reflection on “Peace, Progress, and Human Rights” throughout the remainder of his life and career (“Peace, Progress, and Human Rights” being the title of his Nobel Lecture).

Important Dates

May 21, 1921Birth, Moscow (Russia).

1942Obtained undergraduate degree in Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moskovskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ universitet im. M.V. Lomonosova), Moscow (Russia).

1942 – 1945Worked as an engineer and inventor at a munitions factory during World War II.

1947Obtained PhD in Particle Physics, Lebedev Physical Institute (Fizicheskiĭ institut imeni P.N. Lebedeva), Moscow (Russia).

1948Joins mentor Igor Tamm's research team to build the first Soviet hydrogen bomb, VNIIÈF (Rossijskij federal'nyj jadernyj centr), Sarov (Russia).

1953Member, Soviet Academy of Sciences (Akademii︠a︡ nauk SSSR).

1953First Soviet hydrogen bomb successfully tested.

1961Develops "Tsar Bomb", the most powerful bomb to ever explode on earth, under orders of Nikita Krushchev.

1963Successfully pushes Test-Ban Treaty, signed by USA and the USSR, banning all nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, space, and underwater.

1968Publishes "Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom".

1969Researcher, Lebedev Physical Institute (Fizicheskiĭ institut imeni P.N. Lebedeva), Moscow (Russia).

1970Co-founded the Moscow Human Rights Committee (Komitet Prav Čeloveka).

1975Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his activism for human rights, but was not permitted to leave Russia to accept the prize.

1980Exiled from Moscow to Gorky.

1983Published "The Danger of Thermonuclear War," despite being exiled.

1986Mikhail Gorbachev comes into power in Russia and allows Sakharov to come out of exile.

1989Elected member of the Congress of the People’s Deputies.

December 14, 1989Death, Moscow (Russia).

Occupation

Theoretical and nuclear physicist.

Places

Birth

Moscow (Russia)

Undergraduate Education

Moscow (Russia)

Graduate Education

Moscow (Russia)

Employment

Sarov (Russia)

Moscow (Russia)

Death

Moscow (Russia)

Subjects

Cosmology.

Hydrogen bomb.

Nuclear arms control.

Nuclear energy.

Radiation -- Testing.

Science -- Political aspects.

Theoretical physics.

Relationships

People

Family

Bonnėr, Elena, 1923-2011

Second wife, married 1971.

Vikhireva, Klavdia

First wife, married 1943.

Advisors & Collaborators

Al'tshuler, B. L.

Co-wrote two books.

Chalidze, Valery N.

Co-founded Moscow Human Rights Committee.

Frank-Kamenet︠s︡kiĭ, D. A. (David Alʹbertovich)

Collaborated on building Soviet hydrogen bomb, but tried to revert back to a focus of pure physics together.

Ginzburg, V. L. (Vitaliĭ Lazarevich), 1916-2009

Collaborated on building Soviet hydrogen bomb.

Shafarevich, I. R. (Igorʹ Rostislavovich), 1923-2017

Collaborated on Moscow Human Rights Committee.

Tamm, I. E. (Igor' Evgen'evich), 1895-1971

PhD advisor at Lebedev Physical Institute and collaborated on building Soviet hydrogen bomb.

Tverdokhlebov, Andreĭ, 1940-

Co-founded Moscow Human Rights Committee.

Zel'dovich, IA, B. (IAkov Borisovich)

Collaborated on building Soviet hydrogen bomb, but tried to revert back to a focus of pure phsyics together.

Additional

Agrest, M. M. (Matest Mendeleevich), 1915-2005

Bell, L. N. (Leon Natanovich)

Braginskii, V. B. (Vladimir Borisovich)

Chukovskai︠a︡, Lidii︠a︡ Korneevna

Drell, Sidney D. (Sidney David), 1926-

Feshbach, Herman

Flory, Paul J.

Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich, 1931-

IAglom, A. M.

Kapit︠s︡a, S. P. (Sergeĭ Petrovich), 1928-2012

Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971

Kurchatov, I. V. (Igorʹ Vasilʹevich), 1903-1960

Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967

Shultz, George Pratt, 1920-

Solzhenit︠s︡yn, Aleksandr Isaevich, 1918-2008

Teller, Edward, 1908-2003

Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911-2008

Zacharias, Jerrold Reinach, 1905-1986

Institutions

Major Positions

Fizicheskiĭ institut imeni P.N. Lebedeva

Obtained PhD in Particle Physics (1947) and Researcher.

Rossijskij federal'nyj jadernyj centr - VNIIÈF

Researcher on Soviet hydrogen bomb and "Tsar bomb" projects.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

Akademiia nauk SSSR

Member.

Komitet Prav Čeloveka

Co-founder.

Moskovskii gosudarstvennyi universitet im. M.V. Lomonosova. Fizika

Obtained BSc in Physics (1942).

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Andrei Sakharov papers, 1852-2002 (bulk 1960-1990).

Houghton Library

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Symposium of the Forum on Physics and Society [sound recording] : prize session / 1983 April 19.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Voice clips for Sakharov exhibit [sound recording]

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Subject

Igor V. Kurchatov papers.

Kurchatov Museum.

Kurchatov, I. V., Institute of Atomic Energy.

ul. Kurchatova, 46, Moscow 123182, Russia

Jerrold R. Zacharias papers, 1912-1986.

Institute Archives and Special Collections

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

M.I.T. Libraries, Rm. 14N-118, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

John A. Wheeler papers, 1880-2008.

Library

American Philosophical Society

105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

Oral history interview with Akiva Moiseevich Yaglom, 1994 July 7.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Leon Bell, 1994 August 30.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Sidney D. Drell, 1986 July 1.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Vitali Ginzburg, 1990 September 25, 1992 March 28 and July 27.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Vladimir Braginsky, 1997 January 15.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Paul J. Flory papers, 1975-1986.

Archives

Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace

Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA

Physics it moves & speaks [computer file].

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Scientists for Sakharov, Orlov And Shcharansky records, 1975-2010.

Archives

Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace

Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA

Sidney Drell papers, 1966-2000.

Archives

Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace

Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA

Published Resources

Author

Collected scientific works / Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ; editors, D. ter Haar, D.V. Chudnovsky, G.V. Chudnovsky.

Memoirs / Andrei Sakharov ; translated from the Russian by Richard Lourie.

Moscow and beyond, 1986 to 1989 / Andrei Sakharov ; translated by Antonina Bouis.

Nauchnye trudy / A.D. Sakharov ; [redaktsionnaia kollegiia B.L. Altshuler ... et al.].

On mezhdu nami zhil-- : vospominaniia o Sakharove / redkollegiia, B.L. Altshuler ... [et. al.].

On Sakharov / edited by Alexander Babyonyshev ; translated by Guy Daniels.

Physical Science Study Committee records, circa 1958-1971

Progress, coexistence, and intellectual freedom / by Andrei D. Sakharov ; translated by the New York Times ; with introd., afterword, and notes, by Harrison E. Salisbury.

Sakharov remembered / edited by Sergei P. Kapitza, Sidney Drell.

Sakharov speaks [by] Andrei D. Sakharov. Edited and with a foreword by Harrison E. Salisbury.

Subject

American Institute of Physics exhibit: Andrei Sakharov: Soviet Physics, Nuclear Weapons, and Human Rights.

Andrei Sakharov : facets of a life.

Andreĭ Sakharov : nauka i svoboda / Gennadiĭ Gorelik.

Andrei Sakharov : the conscience of humanity / edited by Sidney D. Drell and George P. Shultz.

Andrei Sakharov and human rights.

Andrei Sakharov and peace / edited by Edward D. Lozansky.

Andrei Sakharov Nobel Prize biography.

Andrei Sakharov Physics Today obituary.

Andrei Sakharov: Soviet Physics, Nuclear Weapons, and Human Rights. [electronic resource]

Epokha i lichnost fiziki : ocherki i vospominaniia / E.L. Feinberg.

Fifth International Sakharov Hearing : proceedings, April 1985 / edited by Allan Wynn ; associate editors, Martin Dewhirst, Harold Stone.

Meeting the demands of reason : the life and thought of Andrei Sakharov / Jay Bergman.

Sakharov : a biography / by Richard Lourie.

The KGB file of Andrei Sakharov / edited by Joshua Rubenstein and Alexander Gribanov ; with an introductions by Joshua Rubenstein ; documents translated by Ella Shmulevich, Efrem Yankelebich, and Alla Zeide.

The world of Andrei Sakharov : a Russian physicist's path to freedom / Gennady Gorelik with Antonina W. Bouis.