Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov. Biographical information. Star of the era. How academician Sakharov became a Nobel laureate Biography of sugar

Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov

Biography

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Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov(May 21, 1921 - December 14, 1989) - Soviet physicist, academician of the USSR Russian Academy of Sciences and political activist, dissident and human rights activist.

Biography:

Born in Moscow. His father, Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov, is a physics teacher at the Lenin Pedagogical Institute, his mother Ekaterina Alekseevna Sakharova (ur. Sofiano) - the daughter of the hereditary military man Alexei Semenovich Sofiano - is a housewife. My maternal grandmother Zinaida Evgrafovna Sofiano is from the family of Belgorod nobles Mukhanov. He spent his childhood and early youth in Moscow. Sakharov received his primary education at home. I went to school from the seventh grade. After graduating from high school in 1938, Sakharov entered the physics department of Moscow University. In the summer of 1941 he tried to enter the military academy, but was not accepted due to health reasons. In 1941 he was evacuated to Ashgabat. In 1942 he graduated from the university with honors. In 1943, Sakharov married Claudia Alekseevna Vikhireva. 1945 - admission to graduate school at the Physics Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences named after. P.N. Lebedeva, 1947 - dissertation defense.

In 1948, Andrei Sakharov was included in a special group for the development thermonuclear weapons. 1950 - the scientist begins research into controlled thermonuclear reactions. 1952 - Sakharov puts forward the idea of ​​magnetic cumulation to produce super-strong magnetic fields. 1953 - after a successful test of the Soviet hydrogen bomb Andrei Sakharov was elected academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 1954 and 1956 - the scientist is awarded the title “Hero of Socialist Labor”.

Sakharov was called the “father” of the Soviet hydrogen bomb. But this dubious title did not so much please the academician as it worried him - there were too many moral problems behind it. By the end of the 1950s, Andrei Sakharov began to actively protest against nuclear weapons testing.

1961 - the academician works on the idea of ​​laser compression to obtain a pulsed controlled thermonuclear reaction. The same year was marked by the scientist’s speech against nuclear testing, which ultimately led to his conflict with Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev. 1962 - Sakharov becomes the Hero of Socialist Labor for the third time. And in 1963, an international treaty banning nuclear tests in three spheres: in the atmosphere, in water and in space. One of the initiators of this document was Academician Sakharov.

1966 - Andrei Sakharov begins to intercede with the government on behalf of the repressed. In 1968, the academician wrote the article “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom.” In his own words, this moment became a “turning point in fate.” The Soviet press reacts to the article with silence for some time, then one after another more and more disapproving responses begin to appear. The article was published abroad. Immediately after this, Sakharov was removed from secret work.

1970 - Sakharov, despite the fact that the pressure on himself and his relatives is gradually increasing, does not tire of fighting for the rights of the repressed. He becomes one of the founders of the Moscow Committee for Human Rights. In addition, he very boldly speaks out for the abolition death penalty, against forced treatment in psychiatric hospitals, for the right to emigrate.

In 1975, Academician Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his fearless support of the fundamental principles of peace among nations and for his courageous struggle against abuse of power and any form of suppression of human dignity.” In the same year he writes and publishes the book “About the Country and the World.”

1979 - Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. Sakharov publicly condemns this step. 1980 – scientist gives two correspondence interviews Western press: one German newspaper " Die Welt", the second - American " The New York Times" In them, Sakharov speaks out, among other things, in favor of a boycott of the Moscow Olympics: “The Olympic Committee must refuse to hold the Olympics in a country waging war.” Literally the next day after the publication of the newspapers, at the beginning of January 1980, a government decree was adopted, according to which Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was deprived of all government awards “in connection with the systematic commission ... of actions discrediting him as the recipient.” On January 2, Sakharov was exiled to the city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod). The location was not chosen by chance - this city was closed to foreigners. In Gorky, the academician is virtually isolated from society and is constantly guarded by the police. The scientist’s relatives and friends have a hard time in Moscow, and it comes to the point that, in protest against the arbitrariness of the authorities towards them, Sakharov goes on a hunger strike twice during his “exile.” The human rights activist’s work continues even in isolation. Sakharov writes an article “The Danger of Thermonuclear War”, which receives a huge response in the West. A letter was written to Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev stating that it is necessary to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Gorbachev receives an appeal from an academician about the need to release all prisoners of conscience.

December 1986 - Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, by special order, returns Sakharov to Moscow. In February 1987, Andrei Sakharov speaks at the international forum “For a nuclear-free world, for the survival of humanity.” 1988 – the scientist is elected chairman of the Memorial Society.

March 1989 - the academician was elected people's deputy of the USSR from the Academy of Sciences. November of the same year - Sakharov develops and presents to the Kremlin a draft of a new Constitution, which is based on the protection of individual rights and the right of all peoples to equal statehood with others.

December 14, 1989 - Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov dies in Moscow. He was buried at Vostryakovsky cemetery.

Sakharov Andrey Dmitrievich (1921-1989) - great Soviet physicist, academician. He was one of the creators and became famous scientific works, social and political activities. Received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975.

The formation of academician Sakharov

Andrei Sakharov was born in Moscow, into the family of physics teacher Dmitry Sakharov, author of a collection of problems. The future academician received his primary education at home, and went to school only in the seventh grade. Sakharov was the best student in mathematics, intuitively finding the correct solution.

In 1938, Sakharov entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University. At the beginning of the war, the university was evacuated to Ashgabat, and in 1942 Sakharov graduated with honors.

After graduation, Sakharov was sent to the Ulyanovsk Cartridge Plant. In his first year of work, he invented several devices that improved the operation of the plant.

In 1944, Sakharov entered graduate school, three years later received a Ph.D., and for 20 years (from 1948 to 1968), together with other scientists, he developed the hydrogen bomb. He also lectured students on nuclear physics and conducted scientific work himself.

For his scientific achievements, Sakharov received a Doctor of Science degree in 1953 and in the same year became an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Becoming an academic at the age of just 32 was in itself a great achievement.

Scientific and social work of Sakharov

Academician Sakharov was a human rights activist and fighter for the development of science. He opposed the persecution of the young science of genetics and sought to stop the arms race between the USSR and the USA.

In 1970, Sakharov, together with two colleagues, founded the Moscow Committee for Human Rights. Later he participated in political trials, opposed the rehabilitation of Stalin. Sakharov spoke out in defense of political prisoners and fought in every possible way for human rights, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1972, he married Elena Bonner and continued his activities with her. However, having provoked the wrath of the USSR government with their activities, in 1980 they were both detained and deported to Gorky. Then Sakharov was stripped of all titles and awards. Sakharov protested, went on hunger strikes and attracted attention in every possible way, but was rehabilitated only in 1986.

Academician Sakharov continued Scientific research and advocacy work until his death in 1989.

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FROM FAMILY

His father Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov is a physics teacher, the author of a well-known problem book and many popular science books. Grandfather Ivan Nikolaevich. Sakharov, the son of an Arzamas priest, was a sworn attorney of the Moscow District Court, and as a defense attorney participated in many criminal and political processes, was a member of the Cadet Party and an elector from it in the 2nd State Duma, one of the compilers of the collection “Against the Death Penalty”. Grandmother Maria Petrovna Sakharova (ur. Domukhovskaya) was born on the estate of her noble parents in the Smolensk province.

Mother of A.D. Sakharova Ekaterina Alekseevna Sakharova (ur. Sofiano) is the daughter of the hereditary military man Alexei Semenovich Sofiano, who retired in 1917 according to the age limit to the rank of lieutenant general, great-granddaughter of a native Greek island Zeya, who accepted Russian citizenship and received the nobility during the reign of Catherine II.

Maternal grandmother Zinaida Evgrafovna Sofiano (ur. Mukhanov) came from an old noble family of Mukhanovs, known in generational paintings since the 17th century. Godfather A.D.S. was famous musician Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser. (For more information about the ancestors of A.D.S. see “Banner”, 1993, No. 12.)

Andrei Dmitrievich spent his childhood and early youth in Moscow. The family lived in an apartment that his grandfather had once rented and which became communal after the revolution. A.D.S. received his primary education at home; his father taught him physics and mathematics. He studied at school from the seventh grade; After graduating in 1938, he entered the physics department of Moscow University. In the summer of 1941, due to health reasons, A.D.S. was not accepted into the military academy, where many of his classmates were enrolled. After graduating from the university with honors in 1942 in Ashgabat during evacuation, he was sent to the disposal of the People's Commissariat of Armaments. Since 1942 A.D.S. worked at a cartridge plant in Ulyanovsk as an engineer-inventor, had a number of inventions in the field of product control methods. In 1943, Andrei Sakharov married Klavdiya Alekseevna Vikhireva (1919-1969), in 1972 he married Elena Georgievna Bonner (born 1923).

At the end of 1944 A.D.S. entered the correspondence graduate school of the FIAN (Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences named after P.N. Lebedev), at the beginning of 1945 he was transferred to full-time graduate school. His scientific supervisor was Igor Evgenievich Tamm, later an academician and Nobel laureate. Soon after defending his Ph.D. thesis in 1948, A.D.S. was enrolled in research group, dealing with the problem of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov is often called the “father of the hydrogen bomb,” but he believed that these words very inaccurately reflected the complex situation of collective authorship. Since 1950 A.D. Sakharov and I.E. Tamm began to work together on the problem of controlled thermonuclear reaction (the idea of ​​magnetic plasma confinement and fundamental calculations of controlled thermonuclear fusion installations). These works were reported in 1956 by I.V. Kurchatov at a conference in Harwell (Great Britain) and are considered pioneering. In 1952, Sakharov put forward the idea of ​​magnetic cumulation to obtain superstrong magnetic fields and in 1961 - the idea of ​​laser compression to obtain a pulsed controlled thermonuclear reaction. Sakharov owns several key works in cosmology (“Baryonic asymmetry of the Universe”, “Multi-leaf models of the Universe”, “Cosmological models of the Universe with the turn of the arrow of time”), works on field theory and elementary particles. In 1953 A.D.S. was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Sakharov considered the speeches in 1956-1962 to be the beginning of his public activities. against nuclear testing in the atmosphere. A.D.S. - one of the initiators of the conclusion in 1963 of the Moscow Treaty banning nuclear tests in three environments (atmosphere, space and ocean). In 1964, Sakharov spoke out against Lysenko and his school. In 1966 he took part in a collective letter against the revival of the cult of Stalin. In 1968, he wrote a long article, “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom,” in which he substantiated the need for convergence - the reciprocal rapprochement of the socialist and capitalist systems - as the basis for progress and the preservation of peace on the planet. The total circulation of this article in the West reached 20 million. After its publication, Sakharov was suspended from secret work in the closed city of Arzamas-16, where he spent 18 years. In 1969 he returned to scientific work at FIAN. At the same time, Sakharov transferred his savings - 139 thousand rubles. - Red Cross and for the construction of an oncology center in Moscow.

In November 1970, Sakharov became one of the founders of the Human Rights Committee. In subsequent years, he spoke out in defense of prisoners of conscience and basic human rights - the right to receive and impart information, the right to freedom of conscience, the right to leave and return to one's country and the right to choose one's place of residence within the country. At the same time, he spoke a lot on disarmament issues, being the only independent professional expert in this field in the countries of the socialist camp. In the summer of 1975 he published the book “About the Country and the World.” In October 1975 A.D. Sakharov was awarded Nobel Prize Mira: “Sakharov fought uncompromisingly and effectively not only against abuses of power in all their manifestations, but with equal energy he defended the ideal of a state based on the principle of justice for all. Sakharov convincingly expressed the idea that only the inviolability of human rights can serve as the foundation for a genuine and durable system international cooperation"(determination of the Nobel Committee of the Storting of Norway dated October 10, 1975).

In his Nobel lecture, given in Oslo, E.G. Bonner on December 10 of the same year, Sakharov argued: “Peace, progress, human rights - these three goals are inextricably linked; it is impossible to achieve any one of them while neglecting the others.”

On January 22, 1980, Sakharov was exiled to Gorky without trial. At the same time, by decree of the Presidium Supreme Council In the USSR he was deprived of the title of Hero of Socialist Labor three times (195.3, 1956, 1962) and by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR - the title of laureate of the State (1953) and Lenin (1956) prizes. Sakharov's exile was apparently related to his strong opposition to the invasion in December 1979. Soviet troops to Afghanistan.

In Gorky, despite the severe isolation, he continued public performances. The article “The Danger of Thermonuclear War,” a letter to Leonid Brezhnev about Afghanistan, and an appeal to Mikhail Gorbachev about the need to free all prisoners of conscience had a great resonance in the West. In Gorky A.D.S. He went on indefinite hunger strikes four times due to the KGB’s pressure on his family. There, the KGB authorities twice stole the manuscripts of his memoirs, scientific and personal diaries from him. During the “Gorky years” A.D.S. made and published four scientific works. He was returned from Gorky in December 1986.

In February 1987, Sakharov spoke at the international forum “For a nuclear-free world, for the survival of mankind” on the issue of disarmament - he proposed the principle of dividing the “package” (i.e., considering the issue of reducing the number of Euro-missiles separately from the problems of SDI), which two weeks later was received by Gorbachev. On this forum A.D.S. He also spoke in favor of reducing the USSR army and on nuclear energy safety issues.

In 1988 A.D. Sakharov was elected honorary chairman of the Memorial Society and put a lot of effort into getting it recognized by the authorities. In March 1989, he was elected people's deputy of the USSR. As a member of the Constitutional Commission, Sakharov prepared and presented a draft of the new Constitution on November 27, 1989; Its concept is based on the protection of individual rights and the right of all peoples to equal statehood with others.

A.D.S. was a foreign member of the Academies of Sciences of the USA, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and honorary doctor of many universities in Europe, America and Asia.

Andrei Dmitrievich died on December 14, 1989 and was buried at the Vostryakovsky cemetery in Moscow.

During Sakharov’s life in the USSR, only his articles and interviews from 1987-1989 were published on public issues. 1990 was the year our society first became acquainted with the memoirs and journalistic heritage of Andrei Sakharov. But 1991, the year of Andrei Sakharov’s seventieth birthday, became even more so. During these years, his memoirs “Memoirs” (“Znamya”, 1990, Nos. 10-12; 1991, Nos. 1-5) and “Gorky - Moscow, then everywhere” (“Znamya”, 1991, No. 9) were published -10), book by E.G. Bonner about Gorky’s exile “Postscriptum” (M.: Interbuk, 1990), collections of articles and speeches “Peace, progress, human rights” (M.: Soviet writer, 1990) and “Anxiety and hope” (M.: Inter-Verso , 1990), interviews were published (Zvezda, 1991, Nos. 1, 5, 10). The collections “Constitutional Ideas of Andrei Sakharov” (Moscow: Novella, 1990), “Andrei Dmitrievich. Memories of Sakharov" (M.: Terra, 1990), "Andrei Sakharov. For and against" (M.; Pik, 1991), "A. D. Sakharov through the eyes of colleagues and friends. Sketches for a scientific portrait. Freethinking" (M.: Mir, 1991), "Sakharov Collection" (M.: Kniga, 1991), "And One Warrior in the Field" (Yerevan; Louis, 1991), the brochure "Man and Legend. Image of A.D. Sakharov in public opinion. All-Union survey of VC and OM. March!991" (M.: Information agency "Data", 1991). Andrei Sakharov's books “Memoirs” and “Gorky - Moscow, then everywhere” have been translated into English, German, French, Italian, Danish, Dutch and Japanese.

Text Elena Bonner

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Soviet theoretical physicist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, one of the creators of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb. Public figure, dissident and human rights activist; People's Deputy of the USSR, author of the draft Constitution of the Union Soviet Republics Europe and Asia. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1975. For his human rights activities, he was deprived of all Soviet awards and prizes and in 1980 he and his wife Elena Bonner were expelled from Moscow. At the end of 1986, Mikhail Gorbachev allowed Sakharov to return from exile to Moscow, which was regarded in the world as important milestone in stopping the fight against dissent in the USSR.

Father, Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov, is a physics teacher, author of a famous Russian problem book, mother Ekaterina Alekseevna Sakharova (ur. Sofiano) is the daughter of a hereditary military man Greek origin Alexey Semyonovich Sofiano is a housewife. My maternal grandmother Zinaida Evgrafovna Sofiano is from the family of Belgorod nobles Mukhanov.

The godfather is the famous musician Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser.

He spent his childhood and early youth in Moscow. Sakharov received his primary education at home. I went to school from the seventh grade.

...we went to meet Andryusha Sakharov. My brother and I liked the guy, and we dragged him into the school math club at Moscow State University. And in the ninth grade (which means, apparently, in 36-37 academic year) together with him we went to the school mathematics club, which was led by Shklyarsky. ... Andryusha Sakharov, although a strong mathematician, turned out to be not very adapted to this style. He often solved the problem, but could not explain how he came to the solution. The decision was correct, but he explained it in a very abstruse way, and it was difficult to understand him. He has amazing intuition, he somehow understands what should happen, and often cannot properly explain why it turns out this way. But it was precisely in atomic physics, which he later took up, that this turned out to be what was needed. There (at that time, in any case) there were no strict equations and mathematical techniques did not help, but intuition was extremely important. ... By the way, in the 10th grade Sakharov no longer went to the math club. When we asked him why, he replied: “Well... if there was a physics club at Moscow State University, I would go, but I don’t want to go to the math club.” Perhaps he had no love for rigor. He was, indeed, more of a physicist than a mathematician.
A. M. Yaglom

After graduating from high school in 1938, Sakharov entered the physics department of Moscow State University.

After the start of the war, in the summer of 1941, he tried to enter the military academy, but was not accepted for health reasons. In 1941 he was evacuated to Ashgabat. In 1942 he graduated from the university with honors.

Sergei Vasilyevich Vonsovsky told, from the words of I. E. Tamm, how Tamm and Leontovich took an exam on the theory of relativity from student Sakharov - and gave him a C. Then, almost at night after the exam, Tamm called Leontovich and said something like: “Listen, this student said everything correctly?! It’s you and me who didn’t understand anything - it’s us who need to give C’s! We need to talk to him again." So Sakharov became Tamm’s student.
M. I. Katsnelson

In another presentation of this story, the exam takes place during graduate school; together with I. E. Tamm, S. M. Rytov and E. L. Feinberg take the exam, and Sakharov receives only a “B”.

In 1942, it was placed at the disposal of the People's Commissar of Armaments, from where it was sent to the cartridge factory in Ulyanovsk. In the same year, he made an invention to control armor-piercing cores and made a number of other proposals. At the end of 1944, he entered graduate school at the Lebedev Physical Institute (scientific supervisor - I. E. Tamm). Employee of the Lebedev Physical Institute. Lebedev remained until his death. In 1947 he defended his Ph.D. thesis. At the request of academician Tamm, he was hired by MPEI.

In 1948, he was enrolled in a special group and until 1968 he worked in the field of development of thermonuclear weapons, participated in the design and development of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb according to the scheme called “Sakharov’s layer”. At the same time, Sakharov, together with I.E. Tamm, carried out pioneering work on controlled thermonuclear reactions in 1950-1951. At the Moscow Energy Institute he taught courses in nuclear physics, the theory of relativity and electricity. Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (1953). In the same year, at the age of 32, he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, becoming the second youngest academician in history at the time of his election (after S. L. Sobolev). The recommendation that accompanied the submission to academicianship was signed by Academician I.V. Kurchatov and corresponding members of the USSR Academy of Sciences. B. Khariton and Ya. B. Zeldovich According to V. L. Ginzburg, nationality played a certain role in the election of Sakharov immediately as an academician - bypassing the level of corresponding member

In 1953, at the suggestion of Igor Evgenievich Tamm, I was elected to the core. He also proposed electing Andrei Dmitrievich as a corresponding member, but he was immediately elected to academician. Why? They needed a hero - a Russian. There were enough Jews: Khariton, Zeldovich, your interlocutor. I will say so that there are no misunderstandings: I am not at all jealous of Sakharov, I am not going to cast a shadow on him, but, historically speaking, he was greatly inflated along the military line - for nationalist reasons. He is a national hero, but he really let everyone down later.

“He lived for too long in some extremely isolated world, where they knew little about events in the country, about the lives of people from other walks of life, and even about the history of the country in which and for which they worked,” noted Roy Medvedev.

In 1955, he signed the “Letter of the Three Hundred” against the notorious activities of academician T. D. Lysenko.

According to Valentin Falin, Sakharov, in an attempt to stop the ruinous arms race, proposed a project to station super-powerful nuclear warheads along the American maritime border:

A.D. Sakharov generally proposed not to serve Washington’s strategy of ruin Soviet Union arms race. He advocated deployment along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States nuclear charges 100 megatons each. And if there is aggression against us or our friends, press the buttons. This was said to him before a quarrel with Nikita Sergeevich in 1961 due to disagreements regarding the test thermonuclear bomb with a capacity of 100 megatons over Novaya Zemlya.

According to Sakharov's calculations, as a result of the explosion of such a bomb, a giant tsunami wave will form, destroying everything on the coast.

Human rights activities

All people have the right to life, liberty and happiness.
A. D. Sakharov. Constitution (Draft). Art. 5.

Since the late 1950s, he has actively campaigned for an end to nuclear weapons testing. Contributed to the conclusion of the Moscow Treaty banning tests in three environments. A.D. Sakharov expressed his attitude to the question of the justification of possible victims of nuclear tests and, more broadly, human sacrifices in general in the name of a more optimal future:

…Pavlov [State Security General] once told me:
— Now in the world there is a life-and-death struggle between the forces of imperialism and communism. The future of humanity, the fate and happiness of tens of billions of people over the centuries depends on the outcome of this struggle. To win this fight, we must be strong. If our work, our trials add strength to this struggle, and this is extremely true, then no sacrifices of trials, no sacrifices at all can matter here.
Was it crazy demagoguery or was Pavlov sincere? It seems to me that there was an element of both demagoguery and sincerity. Something else is more important. I am convinced that such arithmetic is fundamentally invalid. We know too little about the laws of history, the future is unpredictable, and we are not gods. We, each of us, in every matter, both “small” and “big,” must proceed from specific moral criteria, and not from the abstract arithmetic of history. Moral criteria categorically dictate to us - do not kill!

Since the late 1960s, he was one of the leaders of the human rights movement in the USSR. Has been under KGB surveillance since the 1960s, subjected to searches and numerous insults in the press. In 1966, he signed a letter from twenty-five cultural and scientific figures Secretary General The Central Committee of the CPSU to L. I. Brezhnev is against the rehabilitation of Stalin. In 1968, he wrote the brochure “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom,” which was published in many countries. In 1970, he became one of the three founding members of the Moscow Human Rights Committee (together with Andrei Tverdokhlebov and Valery Chalidze). In 1971, he addressed the Soviet government with a “Memoir”. In the 1960s and early 1970s, he went to the trials of dissidents. During one of these trips in 1970 in Kaluga (the trial of B. Weil - R. Pimenov), he met Elena Bonner and married her in 1972. Sakharov himself later wrote in his diary: “Lucy told me (the academician) a lot that I would not have understood or done otherwise. She’s a great organizer, she’s my think tank.” In the 1970s - 1980s, campaigns were carried out in the Soviet press against A.D. Sakharov (1973, 1975, 1980, 1983)

On August 29, 1973, the Pravda newspaper published a letter from members of the USSR Academy of Sciences condemning the activities of A.D. Sakharov (“Letter of 40 Academicians”). On August 31, 1973, the Pravda newspaper published a “Letter from Writers” condemning Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn. In September 1973, in response to the persecution that had begun, the mathematician was a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. R. Shafarevich wrote an “open letter” in defense of A.D. Sakharov. In 1974, Sakharov held a press conference at which he announced the Day of Political Prisoners in the USSR. In 1975 he wrote the book “About the Country and the World.” In the same year, Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Published in Soviet newspapers collective letters scientists and cultural figures with condemnation political activity A. Sakharov. In September 1977, he sent a letter to the organizing committee on the problem of the death penalty, in which he advocated its abolition in the USSR and throughout the world. In December 1979 and January 1980, he made a number of statements against the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, which were published on the editorial pages of Western newspapers.

The spiritual renegade, provocateur Sakharov, with all his subversive actions, has long placed himself in the position of a traitor to his people and state

« TVNZ", 02/15/1980

On January 22, 1980, on the way to work, he was detained and then, together with his wife Elena Bonner, exiled without trial to Gorky, a city that was closed to visits by foreign citizens at that time. Sakharov himself connected the exile with his speeches against the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. At the same time, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he was deprived of the title of three times Hero of Socialist Labor and by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR - the title of laureate of the Stalin (1953) and Lenin (1956) prizes (also the Order of Lenin, the title of member of the USSR Academy of Sciences was not deprived). In Gorky, Sakharov spent three long hunger strikes. In 1981, he, together with Elena Bonner, endured the first, seventeen-day sentence - for the right to visit her husband abroad for Liza Alekseeva (the Sakharovs' daughter-in-law). In big Soviet encyclopedia(published in 1975) and then in encyclopedic reference books published until 1986, the article about Sakharov ended with the phrase “In last years moved away from scientific activity" According to some sources, the formulation belonged to M. A. Suslov. In July 1983, four academicians (Prokhorov, Scriabin, Tikhonov, Dorodnitsyn) signed a letter “When they lose honor and conscience” condemning A.D. Sakharov.

In May 1984, he held a second hunger strike (26 days) to protest against the criminal prosecution of E. Bonner. In April-October 1985 - the third (178 days) for the right of E. Bonner to travel abroad for heart surgery. During this time, Sakharov was repeatedly hospitalized (the first time was forcibly on the sixth day of the hunger strike; after his announcement to end the hunger strike (July 11), he was discharged from the hospital; after its resumption (July 25), two days later he was forcibly hospitalized again) and force-fed (they tried to feed, sometimes it was successful). During the entire time of A. Sakharov’s exile, a campaign was going on in many countries of the world in his defense. For example, the square, a five-minute walk from the White House, where the Soviet embassy was located in Washington, was renamed “Sakharov Square.” “Sakharov Hearings” have been held regularly in various world capitals since 1975.

He was released from Gorky exile with the beginning of Perestroika, at the end of 1986 - after almost seven years of imprisonment. On October 22, 1986, Sakharov asks to stop his deportation and the exile of his wife, again (previously he turned to M.S. Gorbachev with a promise to focus on scientific work and stop public appearances, with the proviso: “except in exceptional cases” if his wife’s trip for treatment is allowed) promising to end his public activities (with the same proviso). On December 15, a telephone was unexpectedly installed in his apartment (he did not have a telephone during his entire exile); before leaving, the KGB officer said: “They will call you tomorrow.” The next day, M. S. Gorbachev actually called, allowing Sakharov and Bonner to return to Moscow.

Arkady Volsky testified that while he was Secretary General, Andropov also wanted to return Sakharov, as stated by Volsky: “Yuri Vladimirovich was ready to release Sakharov from Gorky on the condition that he would write a statement and ask for it himself... But Sakharov [refused] flatly: “Andropov hopes in vain that I will ask him for something. No repentance." Later, when Gorbachev became general secretary Central Committee, he personally dialed Sakharov’s number...” Academician Isaac Khalatnikov wrote in his memoirs that Andropov told Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov, who was busy with Sakharov being exiled to Gorky, that this exile was the most “mild” punishment, when other members of the Politburo demanded much more severe measures. On December 23, 1986, together with Elena Bonner, Sakharov returned to Moscow. After his return, he continued to work in Physical Institute them. Lebedev as chief research fellow. In November-December 1988, Sakharov's first trip abroad took place. He met with US Presidents R. Reagan and George W. Bush, French Presidents F. Mitterrand, and British Prime Minister M. Thatcher.

In 1989 he was elected people's deputy of the USSR, in May-June of the same year he participated in the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR in Kremlin Palace congresses. On June 2, according to Leonid Batkin’s description, a “terrible and amazing scene” played out in the hall when seven deputies from the podium called Sakharov’s interview with the Canadian newspaper Ottawa Citizen about the fate of Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan a “provocative prank”, the purpose of which was “humiliation” honor, dignity and memory of the sons of their Motherland." After which, Yuri Vlasov recalled, “with an insignificant exception, the audience stood up, shouted and applauded those who from the podium accused Sakharov of slander... it was not easy even just to remain seated.” The congress was broadcast live on television, and on the same day Sakharov received hundreds of messages, the senders of which expressed support for him. Sakharov's speeches at the congress were more than once accompanied by slamming, shouts from the audience, and whistling from some of the deputies, whom historian Yuri Afanasyev, one of the leaders of the MDG, and after him the media characterized as an aggressive-obedient majority.

In November 1989, he presented a “draft of a new constitution”, which is based on the protection of individual rights and the right of all peoples to statehood. (See Euro-Asian Union). The only publication during his lifetime was “Komsomolskaya Pravda” (Vilnius) on December 12, 1989. December 14, 1989, at 15:00 - Sakharov’s last speech in the Kremlin at a meeting of the Interregional Deputy Group (II Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR).

He died on the evening of December 14, 1989 from sudden cardiac arrest in his apartment on Chkalova Street. He was buried at the Vostryakovsky cemetery in Moscow.

Sakharov is the author of original works on particle physics and cosmology: on the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, where he connected baryon asymmetry with the nonconservation of combined parity (CP violation), experimentally discovered during the decay of long-lived mesons, symmetry violation during time reversal, and nonconservation of baryon charge ( Sakharov considered proton decay). A.D. Sakharov explained the emergence of inhomogeneity in the distribution of matter from the initial density disturbances in the early Universe, which had the nature of quantum fluctuations. After the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation, a new analysis of fluctuations in the early Universe was made by Ya. B. Zeldovich and R. A. Sunyaev and, independently of them, J. Peebles with J.T. Yu. Zeldovich and Sunyaev predicted the existence of peaks in the angular spectrum of the distribution of cosmic microwave background radiation. Discovered by astrophysicists in the 2000s in the WMAP experiment and other experiments, the acoustic oscillations of the cosmic microwave background radiation (“Sakharov oscillations”) are an imprint of the very density perturbations that Sakharov theoretically described in his 1965 work.

He has worked on muon catalysis (1948, 1957), magnetic cumulation and explosive magnetic generators (1951-1952); put forward the theory of induced gravity and the idea of ​​the zero Lagrangian (1967), the study of high-dimensional spaces with different numbers of time axes (“Cosmological transitions with a change in the metric signature”, JETP, 1984), “Evaporation of mini-black holes and high-energy physics” (“Letters in ZhETF", 1986).

Predicting the development of the Internet

In 1974, Sakharov wrote:

In the future, perhaps later than 50 years from now, I envision the creation of a world information system (WIS), which will make available to everyone at any moment the content of any book ever published anywhere, the content of any article, the receipt of any certificates VIS should include individual miniature request receivers-transmitters, control centers that control information flows, communication channels including thousands artificial satellites communications, cable and laser lines. Even partial implementation of the VIS will have a profound impact on the life of every person, on his leisure time, on his intellectual and artistic development. Unlike TV, which is the main source of information for many contemporaries, VIS will provide everyone with maximum freedom in choosing information and require individual activity.
A. Sakharov

The Internet became a socially significant phenomenon in the mid-1990s, after Sakharov’s death, but much earlier than 50 years after the above article was written.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 8, 1980, he was deprived of all state awards, including the title of three times Hero of Socialist Labor. By Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 22 of January 8, 1980, he was stripped of his titles

Chino del Duca Award (1974)

Nobel Peace Prize (1975)

Leo Szilard Prize (1983)

Thomall Prize (1984)

Elliot Cresson Medal (1985);
Awards from foreign countries, including:

Surrounded by people, he is alone with himself, solving some mathematical, philosophical, moral or global problem and, reflecting, thinks most deeply about the fate of each specific, individual person. And here it seems appropriate to me to recall one of Zoshchenko’s stories. A person was treated rudely at a wake. The author says, reflecting on what happened, that when transporting glass or a car, the owners draw “Do not throw” or “Be careful” on them. Further, Zoshchenko argues this way: “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to write something in chalk on a little man, some kind of rooster’s word - “Porcelain” or “Easier”, since a person is a person.”

It seems to me that Andrei Dmitrievich different periods throughout my life and in very different ways, but I was always looking for the “cock’s word” for all of humanity and for every person: “Be careful! It’s beating!”

Just think, in a country where any person was valued no more than a fly! And it’s even better if it’s like a fly - bang and gone! Otherwise, it will fall into the hands of a boy who takes pleasure in tearing off its wings and legs before slapping it - in this country and in all countries of the world, demand the abolition of the death penalty and remind every person: be careful! is beating! I doubt that Andrei Dmitrievich read Zoshchenko’s story, but with any unjust violence against a person, he cried out to the authorities and the world: be careful! is beating!
L. K. Chukovskaya

A.I. Solzhenitsyn, while generally highly appreciating Sakharov’s activities, criticized him for missing “the opportunity for the existence of living national forces in our country,” for excessive attention to the problem of freedom of emigration from the USSR, especially the emigration of Jews.

A. A. Zinoviev ironically called him “The Great Dissident” in a number of his books.

“I don’t believe a man who abandoned his children from his first wife and is now starving because his son’s daughter-in-law is not allowed to go abroad new wife"(A.P. Alexandrov)

Negative rating Sakharov is found in the communist, far-right and Eurasian press. Some publicists (for example, A.G. Dugin) consider A.D. Sakharov an enemy of the USSR and an assistant to the United States in geopolitical confrontation.

Bibliography

A. D. Sakharov. About the country and the world. - New York, 1976
A. D. Sakharov. Anxiety and hope. - M., JV "Inter-verso", 1990
A. D. Sakharov, Memoirs (1978-1989). New York, 1990 htm
A. D. Sakharov, “Gorky, Moscow, then everywhere”, New York, 1990 htm
A. D. Sakharov. Peace, progress, human rights. - L., Soviet writer, 1990
A. D. Sakharov, Memoirs in two volumes. Moscow, Human Rights 1996 htm
Constitutional ideas of Andrei Sakharov. M., Novella, 1990. 96 pp., 100,000 copies. ISBN 5-85065-001-6
Edward Kline. Moscow Committee of Human Rights. 2004 ISBN 5-7712-0308-4 htm
Yu. I. Krivonosov. Landau and Sakharov in the developments of the KGB. TVNZ. August 8, 1992.
Vitaly Rochko “Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov: fragments of biography” 1991
Memoirs: in 3 volumes / Comp. Bonner E. - M.: Vremya, 2006.
Diaries: in 3 volumes - M.: Vremya, 2006.
Anxiety and hope: in 2 volumes: Articles. Letters. Performances. Interview (1958-1986) / Comp. Bonner E. - M.: Vremya, 2006.
And one warrior in the field 1991 [Collection / Compiled by G. A. Karapetyan]
E. Bonner. — Free notes on the genealogy of Andrei Sakharov
Nikolay Andreev. “The Life of Sakharov”, 2013, M. “New Chronograph”. Biography.

May 21, 2011 marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the “father” of the Soviet hydrogen bomb and Nobel Peace Prize laureate - Soviet physicist, public figure, human rights activist Andrei Sakharov.

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was born on May 21, 1921 in Moscow in the family of physics teacher Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov, the author of many popular science books. His mother Ekaterina Alekseevna (before Sofiano's marriage) was a housewife.

Andrei Sakharov spent his childhood and early youth in Moscow. He received his primary education at home. I went to school from the seventh grade.

In 1938, Andrei Sakharov graduated from school with honors and entered the physics department of Moscow University.

In 1942, while evacuated in Ashgabat, he graduated with honors from Moscow State University. In September 1942, he was placed at the disposal of the People's Commissariat of Armaments, from where he was sent to a large military plant in Ulyanovsk, where until 1945 he worked as an engineer-inventor and became the author of a number of inventions in the field of product control methods.

From 1943 to 1944, Andrei Sakharov independently did several scientific works and sent them to the Physics Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences named after P.N. Lebedeva (FIAN) to Igor Tamm.

In 1945, he entered graduate school at the Lebedev Physical Institute, and in November 1947 defended his Ph.D. thesis.

In 1948, Andrei Sakharov was included in the research group for the development of thermonuclear weapons, led by Igor Tamm, where he worked until 1968.

Together with Tamm, Sakharov became one of the initiators of work on the study of controlled thermonuclear reactions. He put forward the idea of ​​magnetic cumulation to obtain ultra-strong magnetic fields and the idea of ​​laser compression to obtain a pulsed controlled thermonuclear reaction. Sakharov is the author of several key works in cosmology, works on field theory and elementary particles.

In 1953, Sakharov defended his doctoral dissertation and in the same year was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Since the late 1950s, Andrei Sakharov, considered the “father” of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, has been an active advocate for stopping nuclear weapons testing. In 1957, he wrote an article about the dangers of nuclear tests, and in 1958 he spoke out (together with Kurchatov) against the planned nuclear tests. He was one of the initiators of the 1963 Moscow Treaty banning tests in three environments (in the atmosphere, in water and in space), and in 1967 he participated in the Committee for the Protection of Lake Baikal.

In 1966-1967, Andrei Sakharov’s first appeals appeared in defense of the repressed; in 1968, he wrote the brochure “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom,” which was published in many countries. Since July 1968, after this article was published abroad, Sakharov was removed from work at the “facility” and dismissed from all posts related to military secrets.

In 1969, he returned to scientific work at FIAN. On June 30, 1969, Sakharov was assigned to the department of the institute where his scientific work began, to the position of senior researcher - the lowest position that a Soviet academician could hold.

From 1967 to 1980, he published more than 15 scientific papers: on the baryon asymmetry of the Universe with the prediction of proton decay (as Sakharov himself believed, this was his best theoretical work, which influenced the formation of scientific opinion in the next decade), on cosmological models of the Universe, on the connection of gravity with quantum fluctuations of the vacuum, mass formulas for mesons and baryons, etc.

Since 1970, protecting human rights, protecting people who have been victims political reprisal, came to the fore for the scientist. In 1970, Sakharov became one of the founders of the Moscow Committee for Human Rights and spoke out on the problem of pollution environment, for the abolition of the death penalty, for the right to emigrate, against the forced treatment of “dissidents” in psychiatric hospitals.

Andrei Sakharov became the most famous Soviet human rights activist. In 1971, he addressed a “Memorandum” to the Soviet government on urgent issues of internal and foreign policy, in 1974 published abroad the article “The World in Half a Century,” in which he reflected on the prospects of scientific and technological progress and outlined his vision of the structure of the world.

In 1975, Andrei Sakharov wrote the book “About the Country and the World.” In the same year, “for his fearless support of the fundamental principles of peace among nations and for his courageous struggle against abuse of power and any form of suppression of human dignity,” Andrei Sakharov was awarded the title of Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

In 1976, Sakharov was elected vice-president of the International League of Human Rights. In September 1977, he sent a letter to the organizing committee on the problem of the death penalty, in which he advocated its abolition in the USSR and throughout the world. In December 1979 - January 1980, Sakharov repeatedly opposed the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan.

On January 8, 1980, a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was adopted depriving Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov of all government awards and prizes (the Order of Lenin, the title of three times Hero of Socialist Labor and, by resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the title of laureate of the Stalin (1953) and Lenin (1956) prizes).

On January 22, 1980, Andrei Sakharov was exiled to the city of Gorky without trial (since the city was closed to foreigners). In Gorky, he was in conditions of almost complete isolation and under round-the-clock police surveillance. Here Sakharov held three long hunger strikes. In 1981 - seventeen days (together with his wife Elena Bonner) in protest against the illegal actions of the authorities towards his relatives, in May 1984 - 26 days - in protest against the criminal prosecution of Elena Bonner, in April-October 1985 - 178 days - for Bonner's right to travel abroad for heart surgery. Sakharov was forcibly hospitalized and force-fed.

With the beginning of perestroika, in December 1986, by order of Mikhail Gorbachev, Andrei Sakharov was released from Gorky exile. He and his wife returned to Moscow, where he continued to work at the Physical Institute. P.N. Lebedeva.

The theoretical department of FIAN, which was headed by Academician Ginzburg after Tamm’s death, ensured that Andrei Dmitrievich remained an employee of the department (for all seven years, a sign with his name was kept on the door of his room at FIAN).

In November-December 1988, Sakharov’s first trip abroad took place; he met with Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Francois Mitterrand.

In the last years of his life, Sakharov was actively involved in human rights activities. In March 1989, he was elected people's deputy of the USSR from the Academy of Sciences, becoming one of the leaders of the group of the most radical deputies.

Andrei Sakharov was a foreign or honorary member of many scientific associations. He was a member National Academy Sciences (USA), American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, American Physical Society, French Academy (Institute of France), Academy of Moral and political sciences(France), Accademia Dei Lincei (Italy), Venice Academy, Dutch Academy (Sakharov is its first and only foreign member).

He was the recipient of many international and national awards: the Nobel Peace Prize, the Cino del Duco Prize, the Eleanor Roosevelt Prize, the Freedom House Prize (USA), the Human Rights League Prize (at the United Nations), the International Anti-Defamation League Prize, the Benjamin Franklin Prize (physics), Leo Szilard Prize, Tamall Prize (physics), St. Boniface; Albert Einstein Peace Prize, etc.

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov died on the evening of December 14, 1989 from a heart attack. The day before, at a meeting of the Interregional Deputy Group (II Congress of People's Deputies), his last speech in the Kremlin took place.

He was buried in Moscow at the Vostryakovsky cemetery.

Andrei Sakharov's first wife was Klavdia Vikhireva (1919-1969), a native of Ulyanovsk, a laboratory chemist, with whom he married in 1943. They had three children - two daughters and a son. Since 1972, Sakharov was married to Elena Bonner, whom he met in the fall of 1970. They had no children together.

On May 21, 1992, at the main entrance to the P.N. Physics Institute. Lebedev (FIAN), where Sakharov worked in 1945-1950 and 1969-1989, the grand opening of a memorial plaque dedicated to Academician Sakharov took place. The author of the memorial plaque is sculptor Leonid Shtutman.

In Moscow there is Academician Sakharov Avenue, and there is also a museum and community Center his name. The Sakharov Museum also exists in Nizhny Novgorod; this is an apartment on the first floor of a 12-story building in which Sakharov lived during seven years of exile.

In Riga, Dubna, Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Lvov, Haifa, Odessa, Sarov, Sukhumi there are streets named after him. In St. Petersburg, a park and a square where a monument was erected to him are named after Andrei Sakharov; there is a similar square in Yerevan, where a monument to Sakharov is also erected, and named after him high school number 69. In the center of Barnaul there is Sakharov Square, where the annual City Day and other city events are held public events. In Belarus, the International State Ecological University is named after Sakharov. There are Sakharov Gardens in Jerusalem.

A mountain peak in Altai is named after Academician Sakharov. The peak is located on the North Chuysky ridge in the area of ​​the Shavlo gorge. His name was given to one of the mountain peaks of the Caucasus, which a group of climbers from Moscow, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Volga region, Ural conquered on July 31, 1996.

In 1979, an asteroid was named after Andrei Sakharov.

In 1988, the European Parliament established the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which is awarded annually for “achievements in the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as for respect for international law and the development of democracy.”

In 1991, the USSR Post Office issued a stamp dedicated to Sakharov.

Since 1992 it has been held International festival Arts named after Sakharov.

In 1993, the Sakharov Archive was established at Brandeis University and was soon moved to Harvard University. The archive documents date from 1968 to 1991.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:	Moscow, RSFSR
Date of death:
A place of death:	Moscow, RSFSR, USSR
Affiliation:
Scientific field:
Place of work:	Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1947-1950, since 1968)
Alma mater:	Moscow State University
Scientific adviser:	I. E. Tamm
Notable students:	Vladimir Sergeevich Lebedev (VNIIEF)
Awards and prizes:

Scientific work

Liberation and final years

Contribution to science

Awards and prizes

Performance evaluations

In the names of streets and squares

In other countries

In the encyclopedias of the world

Sakharov Archive

In culture and art

Bibliography

(May 21, 1921, Moscow - December 14, 1989, ibid.) - Soviet physicist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, one of the creators of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb. Subsequently - public figure, dissident and human rights activist; People's Deputy of the USSR, author of the draft constitution of the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1975.

For his human rights activities, he was deprived of all Soviet awards and prizes and was expelled from Moscow.

Origin and education

Father, Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov, is a physics teacher, author of a famous problem book, mother Ekaterina Alekseevna Sakharova (ur. Sofiano) - the daughter of hereditary military Greek origin Alexei Semenovich Sofiano - is a housewife. Maternal grandmother

Zinaida Evgrafovna Sofiano is from the family of Belgorod nobles Mukhanov.

The godfather is the famous musician Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser.

He spent his childhood and early youth in Moscow. Sakharov received his primary education at home. I went to school from the seventh grade.

...we went to meet Andryusha Sakharov. My brother and I liked the guy, and we dragged him into the school math club at Moscow State University. And in the ninth grade (which means, apparently, in the 36-37 school year), he and I went to the school mathematics club, which was led by Shklyarsky. ... Andryusha Sakharov, although a strong mathematician, turned out to be not very adapted to this style. He often solved the problem, but could not explain how he came to the solution. The decision was correct, but he explained it in a very abstruse way, and it was difficult to understand him. He has amazing intuition, he somehow understands what should happen, and often cannot properly explain why it turns out this way. But it was precisely in atomic physics, which he later took up, that this turned out to be what was needed. There (at that time, in any case) there were no strict equations and mathematical techniques did not help, but intuition was extremely important. ... By the way, in the 10th grade Sakharov no longer went to the math club. When we asked him why, he replied: “Well... if there was a physics club at Moscow State University, I would go, but I don’t want to go to the math club.” Perhaps he had no love for rigor. He was, indeed, more of a physicist than a mathematician. A. M. Yaglom

After graduating from high school in 1938, Sakharov entered the physics department of Moscow State University.

After the start of the war, in the summer of 1941 he tried to enter the military academy, but was not accepted for health reasons. In 1941 he was evacuated to Ashgabat. In 1942 he graduated from the university with honors.

In another presentation of this story, the exam takes place during graduate school; together with I. E. Tamm, S. M. Rytov and E. L. Feinberg take the exam, and Sakharov receives only a “B”.

In 1942, it was placed at the disposal of the People's Commissar of Armaments, from where it was sent to the cartridge factory in Ulyanovsk. In the same year, he made an invention to control armor-piercing cores and made a number of other proposals.

Scientific work

At the end of 1944, he entered graduate school at the Lebedev Physical Institute (scientific supervisor - I. E. Tamm). Employee of the Lebedev Physical Institute. Lebedev remained until his death.

In 1947 he defended his Ph.D. thesis.

In 1948, he was enrolled in a special group and until 1968 he worked in the field of development of thermonuclear weapons, participated in the design and development of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb according to the scheme called “Sakharov’s layer”. At the same time, Sakharov, together with I.E. Tamm, carried out pioneering work on controlled thermonuclear reactions in 1950-1951. At the Moscow Energy Institute he taught courses in nuclear physics, the theory of relativity and electricity.

Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (1953). In the same year, at the age of 32, he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, becoming the second youngest academician in history at the time of his election (after S. L. Sobolev). The recommendation that accompanied the submission to academicianship was signed by Academician I. V. Kurchatov and corresponding members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Yu. B. Khariton and Ya. B. Zeldovich. According to V.L. Ginzburg, nationality played a certain role in the election of Sakharov immediately as an academician - bypassing the level of corresponding member:

“He lived for too long in some extremely isolated world, where they knew little about events in the country, about the lives of people from other walks of life, and even about the history of the country in which and for which they worked,” noted Roy Medvedev.

In 1955, he signed the “Letter of the Three Hundred” against the notorious activities of academician T. D. Lysenko.

According to Valentin Falin, Sakharov, in an attempt to stop the ruinous arms race, proposed a project to station super-powerful nuclear warheads along the American maritime border:

Human rights activities

Since the late 1950s, he has actively campaigned for an end to nuclear weapons testing. Contributed to the conclusion of the Moscow Treaty banning tests in three environments. A.D. Sakharov expressed his attitude to the question of the justification of possible victims of nuclear tests and, more broadly, human sacrifices in general in the name of a more optimal future:

…Pavlov [State Security General] once told me: Now in the world there is a life-and-death struggle between the forces of imperialism and communism. The future of humanity, the fate and happiness of tens of billions of people over the centuries depends on the outcome of this struggle. To win this fight, we must be strong. If our work, our trials add strength to this struggle, and this is extremely true, then no sacrifices of trials, no sacrifices at all can matter here. Was it crazy demagoguery or was Pavlov sincere? It seems to me that there was an element of both demagoguery and sincerity. Something else is more important. I am convinced that such arithmetic is fundamentally invalid. We know too little about the laws of history, the future is unpredictable, and we are not gods. We, each of us, in every matter, both “small” and “big,” must proceed from specific moral criteria, and not from the abstract arithmetic of history. Moral criteria categorically dictate to us - do not kill!

Since the late 1960s, he was one of the leaders of the human rights movement in the USSR.

In 1966, he signed a letter from twenty-five cultural and scientific figures to the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I. Brezhnev against the rehabilitation of Stalin.

In 1968, he wrote the brochure “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom,” which was published in many countries.

In 1970, he became one of the three founding members of the Moscow Human Rights Committee (together with Andrei Tverdokhlebov and Valery Chalidze).

In 1971, he addressed the Soviet government with a “Memoir”.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, he went to the trials of dissidents. During one of these trips in 1970 in Kaluga (the trial of B. Weil - R. Pimenov), he met Elena Bonner, and in 1972 he married her. There is an opinion that the departure from scientific work and switching to human rights activities occurred under her influence. He indirectly confirms this in his diary: “Lucy told me (the academician) a lot that I would not have understood or done otherwise. She’s a great organizer, she’s my think tank.”

In the 1970s - 1980s, campaigns were carried out in the Soviet press against A.D. Sakharov (1973, 1975, 1980, 1983).

On August 29, 1973, the Pravda newspaper published a letter from members of the USSR Academy of Sciences condemning the activities of A.D. Sakharov (“Letter of 40 Academicians”).

In September 1973, in response to the campaign that had begun, mathematician Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences I. R. Shafarevich wrote an “open letter” in defense of A. D. Sakharov.

In 1974, Sakharov held a press conference at which he announced the Day of Political Prisoners in the USSR.

In 1975 he wrote the book “About the Country and the World.” In the same year, Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Soviet newspapers published collective letters from scientists and cultural figures condemning the political activities of A. Sakharov.

In September 1977, he sent a letter to the organizing committee on the problem of the death penalty, in which he advocated its abolition in the USSR and throughout the world.

In December 1979 and January 1980, he made a number of statements against the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, which were published on the editorial pages of Western newspapers.

Exile to Gorky

On January 22, 1980, on his way to work, he was detained and then, together with his wife Elena Bonner, exiled to the city of Gorky without trial. At the same time, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he was deprived of the title of three times Hero of Socialist Labor and by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR - the title of laureate of the Stalin (1953) and Lenin (1956) prizes (also the Order of Lenin, the title of member of the USSR Academy of Sciences was not deprived). In Gorky, Sakharov went on three long hunger strikes. In 1981, he, together with Elena Bonner, endured the first, seventeen-day trial - for the right to visit her husband abroad for L. Alekseeva (the Sakharovs' daughter-in-law).

In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (published in 1975) and then in encyclopedic reference books published until 1986, the article about Sakharov ended with the phrase “In recent years I have withdrawn from scientific activities”. According to some sources, the formulation belonged to M. A. Suslov. In July 1983, four academicians (Prokhorov, Scriabin, Tikhonov, Dorodnitsyn) signed a letter “When they lose honor and conscience” condemning A.D. Sakharov.

In May 1984, he held a second hunger strike (26 days) to protest against the criminal prosecution of E. Bonner. In April-October 1985 - the third (178 days) for the right of E. Bonner to travel abroad for heart surgery. During this time, Sakharov was repeatedly hospitalized (the first time was forcibly on the sixth day of the hunger strike; after his announcement to end the hunger strike (July 11), he was discharged from the hospital; after its resumption (July 25), two days later he was again forcibly hospitalized) and forcibly fed (tried to feed, sometimes it was successful). During the entire time of A. Sakharov’s exile, a campaign was going on in many countries of the world in his defense. For example, the square, a five-minute walk from the White House, where the Soviet embassy was located in Washington, was renamed “Sakharov Square.” “Sakharov Hearings” have been held regularly in various world capitals since 1975.

Liberation and final years

He was released from Gorky exile with the beginning of perestroika, at the end of 1986 - after almost seven years of imprisonment. On October 22, 1986, Sakharov asks to stop his deportation and the exile of his wife, again (previously he turned to M.S. Gorbachev with a promise to focus on scientific work and stop public appearances, with the proviso: “except in exceptional cases” if his wife’s trip for treatment is allowed) promising to end his public activities (with the same proviso). On December 15, a telephone was unexpectedly installed in his apartment (he did not have a telephone during his entire exile); before leaving, the KGB officer said: “They will call you tomorrow.” The next day, M. S. Gorbachev actually called, allowing Sakharov and Bonner to return to Moscow. Arkady Volsky testified that while he was Secretary General, Andropov also wanted to return Sakharov, as stated by Volsky: “Yuri Vladimirovich was ready to release Sakharov from Gorky on the condition that he would write a statement and ask for it himself... But Sakharov [refused] flatly: “ Andropov hopes in vain that I will ask him for something. No repentance." Later, when Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Central Committee, he personally dialed Sakharov's number..." Academician Isaac Khalatnikov wrote in his memoirs that Andropov told Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov, who was busy with Sakharov being exiled to Gorky, that this exile was the most “mild” punishment, when other members of the Politburo demanded much more severe measures.

On December 23, 1986, together with Elena Bonner, Sakharov returned to Moscow. After returning, he continued to work at the Physical Institute. Lebedeva.

In November-December 1988, Sakharov's first trip abroad took place (meetings took place with Presidents R. Reagan, G. Bush, F. Mitterrand, M. Thatcher).

In 1989, he was elected as a people's deputy of the USSR, in May-June of the same year he participated in the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, where his speeches were often accompanied by slamming, shouts from the audience, and whistling from some of the deputies, who were later the leader of the MDG, historian Yuri Afanasyev and the media characterized it as an aggressively obedient majority.

In November 1989, he presented a “draft of a new constitution”, which is based on the protection of individual rights and the right of all peoples to statehood.

December 14, 1989, at 15:00 - Sakharov’s last speech in the Kremlin at a meeting of the Interregional Deputy Group (II Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR).

Buried at Vostryakovskoye Cemetery in Moscow

Family

In 1943, Andrei Sakharov married Klavdiya Alekseevna Vikhireva (1919-1969), a native of Simbirsk (died of cancer). They had three children - two daughters and a son (Tatiana, Lyubov, Dmitry).

In 1970, he met Elena Georgievna Bonner (1923-2011), and in 1972 he married her. She had two children (Tatiana, Alexey), who were already quite old by that time. As for the children of A.D. Sakharov, the two eldest were quite adults at that time. The youngest, Dmitry, was barely 15 years old when Sakharov moved in with Elena Bonner. He began to take care of his brother elder sister Love. The couple had no children together.

Contribution to science

One of the creators of the hydrogen bomb (1953) in the USSR. Works on magnetic hydrodynamics, plasma physics, controlled thermonuclear fusion, elementary particles, astrophysics, gravitation.

In 1950, A.D. Sakharov and I.E. Tamm put forward the idea of ​​implementing a controlled thermonuclear reaction for energy purposes using the principle of magnetic thermal insulation of plasma. Sakharov and Tamm considered, in particular, the toroidal configuration in stationary and non-stationary versions (today it is considered one of the most promising).

Sakharov is the author of original works on particle physics and cosmology: on the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, where he connected baryon asymmetry with combined parity nonconservation (CP violation), experimentally discovered during the decay of long-lived mesons, symmetry violation during time reversal, and baryon charge nonconservation ( Sakharov considered proton decay).

A.D. Sakharov explained the emergence of inhomogeneity in the distribution of matter from the initial density disturbances in the early Universe, which had the nature of quantum fluctuations. After the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation, a new analysis of fluctuations in the early Universe was made by Ya. B. Zeldovich and R. A. Sunyaev and, independently of them, J. Peebles with J.T. Yu. Zeldovich and Sunyaev predicted the existence of peaks in the angular spectrum of the distribution of cosmic microwave background radiation. Discovered by astrophysicists in the 2000s in the WMAP experiment and other experiments, the acoustic oscillations of the cosmic microwave background radiation (“Sakharov oscillations”) are an imprint of the very density perturbations that Sakharov theoretically described in his 1965 work.

Has works on muon catalysis (1948, 1957), magnetic cumulation and explosive magnetic generators (1951-1952); put forward the theory of induced gravity and the idea of ​​the zero Lagrangian (1967), the study of high-dimensional spaces with different numbers of time axes (“Cosmological transitions with a change in the metric signature”, JETP, 1984), “Evaporation of mini-black holes and high-energy physics” (“Letters in ZhETF", 1986).

Predicting the development of the Internet

In 1974, Sakharov wrote:

In the future, perhaps later than 50 years from now, I envision the creation of a world information system (WIS), which will make available to everyone at any moment the content of any book ever published anywhere, the content of any article, the receipt of any certificates VIS should include individual miniature request receivers-transmitters, control centers that control information flows, communication channels including thousands of artificial communication satellites, cable and laser lines. Even partial implementation of the VIS will have a profound impact on the life of every person, on his leisure time, on his intellectual and artistic development. Unlike TV, which is the main source of information for many contemporaries, VIS will provide everyone with maximum freedom in choosing information and require individual activity. A. Sakharov

The Internet became a socially significant phenomenon in the early 1990s, after Sakharov’s death, but much earlier than 50 years after the above article was written.

Awards and prizes

• Hero of Socialist Labor (01/04/1954; 09/11/1956; 03/07/1962) (in 1980 “for anti-Soviet activities” he was stripped of his title and all three medals);
• Stalin Prize(1953) (in 1980 he was deprived of the title of laureate of this prize);
• Lenin Prize (1956) (in 1980 he was deprived of the title of laureate of this prize);
• Order of Lenin (01/04/1954) (in 1980 he was also deprived of this order);
• Awards from foreign countries, including:
• Grand Cross Order of the Cross of Vytis (January 8, 2003, posthumously)

Performance evaluations

Surrounded by people, he is alone with himself, solving some mathematical, philosophical, moral or global problem and, reflecting, thinks most deeply about the fate of each specific, individual person. And here it seems appropriate to me to recall one of Zoshchenko’s stories. A person was treated rudely at a wake. The author says, reflecting on what happened, that when transporting glass or a car, the owners draw “Do not throw” or “Be careful” on them. Further, Zoshchenko argues this way: “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to write something in chalk on a little man, some kind of rooster’s word - “Porcelain” or “Easier”, since a person is a person.” It seems to me that Andrei Dmitrievich, at different periods of his life and in very different ways, but always looked for the “cock’s word” for all humanity and for every person: “Be careful! It’s beating!” Just think, in a country where any person was valued no more than a fly! And it’s even better if it’s like a fly - bang and gone! Otherwise, it will fall into the hands of a boy who takes pleasure in tearing off its wings and legs before slapping it - in this country and in all countries of the world, demand the abolition of the death penalty and remind every person: be careful! is beating! I doubt that Andrei Dmitrievich read Zoshchenko’s story, but with any unjust violence against a person, he cried out to the authorities and the world: be careful! is beating! L. K. Chukovskaya

A.I. Solzhenitsyn, while generally highly appreciating Sakharov’s activities, criticized him for missing “the opportunity for the existence of living national forces in our country,” for excessive attention to the problem of freedom of emigration from the USSR, especially the emigration of Jews.

A. A. Zinoviev ironically called him “The Great Dissident” in a number of his books.

According to Pavel Pryanikov, to this day Academician Sakharov remains the last most popular moral authority among the public in the USSR/Russia. According to the data provided by Pryanikov, if in 1981 40% saw him as their leader Soviet people, and after death, in 1991 - more than 50%, in 2010 - more than 70%.

A negative assessment of Sakharov is found in the communist, far-right and Eurasian press. Some publicists (for example, A.G. Dugin) consider A.D. Sakharov an enemy of the USSR and an assistant to the United States in geopolitical confrontation.

Memory

• In 1979, an asteroid was named after A.D. Sakharov.
• At the main entrance to the capital of Israel, Jerusalem, there are the Sakharov Gardens; Streets in some Israeli cities are named after him.
• In Nizhny Novgorod there is a Sakharov Museum - apartment at Gagarin Ave., 214, apt. 3, on the first floor of a 12-story building (Shcherbinki microdistrict), in which Sakharov lived during seven years of exile. Since 1992, the city has hosted the Sakharov International Arts Festival.
• There is a museum and public center named after him in Moscow.
• In Belarus, the International State Ecological University named after Sakharov is named after Sakharov. HELL. Sakharov
• In 1988, the European Parliament established the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which is awarded annually for “achievements in the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as for respect for international law and the development of democracy.”
• In 1991, the USSR Post Office issued a stamp dedicated to A.D. Sakharov.
• In December 2009, on the twentieth anniversary of the death of A.D. Sakharov, the RTR channel showed documentary“Exclusively science. No politics. Andrei Sakharov."
• At the Lebedev Physical Institute. Lebedev has a bust of Sakharov in front of the entrance.
• In Yerevan, secondary school No. 69 is named after A.D. Sakharov.
• In the city of Arnhem (Netherlands) there is the Andrei Sakharov Bridge (Dutch. Andrej Sacharovbrug).

In the names of streets and squares

In Russia

60 streets in Russian cities and villages are named after Sakharov

In other countries

• In August 1984, in New York, the intersection of 67th Street and 3rd Avenue was named “Sakharov-Bonner Corner,” and in Washington, the square where the Soviet embassy was located was renamed “Sakharov Square.” SakharovPlaza) (appeared as a sign of protest by the American public against the retention of A. Sakharov and E. Bonner in Gorky’s exile).
• In Yerevan, the square on which a monument was erected to him is named after A.D. Sakharov.
• In Lviv there is Academician Sakharov Street
• In Lyon there is Andrei Sakharov Avenue (Fr. avenue Andrei Sakharov)
• There is Andrei Sakharov Square in Vilnius (lit. Andrejaus Sacharovo aikštė), Los Angeles (English) Andrei Sakharov Square), Nuremberg (German) Andrej-Sacharow-Platz)
• In Sofia, a boulevard is named after him (Bulgarian). Boulevard Academician Andrei Sakharov)
• Sakharov Street is located in Amsterdam, The Hague, Yerevan, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kolomyia, Krivoy Rog, Odessa, Riga, Rotterdam, Stepanakert, Sukhum, Ternopil, Utrecht, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Schwerin (German). Andrej-Sacharow-Strasse).
• Sakharov Gardens at the entrance to Jerusalem.

In the encyclopedias of the world

Sakharov Archive

The Sakharov Archive was founded at Brandeis University in 1993, but was soon transferred to Harvard University. The Sakharov archive contains KGB documents related to the dissident movement. Most of the documents in the archive are letters from KGB leaders to the CPSU Central Committee about the activities of dissidents and recommendations for interpreting or hushing up certain events in the media. mass media. The archive documents date from 1968 to 1991.

In culture and art

The painting “Sakharov” by the Italian artist Vinzela is dedicated to the personality of Academician Sakharov.

In 1984, American director Jack Gold made the biographical film “Sakharov” (in leading role Jason Robards).

In 2007, the English BBC channel released the television film “Nuclear Secrets”, where the young Sakharov was played by Andrew Scott.

Bibliography

• A. D. Sakharov, “Gorky, Moscow, then everywhere”, 1989 htm
• A. D. Sakharov, Memoirs (1978-1989). 1989 htm
• Constitutional ideas of Andrei Sakharov. M., "Novella", 1990. 96 pp., 100,000 copies. ISBN 5-85065-001-6
• Edward Kline. Moscow Committee of Human Rights. 2004 ISBN 5-7712-0308-4 htm
• Yu. I. Krivonosov. Landau and Sakharov in the developments of the KGB. TVNZ. August 8, 1992.
• Vitaly Rochko “Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov: fragments of biography” 1991
• Memoirs: in 3 volumes / Comp. Bonner E. - M.: Time, 2006.
• Diaries: in 3 volumes - M.: Vremya, 2006.
• Anxiety and hope: in 2 volumes: Articles. Letters. Performances. Interview (1958-1986) / Comp. Bonner E. - M.: Time, 2006.
• And one warrior in the field 1991 [Collection / Compiled by G. A. Karapetyan]
• E. Bonner. - Free notes on the genealogy of Andrei Sakharov
• Nikolai Andreev "Life of Sakharov", 2013, M. "New chronograph". Biography.