Sakharov, Andrei
Theoretical physicist and the "father of the Soviet H-bomb," Andrei Sakharov (1921–1989), who was born in Moscow on May 21, became a prominent human rightsactivist and the first Russian to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Andrei Sakharov, 1921–1989. Sakharov, one of the Soviet Union's leading theoretical physicists and regarded in scientific circles as the "father of the Soviet atomic bomb," also became Soviet Russia's most prominent political dissident in the 1970s. (© Bettmann/Corbis.)Sakharov's father was a physics teacher and popular science author. World War II shortened his study of physics at Moscow University. After two years of work in a munitions factory, in 1945 he went on to graduate study in theoretical physics under Igor Tamm (1895–1971). In 1948 the Soviet government assigned Tamm's group, including Sakharov, to research the feasibility of a thermonuclear bomb. In a few months Sakharov suggested a new idea that was instrumental in the development of the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb (which was tested in 1953). In 1951 he pioneered the research of controlled thermonuclear fusion that led to the tokamak reactor. He was also the main developer of the full-fledged Soviet H-bomb tested in 1955: Unlike the 1953 design, the yield of the 1955 design was potentially unlimited. He was amply rewarded by 'the government, with membership of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1953), three Hero of Socialist Labor medals (1954, 1956, and 1962), the Stalin Prize and Lenin prize, and a luxury dacha, or villa.
In 1958 Sakharov calculated the number of casualties that would result from an atmospheric test of the "cleanest" H-bomb: 6,600 victims per megaton for 8,000 years. "What moral and political conclusions must be drawn from these numbers?" he asked in an article published that year. He answered: "The cessation of tests will lead directly to the saving of the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and will have the more important indirect result of aiding in reducing international tensions and the danger of nuclear war" (1958, p. 576). Sakharov was proud of his contribution to the 1963 test ban treaty, which stopped atmospheric nuclear testing of the United States, the USSR, and the United Kingdom.
In the 1960s Sakharov returned to pure physics. His most important contribution was a 1966 explanation of the disparity of matter and antimatter in the universe, or baryon asymmetry. The major turn in Sakharov's political evolution took place in 1967 to 1968, when antiballistic missile (ABM) defense became a key issue in U.S.-Soviet relations. Sakharov wrote the Soviet leadership to argue that the moratorium proposed by the United States on ABM work would benefit the Soviet Union, because an arms race in this new technology would increase the likelihood of nuclear war. The government ignored his letter and refused to let him initiate a public discussion of ABM in the Soviet press.
An insider's view of how the upper echelons of the Soviet regime functioned led Sakharov to the conclusion that the goals of peace, progress, and human rights were inextricably linked. He made his views public in the 1968 essay "Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom," published in samizdat (underground self-publishing in the Soviet Union) and in the West in the summer of 1968. The secret father of the Soviet H-bomb emerged as an open advocate of peace and human rights.
Sakharov was immediately dismissed from the military-scientific complex. He then concentrated on theoretical physics and human rights activity. The latter brought him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 and internal exile in 1980, after he had been stripped of all honors including the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. In 1985 the European Parliament established the annual Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, given for outstanding contributions to human rights.
In December 1986 the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931) released Sakharov from internal exile. Upon his return he enjoyed three years of freedom, including seven months of professional politics as a member of the Soviet parliament. The latter were the last months of his life.
For many years Sakharov lived intoxicated by socialist idealism. He later said in his memoirs that he "had subconsciously ... created an illusory world to justify" himself. Totalitarian control over information enabled Soviet propaganda to brainwash even the most intelligent. Sakharov wanted to make his country strong enough to ensure peace after a horrible war. Experience brought him to a "theory of symmetry": All governments are bad and all nations face common dangers. In his dissident years he realized that the symmetry "between a normal cell and a cancerous one" could not be perfect, although he kept thinking that the theory of symmetry did contain a measure of truth.
Sakharov saw "striking parallels" between his own life and the lives of the two American physicists Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) and Edward Teller (1908–2003), who crossed in the "Oppenheimer Affair" (1953–1954). Sakharov did not believe that he had "known sin," in Oppenheimer's expression, by creating nuclear weapons. Nor did he try to persuade the government, as did Teller, of the need for a hydrogen bomb. Having disagreed with Teller on the prominent issues of nuclear testing and antimissile defense (e.g., the "Star Wars" program), Sakharov, nevertheless, believed that American physicists had been unfair in their attitude toward Teller following his clash with Oppenheimer. Sakharov felt that in this "tragic confrontation of two outstanding people," both deserved equal respect, because "each of them was certain he had right on his side and was morally obligated to go to the end in the name of truth" (Memoirs).
For Sakharov the statement that "the future is unpredictable" was meaningful far beyond quantum physics. It supported his personal responsibility for the future of humanity. For him knowledge was not only power but also professional and moral responsibility.
Oppenheimer, J. Robert;; Russian Perspectives;; Teller, Edward;; Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Bibliography
Gorelik, Gennady. (1999). "The Metamorphosis of Andrei Sakharov." Scientific American 280(3): 98–101. An explanation of Sakharov's transformation into public and political figure.
Gorelik, Gennady, with Antonina W. Bouis. (2004). The World of Andrei Sakharov: A Russian Physicist's Path to Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press. The first authoritative study of Andrei Sakharov as scientist as well as public figure relies on previously inaccessible documents, recently declassified archives, and personal accounts by Sakharov's friends and colleagues.
Sakharov, Andrei D. (1958). "Radioaktivnyi uglerod iadernykh vzryvov i neporogovye biologicheskie effekty" [Radioactive carbon in nuclear explosions and nonthreshold biological effects]. Atomnaia energiia 4, no. 6: 576–580. In Soviet Scientists on the Danger of Nuclear Tests, ed. A. V. Lebedinsky. Moscow: Foreign Lang. Publ. House, 1960. The first of Sakharov's writing involving moral and political issues.
Sakharov, Andrei D. (1968a). "Thoughts on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom." New York Times Jul 22, 1968, 14–17. The first instance of Sakharov's writing manifesting his political dissent with the Soviet regime.
Sakharov, Andrei D. (1968b). Progress, Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom. New York: Norton. Includes the essay of the previous citation.
Sakharov, Andrei. (1990). Memoirs, trans. Richard Lourie. New York: Knopf.
Internet Resource
"Andrei Sakharov: Soviet Physics, Nuclear Weapons, and Human Rights." American Institute of Physics, Center for History of Physics. Available from http://www.aip.org/history/sakharov/.
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