Andrei Sakharov
Soviet physicist, Nobel Peace laureate, and human rights advocate.
Andrei Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist who later became a prominent human rights activist and dissident.[1] He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 for his opposition to the abuse of power and his work for human rights.[2]
Quick Facts
- Born
- 21 May 1921
- Birthplace
- Moscow, Russian SFSR
- Died
- 14 December 1989
- Place of death
- Moscow, Soviet Union
- Resting place
- Vostryakovskoye Cemetery
- Field
- Physics
- Thesis year
- 1947
- Education
- Moscow State University, Lebedev Physical Institute
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Sakharov studied physics at Moscow State University in 1938 and graduated in Ashgabat after evacuation in 1941.[3] After World War II, he researched cosmic rays and in mid-1948 participated in the Soviet atomic bomb project.[4] After 1965 he returned to fundamental science and began working on particle physics and physical cosmology.[5] He tried to explain the baryon asymmetry of the universe and was the first to give a theoretical motivation for proton decay.[6]
Sakharov was arrested on 22 January 1980 and sent to internal exile in the city of Gorky.[7] Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov came into the world on 21 May 1921 in Moscow, born to parents of Russian ethnicity.[8]
What the cited sources add
The Physics of the Universe account states that Sakharov's father was a vehement atheist, despite his mother's insistence on baptizing him.[1] The same source notes that Sakharov received his DSc degree and was elected a full member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1953.[1] The Nobel Prize facts page reports that Sakharov revealed his talent for theoretical physics at an early age and got a doctorate in 1945.[2] That page also states Sakharov was patriotic and believed it was important to break the American monopoly on nuclear weapons.[2]
The Voice of America article describes Sakharov as having developed the hydrogen bomb but becoming an activist for peace and human rights.[9] The Nobel Prize facts page notes that Sakharov was subsequently deprived of all his Soviet honorary titles.[2]
References
- Mastin, "Andrei Sakharov – Important Scientists", The Physics of the Universe, 2009. facts only, no text reused. physicsoftheuniverse.com
- "Andrei Sakharov – Facts", Nobel Prize. facts only, no text reused. nobelprize.org
- Wikipedia, "Andrei Sakharov" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Nobel Prize Laureates from MSU", Moscow State University (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Andrei Sakharov" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zaloga, Steve (17 February 2002). The Kremlin's Nuclear Sword: The Rise and Fall of Russia's Strategic Nuclear Forces 1945–2000. Smithsonian Books. . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Andrei Sakharov" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sakharov, "The Initial Stage of an Expanding Universe and the Appearance of a Nonuniform Distribution of Matter", JETP, January 1966, p. 241–249; Sakharov, "Quark-Muonic Currents and Violation of CP Invariance", JETP Letters, January 1967, p. 27–30; Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 177, 70 (1967) [trans. Sov. Phys.-Dokl. 12, 1040 (1968)]; Sakharov, Problems in Theoretical Physics, 1969, p. 35–44; Paper at seminar, Phys. Inst. Acad. Sci., June 1970 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Andrei Sakharov" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: E. P. Wigner, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. 93, 521 (1949); Proc. Natl.Ac'ad. Sci. (U. S.) 38, 449 (1952); F. Reines, C.L. Cowan, M. Goldhaber, Phys.Rev. 96 (1954) 1157. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Andrei Sakharov" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "From Exile – Sakharov Web Exhibit", history.aip.org (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Andrei Sakharov" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Andrei Sakharov – Facts", Nobel Prize; Sidney David Drell, Sergeǐ Petrovich Kapitsa, Sakharov Remembered: a tribute by friends and colleagues (1991), p. 4 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Sakharov Human Rights Prize 25th anniversary marked in US", Voice of America, 15 January 2014. facts only, no text reused. voanews.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Andrei Sakharov (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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