Who is Academician Sakharov? Andrey Sakharov. Biography. Sakharov's work on the hydrogen bomb

Andrei Dmitrievich was born in 1921 in Moscow, in the family of a physicist and a housewife.

The future academician spent his childhood in Moscow. Elementary education received it at home, but only went to school in the 7th grade. After graduating from school (in 1938), Andrei Dmitrievich entered the Faculty of Physics at Moscow State University.

In 1941 he tried to join the army, but his request was rejected by the military registration and enlistment office: he was not suitable for health reasons. In 1942, he was forced to evacuate to Ashgabat. In the same year, he completed his studies and was assigned to a military plant in Ulyanovsk.

Scientific activity

As it says short biography Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich, in 1944 he entered graduate school (his scientific adviser was his teacher from Moscow State University I. E. Tamm), in 1947 he defended his thesis and began working at Moscow Power Engineering Institute, from 1948 - in a secret group that was developing thermonuclear weapons.

In 1953, he defended his doctoral dissertation and immediately became an academician (academician I.V. Kurchatov himself interceded for him), bypassing the degree of corresponding member. At that time he was only 32 years old.

Sakharov the human rights activist

From the late 50s - early 60s, Sakharov sharply changed his position towards nuclear weapons. He advocated for its ban. In 1961, the scientist quarreled with N. S. Khrushchev over nuclear weapons tests on Novaya Zemlya, took part in the development of the “Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in Three Environments,” became the leader of the human rights movement in the USSR and opposed the rehabilitation of I. V. Stalin, having signed open letter L. I. Brezhnev.

At this time, the KGB was constantly watching him, he was being “harassed” by the press, his house and dacha were constantly being searched, as they were trying to accuse him of spying for the United States.

In the late 60s and early 70s he began to publish abroad, actively condemning the “Stalinist terror”, the USSR invasion of Czechoslovakia, political repression, persecution of cultural figures, and censorship. At this time, he was openly interested in dissidents and went to trials. At one of them he met Elena Bonner, his future wife.

In 1975, Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Exile to Gorky

In 1980, Sakharov was sent into exile in the city of Gorky (at that time “closed”). There he continued to work, although he was deprived of all titles and awards. He was published abroad, which caused condemnation in his homeland. During his exile, he went on hunger strike several times, standing up for his daughter-in-law and wife. At this time, a campaign was being waged in the West in defense of Sakharov.

Return to Moscow and political work

In 1986, Sakharov and his wife returned to Moscow. His complete rehabilitation is the work of M. S. Gorbachev, although Yu. Andropov also thought about his return from exile. In Moscow, he returned to work, continued his human rights activities, and in 1988 he traveled abroad for the first time: he visited England, France and the USA. Sakharov met with such political leaders like M. Thatcher, F. Mitterrand, D. Bush and R. Reagan.

In 1989, he was elected as a people's deputy and participated in the First Congress of People's Deputies, began work on a draft of a new constitution, and actively spoke. In his last speeches, he directly stated that it was necessary to withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

Death

Other biography options

• Various objects in 33 countries of the world are named after Sakharov: the USA, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Switzerland and others.
• It is difficult to give an unambiguous assessment of Sakharov’s biography, but he himself understood perfectly well that he was more likely to deserve the public’s condemnation than its praise.

Biography score

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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 - a 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. Laureate Nobel Prize world 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.

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 enroll in 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 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 FIAN ( scientific adviser- 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:

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 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 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 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 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 general secretary Central Committee, he personally dialed Sakharov’s number...” Academician Isaac Khalatnikov wrote in his memoirs that Andropov said to Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov, who was concerned about Sakharov being exiled to Gorky, that this exile was the most “mild” punishment when other members 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 were held 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. His older sister Lyubov began to take care of his brother. 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 in 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 number time axes (“Cosmological transitions with a change in the metric signature”, JETP, 1984), “Evaporation of black mini-holes and high-energy physics” (“JETP Letters”, 1986).

Predicting the development of the Internet

In 1974, Sakharov wrote:

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 of the Order of the Cross of Vytis (8 January 2003, posthumously)

Performance evaluations

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 214 Gagarin Ave., 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 a documentary film “Exclusively Science. No politics. Andrei Sakharov."
• At the Lebedev Physical Institute. Lebedev has a bust of Sakharov in front of the entrance.
• In Yerevan named after A.D. Sakharov high school № 69.
• 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 suppressing certain events in the 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.

(1921-1989) Russian scientist, public figure

There was a lot in the fate of this man unexpected turns. He was awarded the Stalin Prize for creating the hydrogen bomb, and twenty years later received the Nobel Peace Prize. “A misanthrope”, “who has lost his honor and conscience”, “the greatest humanist”, “the honor and conscience of our era” - this is what the same people sometimes called him over the course of just ten years.

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was born in Moscow into the family of a physicist. After graduating from school with a gold medal, he entered the physics department of Moscow University, from which he graduated in 1942. During the war, he worked at a military plant, and after graduation he entered graduate school at the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute.

After graduating from graduate school and brilliantly defending his Ph.D. thesis, Sakharov was included in the group for the creation of thermonuclear weapons. Just five years later, on August 12, 1953, the first thermonuclear bomb created according to his design was successfully tested. After this, a real waterfall of awards fell on Andrei Sakharov. At the age of only 32, he was elected academician, became a laureate of the Stalin Prize and a Hero of Socialist Labor. He was awarded the latter title three times, also receiving it in 1956 and 1962.

However, while working on the most destructive weapon in the history of mankind, Sakharov understood better than others the enormous danger it posed to civilization. Therefore, starting in 1961, he began to advocate a ban on nuclear weapons testing. Naturally, this caused a sharply negative reaction from the authorities. Nevertheless, a year after his speech, an international treaty was concluded banning nuclear weapons tests in three areas (in the atmosphere, in water and in space).

In the spring of 1968, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov wrote an article “Reflections on progress, peaceful coexistence and intellectual freedom.” In it, he defended the idea of ​​glasnost, called for the cult of Stalin’s personality to be completely exposed and noted the moral advantages of socialism. In addition, Sakharov put forward the idea of ​​a gradual rapprochement of capitalism and socialism.

The article was a huge success around the world. As Sakharov himself later wrote, its circulation exceeded the circulation of books by Georges Simenon and Agatha Christie. However, in the USSR it caused a completely different reaction. Sakharov was suspended from scientific work and subjected to persecution in the press. But this did not break the scientist.

His human rights activities began in 1970. He becomes one of the founders of the Human Rights Committee, which helped many people who suffered for their civic beliefs.

On October 9, 1975, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This event caused a new wave of slander and attacks on the outstanding scientist. He was not even allowed to travel abroad to receive the award, since he was a bearer of state secrets. Instead, his second wife, Elena Bonner, received the award. Subsequently, she will continue the work of her husband and will also become a prominent public figure and defender of human rights.

The persecution of the scientist continued. At a meeting of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences, the question of expelling Sakharov from its membership was raised. When discussing this issue, Academician P. Kapitsa noted: “A similar precedent already took place when Einstein was expelled from the German Academy of Sciences. Is it worth repeating? »

After this, Sakharov was left among the academicians. However, contrary to the opinion of P. L. Kapitsa, as well as other prominent scientists of the country and the world, who called for leaving him alone, the persecution of the scientist continued. And after the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was detained on the street in Moscow and sent into exile in the city of Gorky. His political exile lasted until 1986, when perestroika processes began in society. After a telephone conversation with M. Gorbachev, Sakharov was allowed to return to Moscow and begin scientific work again. Soon he was elected people's deputy of the USSR.

It would seem that fate was again favorable to him. However, the possibilities of democracy turned out to be limited, and Sakharov was never able to speak out loud about the problems that worried him. He again had to fight for the right to express his views from the rostrum of the people's assembly. This struggle undermined the scientist’s strength, and on December 14, 1989, returning home after another debate, Sakharov died of a heart attack. A square in Washington and an avenue in Moscow were named in memory of the scientist.

In 1975, “for his fearless support of the fundamental principles of peace among peoples and for his courageous struggle against abuse of power and any form of suppression of human dignity,” Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was awarded the title of Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Andrei Sakharov's father, Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov (1889–1961; was the fourth child; there were a total of six children in the family), was a famous physics teacher, author of textbooks and popular science books. In 1907 he graduated with a silver medal from one of the best gymnasiums in Moscow and entered the medical faculty of Moscow University, but in 1908 he transferred to the mathematical department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, specializing in physical geography. In March 1911, Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov was expelled from the university for participating in student gatherings, but in May he was reinstated and in the spring of 1912 he graduated with a first-degree diploma. In the same year he entered the Pedagogical Institute. Shelaputin, founded in 1911 at the expense of the industrialist and famous philanthropist Pavel Grigorievich Shelaputin specifically for preparing university graduates for pedagogical activity. In 1914 he completed his studies, and after the outbreak of the First World War he went to serve in the army as an orderly (until August 1915). He began teaching in 1912 at the women's gymnasium E.N. Dyulu: he taught mathematics. He began teaching physics in 1917 at the P.N. Popova gymnasium, and in 1921 at the Communist University named after. Y.M.Sverdlova (until 1931). In 1925, D.I. Sakharov’s first book (“The Struggle for Light. How lighting technology developed and what it achieved”) was published. During the Great Patriotic War, Patriotic War, remaining in Moscow, taught at Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. In 1942, Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov was awarded the academic degree of Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences in the specialty “physics” (dissertation topic “Collection of problems in physics for pedagogical institutes”). In 1956, the Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry higher education The USSR supported the collective petition of the teachers of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute and the Academic Council of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute to award an associate professor, Ph.D. ped. Sciences D.I. Sakharov degree of Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences “without defending a dissertation, according to general population his scientific and methodological works, which had a significant impact on the development of Soviet physics methods.” “Dad made me a physicist, otherwise God knows where I would have ended up!” – Andrei Dmitrievich did not write these words, but repeated them several times. After the death of Dmitry Ivanovich, both of his sons, Andrei and Georgy, who extremely loved and respected their father, tried to continue his work. During the years when the name of the disgraced Andrei Sakharov was hushed up or denigrated in every possible way, the name of his father began to fall into oblivion. Books by D.I. Sakharov was no longer republished; his name was not mentioned in connection with the consideration of the history of Russian methods of teaching physics. A man of high culture, Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov was not a narrow specialist for whom there was only one physics. He knew literature and art well, and especially deeply loved music. Possessing absolute pitch, he, having studied for some time at the Musical Pedagogical School named after E. and M. Gnesin, did not become a professional musician, but played a lot and willingly “for himself”, for friends, in the years civil war he made his living acting in silent films. Favorite composers were Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Grieg, Scriabin." ("D.I. Sakharov. 1889–1961. Biobibliographic Index")

Andrei Sakharov’s mother is Ekaterina Alekseevna (before Sofiano’s marriage). She received her education at the Noble Institute in Moscow, a privileged educational institution that provided more training than education. After graduating, she taught gymnastics for several years in one of the educational institutions in Moscow. Andrei Sakharov's maternal grandfather, Alexei Semenovich Sofiano, was a professional military man and artilleryman. After the Japanese War he retired with the rank of major general. Among his ancestors were Russified Greeks.

Andrei Sakharov’s childhood “was spent in a large communal apartment, where, however, most of the rooms were occupied by the families of our relatives and only a part by strangers. The traditional spirit of a large strong family was preserved in the house - constant active diligence and respect for work skills, mutual family support, love for literature and science. For me, the influence of the family was especially great, since I studied at home for the first part of my school years." (A.D. Sakharov, “Autobiography”) In 1938, Andrei Sakharov graduated from school with honors and entered the physics department of Moscow University. In 1942, while in evacuation in Ashgabat, he graduated with honors from Moscow State University.

In the summer of 1942 he worked in logging in a remote rural area near Melekess. In September 1942 he was sent to a large military plant in Ulyanovsk, where he worked as an engineer-inventor until 1945, becoming the author of a number of inventions in the field of product control. In 1945, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov entered graduate school at the Physics Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. P.N. Lebedeva, defended his dissertation in November 1947, and in 1948 was included in the research group for the development of thermonuclear weapons, led by Igor Evgenievich Tamm. In 1950, together with I.E. Tamm became one of the initiators of work on the study of controlled thermonuclear reactions. In 1953, the first test of the Soviet hydrogen bomb took place, and Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was elected academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

“In 1953-1968, my socio-political views underwent a great evolution. In particular, already in 1953-1962, participation in the development of thermonuclear weapons, in the preparation and implementation of thermonuclear tests was accompanied by an increasingly acute awareness of the moral problems generated by this.” (A.D. Sakharov, “Autobiography”) Since the late 50s, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, considered the “father” of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, actively advocated stopping nuclear weapons testing. In 1961, in connection with his speeches for limiting nuclear tests, a conflict arose with Khrushchev, and in 1962 - with the Minister of Medium Engineering Slavsky. HELL. Sakharov 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. Three times A.D. Sakharov was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor in 1954, 1956 and 1962.

A.D. Sakharov’s first appeals in defense of the repressed appeared in 1966-1967, and in 1968 the article “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom” appeared. “This speech became a turning point in my entire future destiny. In the Soviet press, “Reflections” were kept silent for a long time, then they began to be mentioned very disapprovingly. Many, even sympathizing, critics perceived my thoughts in this work as very naive, projectorial. Since July 1968 , after the publication abroad of my article "Reflections", I was removed from secret work and "excommunicated" from the privileges of the Soviet "nomenklatura". Since 1970, the protection of human rights, the protection of people who have become victims of political massacres has come to the fore for me. Since 1972 "The pressure on me and my loved ones increased more and more, and repressions grew all around." (A.D. Sakharov, “Autobiography”) In 1970 A.D. Sakharov became one of the founders of the Moscow Committee for Human Rights, spoke out on the problem of pollution environment, for the abolition of the death penalty, for the right to emigrate, against forced treatment of “dissidents” in psychiatric hospitals.

Bonner first met Elena Georgievna in the fall of 1970. “In October 1971, Lucy and I decided to get married. Lucy had serious doubts. She was afraid that the official registration of our marriage would jeopardize her children. But I insisted on my own. Regarding her doubts I believed that maintaining the state of an unregistered marriage was even more dangerous. Which of us was right is difficult to say; there is no “control experiment" in such things. Strikes against Tanya, and then against Alyosha, followed... Official registration at the registry office took place on January 7 1972." Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov called his wife “Lucy, as she was called in childhood and as all her current friends and relatives call her” (A.D. Sakharov, “Memoirs”).

In 1975, “for his fearless support of the fundamental principles of peace among peoples and for his courageous struggle against abuse of power and any form of suppression of human dignity,” Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was awarded the title of Nobel Peace Prize laureate. “This was a huge honor for me, recognition of the merits of the entire human rights movement in the USSR.” (A.D. Sakharov, “Autobiography”)

In December 1979, immediately after the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, Sakharov repeatedly condemned the aggression of the USSR; on January 3, he gave an interview in absentia to a correspondent German newspaper"Die Welt", and on January 4 - to a correspondent of the American newspaper "New York Times". Sakharov not only condemned the actions of the USSR government, but also spoke out in support of a boycott of the Moscow Olympics in connection with the invasion of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, saying that “According to the ancient Olympic status, wars stop during the Olympics. I believe that the USSR should withdraw its troops from "Afghanistan; this is extremely important for the world, for all humanity. Otherwise, the Olympic Committee must refuse to hold the Olympics in a country at war." (A.D. Sakharov, “Memoirs”)

On January 8, 1980, a Decree was adopted depriving Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov of all government awards of the USSR (Order of Lenin, the title of three times Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes) “in connection with the systematic commission by A.D. Sakharov of actions discrediting him as the recipient, and taking into account numerous proposals from the Soviet public." Sakharov was informed about this on January 22 and was sent to the city of Gorky (since the city was closed to foreigners). “Unfortunately, my colleagues in the USSR, again, just as in the case of Yuri Orlov and many others, did not show themselves in any way (if we don’t talk about those like Academician Fedorov and Academician Blokhin, who made public attacks on me, probably directly fulfilling the instructions they received.) Meanwhile, I think that an open public speech by several (five, even three) distinguished, respected academicians would be of very great importance, could change not only my fate, but also - which is much more significant - the situation in the country as a whole. At the same time (and this is also important) these people would not face anything: not only deportation or arrest, but also loss of work, a change in their position in the scientific hierarchy. Maximum (maximum!) - for some time they were their trips abroad would be limited. And nothing more! Completely incommensurable, huge possible positive consequences for the entire country, including for science, its authority, for the personal prestige of those who decide to do this, and - minimal risk. However, such people in The scientific elite of the USSR has not found it today. I don’t know why, but this is a fact, and extremely shameful and sad. Have our intelligentsia really been so crushed since the times of Korolenko and Lebedev?" (A.D. Sakharov, "Memoirs", 1983) In Gorky, he was in conditions of almost complete isolation and under round-the-clock police surveillance. In protest against the illegal actions of the authorities in relation to Sakharov went on hunger strike to his family twice - in 1984 and 1985.

In December 1986, by order of M.S. Gorbachev, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was returned to Moscow. Last years Throughout his life, Sakharov was actively involved in human rights activities. In March 1989, Sakharov 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 Dmitrievich Sakharov died on December 14, 1989 in Moscow.

Among the works of Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov are works on the physics of elementary particles, magnetic hydrodynamics, plasma physics, controlled thermonuclear fusion, elementary particles, astrophysics,

About the multifaceted personality of the Soviet scientist, inventor of the hydrogen bomb, Nobel laureate and a thinker, respected abroad and persecuted at home.

Andrei Dmitrievich left the most powerful legacy in history and the strictest moral standards. True, as it turned out, in the actual present, owning a weapon is easier than following Sakharov.

A little biography

The scientist was born on May 21, 1921 in Moscow in the family of a physics teacher. Dmitry Sakharov, author of many popular science books and Ekaterina Sakharova, housewives. Andrei spent his childhood and early youth in the capital of the USSR. He received his elementary 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 State University.

While in evacuation in 1942, in Ashgabat, Sakharov graduated from Moscow University, also with honors, and in September 1942 he was assigned to People's Commissariat weapons, from where he was sent to a military plant in the city of Ulyanovsk, where until 1945 he worked as an engineer-inventor and became the author of a number of inventions in the field of control methods. In 1945, Sakharov entered graduate school at the Lebedev Physical Institute, and in November 1947 he defended his Ph.D. thesis.

The main ideas of the scientist and their inconsistency

In 1948, the scientist was included in the research group for the development of thermonuclear weapons, where he worked under the leadership Igor Tamm until 1968.

Andrey Sakharov. Photo liveinternet.ru

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 superstrong magnetic fields and the idea of ​​laser compression to obtain a pulsed controlled thermonuclear reaction. Andrei Sakharov is the author of several works in cosmology, works on elementary particles and field theory.

Since the late 1950s, the scientist, considered the “father” of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, began to actively advocate for an end to nuclear weapons testing. He wrote an article about the dangers of such research in 1957, and in 1958 (together with Kurchatov) spoke out against the planned nuclear tests. Sakharov was one of the initiators of the conclusion of the Moscow Treaty banning tests in three environments (in the atmosphere, in water and in space), and participated in the Committee for the Protection of Lake Baikal in 1967.

Why was Sakharov suspended from work?

In 1966-1967, Andrei Sakharov’s first appeals in defense in the USSR began to appear; in 1968, he wrote the brochure “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom,” which was published in many countries. It was after the publication of this article that Sakharov was suspended from work and dismissed from all posts related to scientific-military activities and

Andrey Sakharov. Photo liveinternet.ru

Sakharov returned to scientific work in 1969 at the Lebedev Physical Institute. He was assigned to the department of the institute, where his scientific work began, to the position of senior researcher, this was the lowest position that a Soviet could occupy.

From 1967 to 1980, he published more than 15 scientific papers: “On the baryon asymmetry of the Universe with the prediction of proton decay” (Sakharov himself believed that 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 between gravity and quantum fluctuations of the vacuum,” “On mass formulas for mesons and baryons” and others.

Human rights activities of Andrei Sakharov

Since 1970, activities to protect people who have become victims of political violence have come to the forefront of Sakharov’s life. In 1970, he became one of the founders of the Moscow Committee for Human Rights, where he spoke out on the issue, insisted on the right of citizens to emigrate, and against the forced treatment of “dissidents” in psychiatric hospitals.

Andrey Sakharov. Photo liveinternet.ru

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

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

In 1976, Sakharov became 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 opposed the entry into Afghanistan.

Why was Sakharov isolated from society?

On January 22, 1980, Andrei Sakharov was exiled to the city of Gorky (closed to foreigners) without trial. In Gorky, he was in conditions of almost complete isolation and under round-the-clock police surveillance. Here Sakharov spent three long hunger strikes, after one of which he was forcibly hospitalized and force-fed.

Monument to the academician on Sakharov Square in St. Petersburg. Photo liveinternet.ru

At the beginning of perestroika, in December 1986, Mikhail Gorbachev orders the release of Andrei Sakharov from Gorky exile. The scientist and his wife return to Moscow, where he continues to work at the Institute of Physics. P.N. Lebedeva.

The theoretical department of FIAN, which was headed by Academician Ginzburg, ensured that Andrei Sakharov remained an employee of the department, where for all seven years the name of Sakharov was kept on the door of his office at FIAN.

Worldwide fame of the scientist

Sakharov's first trip took place in November-December 1988, he met with Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Francois Mitterrand, George Bush.

Andrei Sakharov was an honorary member of many scientific associations: the National Academy of Sciences (USA), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Physical Society, the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences (France), the Dei Lincei Academy (Italy), the French Academy (Institute France), the Venice Academy, the Dutch Academy (Sakharov is its first and only foreign member).

Presentation of the monument to Andrei Sakharov at the Manege exhibition center. It is assumed that a tree will be planted in the ring. Photo svoboda.org

Andrei Dmitrievich was the winner of many international and national awards: the Nobel Peace Prize, the Chino del Duco Prize, the Eleanor Roosevelt Prize, the Freedom House Prize (USA), the League of Human Rights Prize (at the UN), the Leo Szilard Prize, the named after Tamalla (physics), St. Boniface Prize, International Anti-Defamation League Prize, Benjamin Franklin Prize (physics), Albert Einstein Peace Prize, etc.

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov died on the evening of December 14, 1989 from a heart attack. The scientist is buried in Moscow at the Vostryakovsky cemetery.

In May 1992, at the main entrance to the P.N. Physics Institute. Lebedev (FIAN), where Sakharov worked for many years, a grand opening of a memorial plaque dedicated to the academician took place. The author of the memorial plaque is a sculptor Leonid Shtutman.

The name of Sakharov is immortalized by the name of an avenue in Moscow, and there is also a museum and a public center named after him. 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 his exile.

Interesting facts from the life of Sakharov:

• He didn’t like mathematics, and at school he stopped attending the club, which simply became uninteresting to him.
• On the exam on the theory of relativity at the university I received a C, which was then corrected.
• He was the author of the idea of ​​​​placing super-powerful warheads along the American coast to create a giant tsunami wave. The idea was not approved by either the sailors or Khrushchev.
• Predicted the creation and widespread use of the Internet.