Sakharov. Life and destiny. The fate of a genius... Why did academician Andrei Sakharov become a dissident battering ram?... “Ascetic” under the thumb of “Fox”...

Introduction

HELL. Sakharov is a Soviet physicist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences and political figure, dissident and human rights activist, one of the creators of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, Nobel Peace Prize laureate for 1975. His path was difficult and scary, filled with the joy of discovery and faith in the justice and decency of people, the bitterness of betrayal and bullying. This intelligent, quiet and fragile man not only made a great contribution to the development of nuclear physics, but also showed us an example of true courage and mental strength.

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov is known as the greatest scientist of our time, as the author of outstanding works on particle physics and cosmology. He owns the main idea of ​​thermonuclear fusion. His idea about the instability of the proton at first seemed unrealistic, but a few years later world science proclaimed the search for proton decay “the experiment of the century.” He put forward equally original ideas in cosmology, daring to penetrate into the early history of the Universe.

Also, the whole world knows A.D. Sakharov as an outstanding public figure, a fearless fighter for human rights, for establishing the primacy of universal human values ​​on Earth. The political confrontation took a lot of his energy. A man of deep humanistic convictions and high moral principles, A.D. Sakharov always remained sincere and honest.

Life of A.D. Sakharov is a unique example of selfless service to man and humanity.

The purpose of this work is to study the biography and political activities of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov.

1. Biography of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was born on May 21, 1921. in Moscow. Family always has a great influence on the formation of a person, his views, relationships with other people, choice of profession, and his position in life.

Mom A.D. Sakharova, Ekaterina Alekseevna (before Sofiano’s marriage) was born in December 1893 in Belgorod. Grandfather Alexey Semenovich Sofiano was a professional military man and artilleryman. Among his ancestors were Russified Greeks - hence the Greek surname - Sofiano. Mom was educated at the Noble Institute in Moscow.

My father's family was different from my mother's. My father’s grandfather Nikolai Sakharov was a priest in the suburb of Arzamas in the village of Vyezdnoye, and his ancestors were priests for several generations.

Both mother and most of A.D.’s other relatives. Sakharov were deeply religious people. This certainly influenced Andrei Dmitrievich; he himself also attended the Church as a child. Therefore, A.D. Sakharov gradually came to his own, qualitatively new perception of the world and the place of religion in it.

Family A.D. Sakharova had a huge influence on him. He managed to absorb the best features of several generations of his relatives, which manifested themselves both in their work and in communicating with people: a high intellectual level, education, the ability and desire to work conscientiously, great responsibility in any business, and, most importantly, humanism , politeness, modesty, kindness and responsiveness.

There is no doubt that in addition to the family and immediate environment, a person is greatly influenced by the historical era, the time when he grew up and matured.

“The era in which my childhood and youth occurred was tragic, tough, terrible,” recalled A.D. Sakharov - It was also a time of a special mass mentality that arose from the interaction of revolutionary enthusiasm and hopes that had not yet cooled down, fanaticism, total propaganda, real huge social and psychological changes in society, a mass exodus of people from the village - and, of course, hunger, anger, envy, fear, ignorance, erosion of moral standards after many days of war, atrocities, murders, violence. It was under these conditions that the phenomenon that in the USSR is called the “cult of personality” arose.

Years of study at school A.D. Sakharov, at the request of his parents, alternated with home, individual training. It was during this period that Andrei Dmitrievich’s interest in physics and exact sciences developed and finally strengthened. He graduated from school with honors in 1938 and at the same time entered the physics department of Moscow University.

“The university years for me are sharply divided into two periods - three pre-war years and one war year, during evacuation. In the 1st-3rd years, I greedily absorbed physics and mathematics, read a lot in addition to lectures, I had practically no time left for anything else, and I hardly even read fiction. I remember with great gratitude my first professors - Arnold, Rabinovich, Norden, Mlodzeevsky (junior), Lavrentiev (senior), Moiseev, Vlasov, Tikhonov, associate professor Bavli. The professors gave us a lot of additional literature, and every day I sat for many hours in the reading room. Soon I began to skip the more boring lectures in order to read. In my first years, I liked teaching mathematics the most. In the general physics course, I was very tormented by some ambiguities. They, I think, stemmed from insufficient theoretical depth in presenting more complex issues. Of the university subjects, I only had problems with Marxism-Leninism - bad marks, which I later corrected. Their reason was not ideological. But I was upset by the natural-philosophical speculations that were transferred without any modification to the 20th century of strict science. The newspaper polemical philosophy of “Materialism and Empirio-Criticism” seemed to me to be skimming tangents to the essence of the problem. But the main reason for my difficulties was my inability to read and remember words, not ideas,” recalled A.D. Sakharov.

He also graduated from the university with honors during the war, in 1942, in evacuation in Ashgabat.

At the university, Andrei Dmitrievich began to develop as a theoretical physicist. This was greatly facilitated by his teachers, lectures and classes, which provided fundamental training to young Soviet physicists.

Having received a diploma with a specialty in “Defense Metal Science” A.D. Sakharov was sent to a military plant in the city of Kovrov.

In September 1942, in the direction of the People's Commissariat of Armaments A.D. Sakharov arrived at the cartridge factory in Ulyanovsk. For two weeks he had to work in logging in a remote rural area near Melekess. As Andrei Dmitrievich himself recalled, “my first, most acute impressions of the life of workers and peasants during that difficult time are connected with these days.” Everywhere one could feel the enormous tension of people associated with the war, with the tragic events that took place at the front, with the difficulties of life in the rear.

Returning in September 1942 to the plant in Ulyanovsk, A.D. Sakharov worked there first as a junior technologist in the procurement shop, and then, from November 10, 1942, as an engineer-inventor in the Central Factory Laboratory. Here he was involved in the development of a device for monitoring armor-piercing cores for completeness of hardening, for the presence of longitudinal cracks, magnetic testing methods, an optical method for determining steel grades, an express method for determining steel grades based on the use of the thermoelectric effect and other developments. All these inventions greatly facilitated the production of quality products. In 1944 Andrei Dmitrievich began to intensively study theoretical physics using textbooks.

At the same time, he wrote several articles on theoretical physics and sent them to Moscow for review. As Andrei Dmitrievich himself recalled, “these first works were never published, but they gave me that feeling of self-confidence that is so necessary for every scientist.”

Of course, this stage in the life of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was the starting point for his development as both a scientist and a public figure. After all, it is in childhood and adolescence that life principles begin to form and take shape. Thanks to his parents, Andrei Dmitrievich receives a good education and easily enters the university. A significant role in Sakharov’s development as a scientist is played by university teachers, who help him graduate with honors from the university and begin work as a theoretical physicist.

In 1945 HELL. Sakharov entered graduate school at the Physics Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. P.N. Lebedeva. There he immediately impressed his scientific advisor I.E. Tamm (a major theoretical physicist, later an academician and Nobel Prize laureate in physics) and other employees of the institute for the originality, freshness and courage of solutions to the problems proposed to him. So, after the first meeting of Andrei Dmitrievich I.E. Tamm told his employees: “this young man independently came up with something that so far only the largest luminaries of atomic physics have come up with and that has not yet been published anywhere!”

In 1947 HELL. Sakharov successfully completed graduate school, defended his dissertation, and, having received the degree of Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, continued his scientific work at FIAN under the guidance of I.E. Tamma.

2. Political views and human rights activities of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov

It was at that time that Sakharov expressed the first brilliant ideas regarding the peaceful (and non-peaceful) use of thermonuclear energy released during the fusion reaction of hydrogen nuclei. In 1948 HELL. Sakharov was included in the research group for the development of thermonuclear weapons. The leader of the group was I.E. There M. The next twenty years were continuous work in conditions of top secrecy and super tension, first in Moscow, then in a special Secret Research Center. To create a hydrogen bomb, it was necessary to combine the talent of a physicist, chemist, and engineer in one person. What was needed was the ability to make non-trivial decisions and the ability to see the problem as a whole.

Subsequently, Andrei Dmitrievich said that “in the first years of work on a new weapon, the main thing for me was the inner conviction that this work was necessary. I could not help but realize what terrible, inhuman things we were doing. But the war has just ended - also an inhuman thing. I was not a soldier in that war, but I felt like a soldier in this scientific and technical one. The monstrous destructive force, the enormous efforts required to develop, the means taken from a poor and hungry, war-torn country, human casualties in hazardous industries and in forced labor camps - all this emotionally intensified the feeling of tragedy, forced us to think and work in such a way that everything the sacrifices (implied to be inevitable) were not in vain. It really was the psychology of war.”

In 1950-1951 Andrei Dmitrievich became known as one of the founders of the TOKA-MAK controlled reactor project.

In 1951-1952 he proposed the principle of obtaining super-strong magnetic fields using explosion energy and the design of explosive magnetic generators.

In subsequent years (until 1969) A.D. Sakharov was engaged in improving weapons, began to study the theory of the universe, as well as many other major problems of physics. He constantly demonstrated the ability to see not each individual part, but a single harmony, the world as a whole.

The activities of Andrei Dmitrievich were highly appreciated. Already in 1953 he was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. In the same year he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and awarded the Order of Lenin. In 1953, 1956,1962 he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. In 1953 HELL. Sakharov was awarded the Stalin Prize, and in 1956 the Lenin Prize.

It would seem that with such enormous scientific successes and the achievement of such a high position, he should not have been bothered by other problems other than new achievements in the field of physics. However, in 1953-1968. his socio-political views underwent 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. Recalling the tests of 1953, Andrei Dmitrievich wrote: “it is the radioactive “traces” that will cover a huge area that are one of the main causes of death, disease and genetic damage (along with the death of millions of people directly from shock waves and thermal radiation and along with with general global atmospheric poisoning as the cause of long-term consequences). I thought about this a lot in subsequent years. Of course, our worries related not only to the problem of radioactivity, but also to the success of the test. However, if we talk about me, then these works took a back seat compared to worrying about people. Even then, I was possessed by a whole range of contradictory feelings,” wrote Andrei Dmitrievich about the tests of 1955, “and, perhaps, the main one among them was the fear that the released force could get out of control, leading to innumerable disasters. Reports of accidents reinforced this tragic feeling. I didn’t feel specifically guilty of these deaths, but I couldn’t completely get rid of my involvement in them.” Thus, knowing about the terrible destructive power of thermonuclear weapons and the catastrophic consequences of their use, A.D. Since the late 50s, Sakharov began to actively advocate stopping or limiting nuclear weapons testing.

At the beginning of 1958 A conversation took place with A.D. Sakharov with the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee M.A. Suslov about the fate of the unjustly arrested doctor I.G. Barenblat, about which Andrei Dmitrievich wrote to the Central Committee. Some time after the intervention of Andrei Dmitrievich I.G. Barenblat was released. In addition, in a conversation with M.A. Suslov, the issue of the unfavorable situation in biology was raised. HELL. Sakharov emphasized in this regard that “genetics is a science of enormous theoretical and practical significance, and its denial in our country in the past has caused colossal harm.”

Thus, A.D. Sakharov was interested in and well versed not only directly in his field of science, but also in other important areas of it, and expressed his opinion with reason, thinking not about himself, but about the good of people, whom science should serve.

In 1958 The USSR unilaterally stopped nuclear tests for some time, but a decision was soon made to resume them. Andrei Dmitrievich made strong objections.

However, even despite the support of I.V. Kurchatov, who specially flew to N.S. Khrushchev to Yalta, failed to prevent the tests. Politicians did not want to listen to the voice of scientists.

In 1959, 1960 and the first half of 1961, the USSR, USA, and Great Britain did not test thermonuclear weapons: it was a so-called moratorium - a voluntary refusal to test, based on some kind of unofficial agreement. In 1961 Khrushchev made a decision, as always, unexpected for those to whom it was most directly related - to break the moratorium and conduct tests.

In July 1961 at a meeting of the country's leaders and nuclear scientists A.D. Sakharov wrote a note to N.S. Khrushchev, in which he emphasized: “I am convinced that the resumption of testing is now inappropriate from the point of view of the comparative strengthening of the USSR and the USA. Don’t you think that the resumption of testing will cause difficult-to-correct damage to the negotiations on ending the testing, to the entire cause of disarmament and ensuring world peace?” This step by Andrei Dmitrievich testified to his courage and determination in defending a position of the correctness of which he was convinced. His note was a thoughtful and deeply considered solution to the testing problem. But N.S. Khrushchev sharply responded in a speech at the banquet that “political decisions, incl. and the question of testing nuclear weapons is the prerogative of party and government leaders and does not concern scientists.” Consequently, the call of A.D. Sakharov again did not find understanding and was not supported in government circles. The tests were carried out according to the planned schedule.

In 1962 a conflict arose A.D. Sakharov with the Minister of Medium Engineering V.G. Slavsky regarding the testing of nuclear weapons of enormous power, useless from a scientific and technical point of view and threatening the lives of many people. However, A.D. Sakharov failed to prevent this test, even despite his direct appeal to N.S. Khrushchev. “A terrible crime was committed, and I could not prevent it,” recalled Andrei Dmitrievich. “A feeling of powerlessness, unbearable bitterness, shame and humiliation overwhelmed me. I fell face down on the table and cried. I have decided that from now on I will primarily focus my efforts on implementing the plan to stop testing in three environments."

In the summer of 1962, Andrei Dmitrievich substantiated the proposal to conclude an international treaty banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, under water, and in space. Andrei Dmitrievich's proposal was greeted approvingly by the highest Soviet leader and put forward on behalf of the USSR.

This treaty (banning nuclear tests in three environments) was concluded in Moscow in 1963.

“I believe that the Moscow Treaty is of historical significance,” wrote Andrei Dmitrievich. “It saved hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions of human lives - those who would inevitably die if tests continued in the atmosphere, in water, in space. But perhaps even more important is that this is a step towards reducing the danger of a global thermonuclear war. I am proud of my involvement in the Moscow Treaty.”

Thus, A.D. This time Sakharov managed to convince politicians that he was right and force them to listen to the objective opinion of a professional scientist.

He initiated one of the fundamental steps towards saving planet Earth. Even then, back in the 1950s and 1960s. HELL. Sakharov, knowing the enormous destructive power of nuclear weapons, was one of the initiators of the moratorium on nuclear tests, which was a new step in limiting the nuclear arms race. Every year, Andrei Dmitrievich looked more and more closely at Soviet political reality, at government mechanisms, at the structure of social life. The circle of problems that worried him was expanding more and more, knowing about which he could not remain indifferent.

At this stage of life, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov is making a rapid scientific career, with his scientific supervisor Igor Evgenievich Tamm helping him in this. A brilliantly defended dissertation gives him a ticket to a secret laboratory, where Andrei Dmitrievich becomes a leading employee and becomes one of the creators of the “nuclear shield” of the Fatherland. Andrei Dmitrievich begins to fight against excessive nuclear activity at test sites, from this moment his career begins as a public figure, a fighter for peace.

The years 1967 were not only the period of the most intense scientific work, but also the time when A.D. Sakharov approached the point of breaking with the official position on public issues, to a turn in (his) activities and fate

December 1966 HELL. Sakharov took part in a demonstration at the monument to A.S. Pushkin (Annual demonstrations on Constitution Day for human rights and against unconstitutional articles of the criminal code). He understood that this action would not bring real changes, but he could not, at least symbolically, not show his attitude towards human rights violations in the USSR, towards the fate of political prisoners in our country. Sakharov never felt like a “little man” who knew that nothing could be changed anyway, and he took responsibility for what was happening. There are situations when you cannot be passive. Inaction is also a type of action and sometimes a very dangerous one. For Andrei Dmitrievich, such an internal position was part of his personality. Along with social activities, Andrei Dmitrievich continued his scientific work. So, in the same year, 1966. He did his best work on theoretical physics, amazing in depth research on cosmology. In 1967-1968 he published a number of his other important works in the field of physics.

Also in 1967. he took part in the work of the Committee on the Problem of Baikal. Consequently, he paid great attention to environmental problems and understood the importance of nature conservation for all life on Earth. “My participation in the struggle for Baikal was inconclusive,” Andrei Dmitrievich later recalled, “but it meant a lot to me personally, forcing me to come into close contact with the problem of protecting the environment and especially with how it is refracted in the specific conditions of our country.” .

By the beginning of 1968 HELL. Sakharov was internally close to realizing the need to come forward with an open discussion of the main problems of our time. He could not help but do this, because... “The awareness of personal responsibility was particularly facilitated by participation in the development of the most terrible weapons that threaten the existence of mankind, specific knowledge about the possible nature of a thermonuclear missile war, the experience of a difficult struggle to ban nuclear tests, and knowledge of the peculiarities of the structure of our country,” wrote A.D. Sakharov. - From literature, from communication with I.E. Tamm (partly with some others) I learned about the ideas of an open society, convergence and world government. These ideas arose as a response to the problems of our era and spread among the Western intelligentsia, especially after the Second World War. They found their defenders among people such as Einstein, Bohr, Russell, Szilard. These ideas had a profound influence on me, just like the outstanding Western people I named, I saw in them hope for overcoming the tragic crisis of our time.”

So, in the year of the Prague Spring and the strengthening of the authoritarian system in the USSR, which could not but affect A.D. Sakharov, his article “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom” appeared. The article was widely disseminated abroad, in the USSR it was distributed in samizdat, but in the official Soviet press there were rare mentions of it only of a negative nature.

Andrei Dmitrievich wrote in this article that “the disunity of humanity threatens it with death, all peoples have the right to decide their fate by free expression of will.”

The main idea of ​​the article is that “humanity has approached a critical moment in its history, when the dangers of thermonuclear destruction, environmental self-poisoning, famine and uncontrollable population explosion, dehumanization and dogmatic mythologization loomed over it. These dangers are greatly amplified by the division of the world and the confrontation between the socialist and capitalist camps. The article defends the idea of ​​convergence (bringing together) the socialist and capitalist systems. Convergence should help overcome the division of the world, a scientifically managed democratic society should emerge, free from intolerance, imbued with concern for people and the future of humanity, combining the positive features of both systems.”

The very idea of ​​convergence then still seemed utopian. Andrei Dmitrievich knew very well, but was convinced: “if there are no ideals, then there is nothing to hope for at all.” HELL. Sakharov was removed from secret work. But, despite the deprivation of privileges, he soon donated almost all his personal savings (139 thousand rubles) for the construction of an oncology hospital and the Red Cross, thus showing that he lives by the principles of kindness and mercy.

Since 1970, the protection of human rights and the protection of people who have become victims of political violence have come “to the forefront” for him. In 1970 Andrei Dmitrievich participates in the creation of the Human Rights Committee. At the same time (together with physicist and mathematician V. Turchin and historian R. Medvedev) he published a letter to the CPSU Central Committee, the USSR Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which spoke “about the need to democratize society for the development of science, economics, and culture.” .

Also in 1970. HELL. Sakharov was present for the first time at a trial against dissidents (the trial of mathematician R. Pimenov and artist B. Weil, accused of distributing samizdat). In December 1970 he advocated the abolition of the death penalty in the case of E. Kuznetsov and M. Dymshits and mitigation of the fate of the remaining defendants in the “airplane trial.” March 5, 1971 Andrei Dmitrievich sent a “Memoir” to L. Brezhnev. Formally, the “Memoir” was structured as a summary or theses of a proposed conversation with the top leadership of the country: this form seemed (to Andrei Dmitrievich) convenient for a brief and clear, without any literary beauty or unnecessary words, presentation in the form of theses of the program of democratic reforms and necessary changes in the economy, culture, legal and social issues and foreign policy issues.

He himself emphasized in the letter that “the listed issues seem urgent to him.” On all the issues raised, he expressed his initiatives. For example, he proposed “holding a general amnesty for political prisoners, putting up for public discussion a draft law on the press and media, making a decision on freer publication of statistical and sociological data, adopting decisions and laws on the full restoration of the rights of peoples evicted under Stalin, passing laws , ensuring the simple and unimpeded exercise by citizens of their right to travel outside the country and to return freely, to take the initiative and declare the refusal to be the first to use weapons of mass destruction (nuclear weapons, chemical, bacteriological and taxation), to allow inspection groups into their territory for affective disarmament control (in the event of concluding an agreement on disarmament or partial limitation of certain types of weapons).”

The reforms that A. Sakharov spoke about in his “Memoir” began to be carried out only after 1985, when the negative processes in the country had gone too far.

In April 1971 Andrei Dmitrievich made an appeal regarding political prisoners forcibly placed in special psychiatric hospitals. In July 1971, he also wrote a letter to the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs N. Shchelokov about the situation of the Crimean Tatars, about which he had a conversation at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, where he was made to understand that individual cases could be resolved “in working order,” but a complete solution, if it is possible, it is a matter of the future, and patience is needed here. In the fall of 1971 Andrei Dmitrievich addressed the members of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the issue of freedom of emigration and unhindered return. He wrote, in particular, “about the need for a legislative solution in accordance with generally accepted international standards, reflected in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Andrei Dmitrievich did not receive an answer. All this indicates that the range of issues raised by the academician was gradually expanding. Along with the global problems of our time, he was interested and concerned about the problems of every person who approached him, the problems of those who were persecuted, persecuted by society and experiencing very difficult moments in their lives.

In 1972 Andrei Dmitrievich drafted an appeal to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on amnesty for political prisoners and on the abolition of the death penalty. Then, together with E.G. Bonner, he participated in collecting signatures for these documents. The texts of the appeal were transmitted by Andrei Dmitrievich to foreign correspondents in Moscow, and messages about this were broadcast by foreign radio stations.

Conducting enormous social and human rights activities, A.D. Sakharov successfully continued his work in the field of physics. He participated in the preparation of the collection “Problems of Theoretical Physics”, dedicated to I.E. Tammu, worked on the article “Topological structure of elementary charges and SPT - symmetry.”

In 1973-1974. HELL. Sakharov continued his public activities, wrote articles, appeals, and gave numerous interviews.

A vicious campaign was launched against Academician Sakharov in the Soviet press. Writers, composers, workers, scientists, in particular, a large group of academicians, attacked him collectively and individually. Members of his family were also subjected to attacks in the press and various persecutions. His wife E. Bonner was summoned several times for interrogation by the KGB.

Academician Sakharov's social activities increasingly contradicted the views of the Soviet leadership, and, consequently, its policies. Therefore, in 1974-1975, as well as in subsequent years, threats steadily increased both to Andrei Dmitrievich himself and his wife E.G. Bonner, and to their relatives, many of whom, due to these threats and the subsequent repressions, had to emigrate from Soviet Union. However, the duty of a scientist, citizen, and highly moral person did not allow A.D. Sakharov to stop his activities in the humanitarian sphere, in the field of human rights, to retreat in the unequal struggle against the totalitarian system in the USSR, as well as in other countries.

October 1975 HELL. Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He said that this was for him “a huge honor in recognition of the merits of the entire human rights movement in the USSR.”

In 1976 Academician Sakharov was elected vice-president of the International League of Human Rights.

In 1977-1979 HELL. Sakharov consistently continued his human rights activities.

In November 1977 HELL. Sakharov made a statement in connection with the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on amnesty. He demanded that the amnesty be extended to political prisoners.

In December 1979 An event occurred that became a tragic fact in the history of our Motherland - the Soviet Union sent its troops to Afghanistan. The majority of the Soviet people did not yet realize at that time the possible consequences of this step by the USSR government. However, A.D. Sakharov immediately understood clearly what had happened. “The year 1980 began under the sign of an ongoing war, to which thoughts continually turned,” he later recalled. “Here the danger for the whole world that a closed totalitarian society carries with itself has manifested itself,” emphasized A.D. Sakharov.

In January 1980 HELL. Sakharov gave an interview to Western correspondents about the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. Expressing his opinion on this issue, Andrei Dmitrievich said that “The USSR must withdraw its troops from Afghanistan; this is extremely important for the world, for all humanity.” January 22, 1980 A.D. Sakharov was detained on the street and taken to the USSR Prosecutor's Office, where Deputy Prosecutor General A. Rekunkov read out the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated January 8 on depriving A. Sakharov of government awards and bonuses. After this, Rekunov announced that “a decision was made to expel A.D. Sakharov from Moscow to a place that excludes his contacts with foreign citizens. The city of Gorky, closed to foreigners, was chosen as such a place.”

Thus began a new period in the life of Academician Sakharov and E.G. Bonner - the period of Gorky's exile, which lasted almost 7 years (before returning to Moscow on December 23, 1986). While in Gorky A.D. Sakharov tried to protest against his forced exile. He made a statement about the illegality of the repressions undertaken and demanded that the charges brought against him be examined in court.

In May 1980 HELL. Sakharov wrote an article “Troubling Times,” in which he expressed his thoughts on international issues, internal problems and repressions in the USSR. He characterized the USSR as “a closed totalitarian state with a virtually militarized economy and bureaucratic-centralized governance, which make its strengthening relatively more dangerous.”

In Gorky, Academician Sakharov was “in conditions of almost complete isolation and under round-the-clock police surveillance.” Andrei Dmitrievich wrote about this that “from the moment he was captured and brought to the prosecutor’s office on January 22, 1980, he has been living in Gorky under arrest, a 24-hour police post is close to the door of the apartment, practically no one is allowed to see him except his wife, KGB officers penetrate to the apartment, all mail goes through the KGB and an insignificant part of it reaches him.” Not only A.D. Sakharov himself was persecuted, but also his wife, relatives and friends. Many of them lost their jobs, were subjected to severe pressure and provocations, and were unable to move freely within the USSR or go abroad.

However, all the years of exile in Gorky A.D. Sakharov continued to fight with the Soviet leadership for humanism in politics and for the rights and freedoms of people. The authorities did everything to forget about Andrei Dmitrievich as soon as possible, tried to instill as many bad things as possible, and deliberately distort the views and proposals of A.D. Sakharov.

Academician Sakharov also continued his social activities

In 1984 - 1985 HELL. Sakharov was forced to carry out hunger strikes in protest against discrimination against his wife E.G. Bonner, who was not given permission to travel to the United States for eye and heart surgery, and is against the attitude of the authorities in general towards them, against the violation of their legal civil rights. However, the pressure on Andrei Dmitrievich only intensified, life in Gorky became completely unbearable for him and E.G. Bonner. After the hunger strikes and as a result of force feeding, A.D.’s health condition Sakharov's condition worsened sharply. While scientists, political and public figures, various organizations and many people who had nothing to do with politics and science spoke out in his defense abroad, the persecution of this outstanding scientist, thinker, and humanist intensified in the USSR. The Academy, represented by President A.P. Alexandrova refused to help hospitalize Sakharov in her hospital in May 1983, and declared him mentally ill in June 1983. Later, in August 1983, this was repeated to American senators Yu.V. Andropov.

Thus, A.D. Sakharov was subjected to various persecutions and illegal repressions for his views and beliefs. All this was applied to a man who stood at the origins of Soviet nuclear physics, made a huge contribution to strengthening the country's defense capability, with all his deeds and actions proved his commitment to democracy, stubbornly sought a way out of the difficult situation that was increasingly making itself felt in our country .

Only during the period of perestroika A.D. Sakharov received freedom and returned to Moscow again (December 23, 1986). From that time on, a new period of his life and work began.

In February 1987 HELL. Sakharov took part in the Moscow International Forum for a nuclear-free world, for the survival of humanity. He spoke at this Forum three times. Andrei Dmitrievich spoke out in favor of the USSR abandoning the strict conditionality of agreements on the reduction of thermonuclear weapons with the conclusion of an agreement on SDI. Reason, the policy of new thinking, proclaimed by M.S. Gorbachev, managed to prevail over political ambitions this time, and the ideas of A.D. Sakharov began to be implemented. Soon Academician Sakharov was elected to the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Thus, A.D. Sakharov was actively involved in social activities, devoting a lot of energy and time to it.

January 1988 he handed over to M.S. Gorbachev lists prisoners of conscience in prison, exile and mental hospitals. March 20, 1988 Andrey Dmitrievich directed M.S. Gorbachev received an open letter about the problem of the Crimean Tatars and the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh, in which he supported “the demands of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh for the transfer of NKAO to the Armenian SSR, and as a first step, for the withdrawal of the region from the administrative subordination of the Azerbaijan SSR,” and also demanded “free and the organized return of the Crimean Tatars to their homeland, i.e. the return of everyone with state assistance.”

HELL. Sakharov successfully combined active social activities with scientific work, while experiencing enormous workload, which contributed to the weakening of his already compromised health.

In January 1989 HELL. Sakharov was nominated as a candidate for people's deputies by approximately 60 scientific institutes of the Academy of Sciences. However, on January 18, at an extended meeting of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, his candidacy was not approved. On January 20, an election meeting was held at FIAN, at which A.D. Sakharov was nominated as a candidate for deputy from the Oktyabrsky district of Moscow. In the following days, Academician Sakharov was nominated as a candidate for people's deputies in the Moscow national-territorial district and in many other territorial districts.

In February 1989 HELL. Sakharov withdrew his consent to run for all territorial and national-territorial districts where he had been nominated, deciding to run only from the Academy of Sciences.

In March-April 1989 about 200 institutions nominated A.D. Sakharov was a candidate for people's deputy from the USSR Academy of Sciences, and he won the repeat elections on April 12-13, 1989. From that time on, A.D.’s activities began. Sakharov as a people's deputy of the USSR.

During a number of his speeches, especially at the final meeting of the Congress, he was subjected to open attacks, humiliation and even persecution. But the provisions of the “Decree on Power” proposed by A.D. showed their vital necessity. Sakharov, the abolition of “Article 6 of the USSR Constitution”, the limitation of the functions of the KGB to “the tasks of protecting the international security of the USSR” and many others.

In June-August 1989 he traveled abroad (visited Holland, Great Britain, Norway, Switzerland, Italy and the USA). On June 28, a gala reception was held in Oslo, hosted by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in honor of A.D. Sakharov - 14 years after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In July, Andrei Dmitrievich (in absentia) was elected one of the co-chairs of the Interregional Group of Deputies. Soon he spoke at the 39th Pugwash Conference in the United States calling for condemnation of the repression in China.

While in the USA, A.D. Sakharov worked on the draft Constitution and finished the second book of memoirs. The draft Constitution of the USSR is the last work of A.D. Sakharov as a member of the Constitutional Commission formed by the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. This project consistently traces the views and positions of the author. HELL. Sakharov proposed calling the state the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia: “The goal is a happy, meaningful life, freedom, material and spiritual, prosperity, peace and security for the citizens of the country, for all people on earth, regardless of their race, nationality, gender, age and social status." HELL. Sakharov continued to work on the draft Constitution until the last days of his life.

In the fall of 1989 HELL. Sakharov made a trip to Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk. He was in Chelyabinsk at the invitation of the local initiative group “Memorial”. In the Urals, tens of thousands of people were thrown into pits during mass executions, A.D. Sakharov said a remarkable phrase there that “we forget, when we argue about how many millions died, that one human life is also important, ruined for no reason.”

In the fall of 1989 HELL. Sakharov attended the Forum of Nobel Laureates in Japan. He also took an active part in the work of the II session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, where he made 9 legislative proposals.

December 1989 Andrei Dmitrievich spoke at the Interregional Group, calling for a general political strike on December 2, demanding the abolition of Article 6 of the Constitution.

December A.D. Sakharov spoke at the Second Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. He proposed discussing the issue of excluding from the USSR Constitution those articles that prevent the Supreme Council from adopting laws on property and land. In addition, Andrei Dmitrievich transmitted telegrams that he received regarding the abolition of Article 6 of the Constitution to the presidium. Taking part in the work of the I and II Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, A.D. Sakharov spoke on behalf of those who died in the camps and spent many years there. And also on behalf of the very idea of ​​Law, Justice, Humanity, on behalf of common sense.

December 1989 HELL. Sakharov spoke for the last time in the Kremlin at a meeting of the Interregional Deputy Group. He said that the MDG should become an organized political opposition to the ruling government. After this speech, he gave an interview for a film about the Semipalatinsk test site. Andrei Dmitrievich spoke out against the continuation of tests in Semipalatinsk.

In the evening of the same day A.D. Sakharov died suddenly. This news shook the whole country and penetrated the souls and hearts of millions of people. HELL. Sakharov devoted his entire life to Man and Humanity; he was and remains a moral guideline, an indisputable authority for everyone.

Sakharov nuclear human rights

Conclusion

The most prominent figure in the dissident movement was academician Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, one of the creators of the hydrogen bomb in the Soviet Union. He was the first to feel and realize the possibility of a universal catastrophe - the inevitable result of an arms race based on the confrontation of ideological systems.

Awareness of this danger became the most important incentive for A.D. Sakharov to turn to the analysis of the internal problems of Soviet society. And although he was not a sociologist by profession, his general scientific methodological approach helped him formulate his own theoretical concept of the state of social relations in Soviet society, which he relied on when assessing certain specific facts and events.

Humanity and unique, innate conscience (the kindest and fearless), selfless service in protecting prisoners of conscience in the totalitarian USSR, struggle and opposition to the communist-Soviet regime, its monstrous ideology, widespread lies, cynically perpetrated lawlessness, upholding the world-recognized basic principles of democracy and liberal values ​​became the main concern and meaning of A.D.’s spiritual life. Sakharov - a brilliant scientist, academician, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and many international awards, a recognized leader of the human rights movement and dissidence of the Soviet era.

For past, present and future generations of people, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was, is and will forever remain in their memory an intellectual of the first magnitude, a standard of conscientiousness and a measure of justice. He will remain in people's memory as a citizen of the planet of the 20th century and the forerunner of a free Russia.

Bibliography

1. Bonner E.G. The bell is ringing.. A year without Sakharov / E.G. Bonner [Text] - M.: Progress, 1991. - 286 p.

2. Gashchevsky A.D. Sakharov and physics / A.D. Gashchevsky [Text] - M.: Yuventa, 2003. - 521 p.

Sakharov A.D. Fragments of the biography / A.D. Sakharov [Text] - M.: Panorama, 1991. - 412 p.

Sakharov A.D. Anxiety and hope / A.D. Sakharov [Text] - M.: Press, 1990.-341p.

Sakharov A.D. Draft Constitution of the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia. // Star. 1990. No. 3.

Sakharov A.D. Speech at the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. // Zvezda. 1990. No. 3.

Sakharov A.D. An open letter to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR L.I. Brezhnev.// Star. 1990. No. 3.

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. He received his primary education at home, and went to school only 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 the brief biography of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov says, in 1944 he entered graduate school (his teacher from Moscow State University I.E. Tamm became his supervisor), in 1947 he defended his PhD thesis and began working at MPEI, from 1948 - in a secret group, which 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, signing an open letter to 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 as 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.

A biography of Andrei Sakharov has been published - an almost thousand-page novel, “The Life of Sakharov.” Moscow journalist Nikolai Andreev, who worked for a long time in the newspapers Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda, and Literaturnaya Gazeta, spent a whole decade studying the biography and documentary evidence about the life of the inventor of the Soviet thermonuclear bomb, who became a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1975. A detailed story about the internal searches, the formation of a political position and the personal life of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov largely changes the image of the icon of the Soviet human rights movement that has developed in Russia.

– Nikolay, how would you characterize the genre of your book? Is this pure fiction, artistic-historical research, or rather documentary prose? What did you write?

– This is fiction, an artistic biography, perhaps a documentary-artistic study.

– To what extent is your Andrei Sakharov a literary figure, and to what extent– historical character?

– Of course, first of all, this is a literary and documentary character, but behind any fact that is given in the book, there is a document. Of course, in the novel there is also literary speculation, there is a development of secondary plot lines, which, perhaps, does not exactly correspond to life. But what happened to Andrei Dmitrievich; the situations in which he found himself; the things he did – I can confirm all this with documents.

Speculation mainly concerns several non-primary characters. The book has a multi-figure composition: its heroes are Sakharov’s colleagues, academicians Zeldovich and Khariton, his relatives, wives and children (Elena Bonner in the first place), Soviet politicians like Beria or Gorbachev.

All of them – real characters, I tried to observe the historical truth as much as possible, but at the same time, the development of the plot was not without collective figures. Let’s say that the image of Sakharov’s friend Matvey Litvin summarizes the characteristics of several figures who in one way or another “passed through” the fate of Andrei Dmitrievich.

– What is the range of documentary sources you worked with? Where did you get the materials for the book?

– The main documentary source is, of course, the two-volume memoirs of Andrei Sakharov, as well as memories about himself, although there are very few such materials. More precisely, only three collections were published about Sakharov almost a quarter of a century after his death. In addition, I met and talked with many people who were familiar and somehow connected with Sakharov. For example, with some of his colleagues from the closed nuclear center in Sarov. I visited the scientific center itself, was in the house (more precisely, in that half of the house in which Sakharov lived with his first wife Claudia and their common children).

I visited the house-museum of Academician Khariton, in the so-called “red house”, where the theoretical department was located where Sakharov worked, inventing the thermonuclear bomb. Visited Nizhny Novgorod, in the apartment-museum of Andrei Dmitrievich – and before this was the apartment in which he lived with Elena Bonner during his exile from Moscow.

I talked with people with whom the exiles communicated; This, by the way, is a very small circle of people. In the same house where Sakharov and Bonner lived, only in a different apartment, there is an archive related to his Gorky exile. I also met some people with whom Sakharov worked in Moscow.

– Were you familiar with Sakharov himself?

– Yes, both with him and with Elena Georgievna Bonner. I didn’t have very big conversations with her, but we met probably five or six times. And I met Sakharov thanks to journalist Yuri Rost. Andrei Dmitrievich went to Syktyvkar to support the election campaign of the dissident Revolt Pimenov, and Yura asked me to fly there with Sakharov. I won’t say that I had extensive conversations with him, but we talked. Sometimes I met with Andrei Dmitrievich when he worked in the Supreme Council.

– When preparing the book, did you communicate with any of Sakharov’s comrades in the human rights movement, say, Sergei Kovalev, Lyudmila Alekseeva, Yuri Shikhanovich?

– I talked with Lyudmila Alekseeva, but for quite some time. And somehow my conversation about Sakharov did not work out with Sergei Adamovich Kovalev. Kovalev was also a people’s deputy at that time, but somehow he chose not to talk to me about Sakharov. Perhaps he did not see me as a suitable figure for such a conversation. Don't know.

– One of the successful features of your work, in my opinion, is the author’s detachment. You interpret the actions of Sakharov, his friends and enemies, as a rule, in the direct speech of the characters in the book, and not in your own description of the author. This is partly why it is not entirely clear who Andrei Sakharov is to you– a hero, a martyr, a troubled man, a seeker, a man who made mistakes? How do you imagine it?

– I just cannot definitely answer this question. I wanted, first of all, to show the powerful figure of Sakharov. I believe that Andrei Dmitrievich -

Sakharov is one of a dozen historical figures whose activities significantly influenced the history of the Soviet Union in the second half of the twentieth century. Like any personality of this magnitude, he is completely unknowable

One of a dozen people, historical figures, whose activities significantly influenced the history of the Soviet Union and Russia in the second half of the twentieth century. Like any personality of this magnitude, he is completely unknowable. I tried, as deeply and broadly as I could, to show his character, mindset, views, his environment. Perhaps my words will sound somewhat pompous, but it seems to me that to some extent I am rediscovering Sakharov.

Let's be honest: Sakharov is almost forgotten in Russia. Yes, sometimes his name appears, references to his works and statements flash, but how much do Russians know about him now? Somehow his figure disappeared from public life. Last year, for example, there were two anniversaries associated with significant dates in Sakharov’s biography: 60 years since the testing of a nuclear device based on his idea and 45 years since the publication of the famous “Reflections...”. I have not seen a single publication on these occasions, but both events give reasons to talk about a lot.

– Many different characters appear on the pages of your book, including people whose names are well known to many, if not all, citizens of Russia. How true are their words that you quote to reality? Let's say, how authentic is Elena Bonner's conversation on the train with actor Georgy Zhzhenov or Mikhail Gorbachev's conversation with Andrei Sakharov in the Kremlin? How did you reconstruct these scenes? Is this literary fiction?

– No, this is not fiction. Indeed, in the train compartment Bonner had a rather tense conversation with the actor Zhzhenov; Elena Georgievna wrote about this in her memoirs. I just added facts from Zhzhenov’s biography and Bonner’s biography to create additional drama and tension. Sakharov recounted his conversation with Gorbachev to Bonner, and I have information – from her words. By the way, I tried to talk with Mikhail Sergeevich about Sakharov, but the conversation also turned out to be of little use. Gorbachev remembers that he met and talked with Sakharov, but he couldn’t remember what.

– Have you tried to somehow get to the KGB archives related to Sakharov?

– Yes, of course, I made such attempts, but this is almost a tragic story. These archives have been destroyed. In the early 1990s, on the wave of democratization, when part of the KGB archives was temporarily opened, Elena Bonner made an attempt to get to them, but the materials had already been destroyed. This is absolutely true.

– How is this known?

– This was stated at one time by the head of the KGB, Vadim Bakatin. Apparently, some kind of unspoken order was sent to the Committee at the time of the collapse of the USSR. They understood perfectly well the danger of making public the materials of Sakharov’s persecution. There were more than 200 folders.

– How did you come up with the idea for the book, why was it published only now? When did you start working on collecting material?

– The idea for the book as such arose quite late, when I suddenly discovered that a significant amount of material had already been collected. By that time, I had already talked with Sakharov, and with Bonner, and with Alekseeva. I have long been interested in the history of the human rights and dissident movements in the USSR, and in modern history in general. However, for the time being, I simply did not consider myself, among other things, worthy of writing about Andrei Dmitrievich: I am a journalist, interested in history, and nothing more... But it seemed terribly unfair to me that decades pass, and there is no good biography of Sakharov. However, one work appeared in the “Life of Remarkable People” series. The book is called "Andrei Sakharov. Science and Freedom", author Gennady Gorelik. He – a respected man, a historian of science, was close to Bonner. However, out of 440 pages of the book, only 60 are dedicated to Andrei Dmitrievich, and the rest is the history of physics in Russia, reflections on whether the USSR stole atomic secrets from the United States or did not. So the figure is great, but there is no book about Sakharov. Gradually I began to write.

– There are two, in my opinion, key counterpoints in your book. First– these are moments associated with internal struggles, with the dynamics of the development of Andrei Dmitrievich’s character and views, the painful process of his transformation from a scientist who passionately believes in the need for a thermonuclear bomb for the Soviet Union, into a person who almost considers himself an accomplice in the crime... The second trial– Sakharov’s path to human rights advocacy, his transformation from an academician loyal to the Soviet system into a person who upholds to the end the principles of individual freedom as he understands them.

– This is the same process, but I wanted to clarify a point about Sakharov’s attitude towards nuclear weapons. Until the end of his life he did not renounce what he created. Moreover, Sakharov emphasized that the fact that the Soviet Union received the hydrogen bomb helped maintain peace. They tried many times (for example, Ales Adamovich in an interview) to persuade him to this idea – refuse, repent. No, Sakharov was firm on this. How did his internal rebirth occur? It seems to me that this was shown in the novel: in essence, there was no rebirth. Sazarov was not initially opposed to the USSR, he was almost childishly naive. In the scientific community in Arzamas-16 Sakharov

He didn’t stand out in anything special, with such sharp speeches. The situation in the closed city of physicists was quite free by Soviet standards: anything and everything was discussed there; They understood that they were listening, that there were informers, but the scientists were not particularly hiding. It seems to me that Sakharov – a normally thinking person who cannot help but think about how the society in which he lives works, for the protection of which he created a powerful, deadly weapon. Then not only he thought about it, many thought about it - both smart people and not so smart people, and I thought about it too.

But it's one thing – think about it, and something else – gain strength, courage, will and stand “on the other side”. Few people have the strength to do this, people are prone to compromises, and, unfortunately, I can say the same about myself. But Sakharov was honest in everything, so he considered it necessary to say what he thought about the Soviet totalitarian society. The dynamics of the development of his character, moreover, were not some single act. His treatise “Reflections on Peace and Progress...”, for example, was written by a man who sought to improve the socialist system by “taking” some useful aspects from capitalism. Only later did Sakharov come to understand that socialism is not at all suitable for human nature. This is a complex mental process, I tried to write it down, and I hope that I succeeded.

– Perhaps the most fascinating pages of your book are related to the description of Sakharov’s difficult relationships with his family and people close to him - with his first wife Claudia, with Elena Bonner, whom he married a few years after the death of his first wife, with his relationships with his own children and Bonner’s children . Elena Georgievna appears in your novel as a very strong person who sincerely loves Sakharov, a person whom Sakharov sincerely loves– but as a contradictory person. Are you not frightened by the severity of these contradictions?

– I honestly admit that I kept silent about some aspects of the relationship between members of the Sakharov-Bonner family, allowing myself the minimum of truth. My general impression is this: Bonner actually saved Sakharov during a very difficult period of his life, when he found himself alone, when he was essentially abandoned by everyone. Firstly, new love gave Sakharov the strength to live and fight.

Secondly, it was precisely in connection with the appearance of Bonner in his life (although, naturally, not only for this reason) that Sakharov became involved in real social activities. And in general, I think that the love of Sakharov and Bonner is a great love, it is such a rarity in history!

– Are you not afraid that the frankness of your book will cause an aggravated reaction in the human rights community, among people who were close to Sakharov, among his children, Elena Georgievna’s children? After all, Sakharov and Bonner are for people of liberal convictionslargely sacred figures.

– No I'm not afraid. I didn’t write in the spirit of the “yellow” press. Everything I write about in the book happened in reality.

In the liberal Russian pantheon, the name of Elena Bonner occupies one of the most honorable places. However, its role in the fate of the genius is still not entirely clear. Why one of the leading developers of the hydrogen bomb, a humanist with leftist views favored by the Soviet authorities, academician Andrei Sakharov, became a dissident battering ram directed against the USSR. Search a woman?…

There are names related to each other like Father Frost and Snegurochka - it is difficult to imagine them without the other. This is a tandem or a pair. Continuing the theme of fairy-tale characters, let's call the cat Basilio and the fox Alice. The heroine of the Sakharov-Bonner couple, famous in the KGB, received the nickname “Fox”. Academician Andrei Sakharov had two at once - “Ascetic” and “Askold”. The dissident scientist, apparently, did not match Basilio; his character was different, which cannot be said about the cunning “Fox”.

“The burden of love is heavy, even if carried by two. Now I alone carry our love with you. But for whom and why, I myself cannot say,” Elena Bonner ended her letter with the lines of Omar Khayyam when she celebrated her 85th birthday. His widow had been bearing the “burden of love” without the academician for almost two decades. In recent years she lived in the USA, next to her children Tatyana Yankelevich and Alexei Semenov. She lived in comfort, but complained that she wanted to go home. She spoke on behalf of “dissidents, this small group of people,” and added that very few of them “managed to return to professional activity,” and they “feel lonely in the West.” She didn’t come back - old age and illness didn’t allow her. "Fox" died in a hole overseas. Only the urn with ashes will be delivered to the capital’s Vostryakovskoye cemetery and buried next to Sakharov.

Elena Georgievna Bonner was born as Lusik Alikhanova. Father and stepfather are Armenians by nationality. Mother, Ruth Grigorievna Bonner, was the niece of editor and public figure Moisei Leontyevich Kleiman. In Paris, where this emigrant died, he took part in meetings of the Palestine Club, the Jewish Debating Club, and the Hebrew Language Union.

In the official biography of Elena Bonner it is written: “After the arrest of her parents, she left for Leningrad. In 1940, she graduated from high school and entered the evening department of the Faculty of Russian Language and Literature of the Leningrad Pedagogical Institute. A. I. Herzen. She started working while still in high school. In 1941, she volunteered to join the army, completing nursing courses. In October 1941 - the first serious wound and concussion. After recovery, she was sent as a nurse to the military hospital train N122, where she served until May 1945.”

According to another version, on July 8, 1941, two weeks after the start of the war, Lucy Bonner was evacuated to the Urals, to a specially created boarding school. Many years later, in 1998, former boarding school residents, using their own funds, published a small edition of a book of memoirs, “Boarding School. Metlino. War". It tells about two years of life in the Urals (in 1943, the boarding school students returned to Moscow). The pupils remembered with great sympathy their pioneer leader Lucy, an energetic and pretty girl. But the management was not happy with her, because Bonner was in no hurry to get up in the morning and did not follow the orders of her superiors. After the director of the boarding school found Lucy at night playing cards with the children for money, the pioneer leader was fired.

In her youth, Elena Bonner had an affair with a prominent engineer, Moisei Zlotnik, but the womanizer, confused in his relationships with women, killed his wife and ended up on a bunk. The famous Soviet criminologist and popular publicist Lev Sheinin outlined the vicissitudes of this sensational case in his time in the story “Disappearance.” On its pages, the wife-killer's cohabitant appeared under the telling name "Lucy B."

After leaving Metlino, the former pioneer leader got a job as a nurse on a hospital train. During the war, the ardent young lady became the PPZH (field wife) of the train chief Vladimir Dorfman, to whom she was old enough to be his daughter. In 1948, she cohabited for some time with a very middle-aged but wealthy business executive from Sakhalin, Yakov Kisselman. The official visited the capital only on short visits, and Lyusya became friends with her medical school classmate Ivan Semyonov.

“In March 1950, her daughter Tatyana was born. The mother congratulated both Kisselman and Semenov on their happy fatherhood. The next year, Kisselman formalized his relationship with his “daughter’s” mother, and two years later Semenov also contacted her by marriage, as written in N. N. Yakovlev’s book “CIA against the USSR.” - For the next nine years, she was legally married to two spouses at the same time, and Tatyana from a young age had two fathers - “Papa Yakov” and “Papa Ivan.” I learned to distinguish them - from “Papa Yakov” money, from “Papa Ivan” fatherly attention. The girl turned out to be smart beyond a child and never upset either of the fathers with the message that there was another. One must think that she listened first of all to her mother. At first, significant remittances from Sakhalin ensured the lives of two “poor students.” In 1955, their son Alyosha was born. Ten years later, Elena Bonner divorced Ivan Vasilyevich Semenov.

At the time of meeting Elena Georgievna, three times Hero of Socialist Labor, Academician Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov had already been a widower for a year. His wife Klavdiya Alekseevna Vikhireva, the mother of his three children Tatyana, Lyubov and Dmitry, died of cancer. In the fall of 1970, in the house of one of the human rights activists, “two loneliness” met, as the song sang. Andrei Dmitrievich noticed her, she seemed to remain indifferent. But, in his words, “this beautiful and business-like woman” was not introduced to him, and Elena Georgievna knew very well the secret academician who published his “dissident” thoughts in France.

The gentleman was introduced to the lady in Kaluga, where both were at the trial of some human rights activists. Sakharov was going with his children to the south and needed to adopt a pet - a cross between a dachshund and a spaniel. As a result, the “nobleman” was settled in Bonner’s rented dacha in Peredelkino. Andrey returned from the resort tanned, but with wax all over his cheek. She immediately rushed to his house to give him an injection. In August 1971, Academician Sakharov, accompanied by a recording by the baroque composer Albinoni, confessed his love to Lucy (as he called her).

“Bonner swore eternal love for the academician and, to begin with, threw Tanya, Lyuba and Dima out of the family nest, where she placed her own - Tatyana and Alexei. With the change in Sakharov's marital status, the focus of his interests in life changed. The theorist became involved in politics and began meeting with those who soon received the nickname “human rights activists.” Bonner brought Sakharov together with them, simultaneously ordering her husband to love her instead of her children, for they would be a great help in the ambitious enterprise she had started - to become the leader (or leaders?) of “dissidents” in the Soviet Union,” stated Nikolai Yakovlev. The author and his sensational book are sometimes accused of bias - it was allegedly written in the wake of the fight against the dissident movement in the USSR, almost under the dictation of the KGB.

It is unlikely that anyone will argue that at that time there were only two most famous dissidents - academician Sakharov and writer Solzhenitsyn. In 2002, the second volume of Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn’s “Two Hundred Years Together” was published, where on page 448 the following is said: “After 1968, Sakharov recklessly joined the flow of the dissident movement. Among his new concerns and protests there were many individual cases, moreover, the most private ones, and of these, most of all, statements in defense of Jewish “refuseniks”. And when he tried to raise the topic on a broader scale, he simply told me, not understanding the full glaring meaning, Academician Gelfand answered him: “We are tired of helping this people solve their problems; and Academician Zeldovich: “I will not sign in favor of the victims for anything - I will retain the opportunity to defend those who suffer for their nationality.” That is, to protect only Jews.”

The fact that the outstanding academician and famous human rights activist Andrei Sakharov is an ordinary henpecked person in everyday life is admitted with shame by his own children. Relatives, not adopted children. Bonner’s daughter, a student at the evening department of the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University, Tatyana, married a student Yankelevich, but introduced herself to Western journalists as “Tatyana Sakharova, the daughter of an academician.” Her namesake, Tatyana Andreevna Sakharova, tried to stop the impostor, but she snapped: “If you want to avoid misunderstandings between us, change your last name.”

After Sakharov became the Nobel Peace Prize laureate for 1975 and a substantial amount of foreign currency appeared in his foreign accounts, the “children” Tanya Yankelevich and Alexei Semenov rushed to the West. The real son of the academician, Dmitry Sakharov (also a physicist like his father), admitted in an interview with Express Gazeta: “When my mother died, we continued to live together for some time - dad, me and my sisters. But after marrying Bonner, my father left us, settling in his stepmother’s apartment. Tanya had gotten married by that time, I was barely 15 years old, and 23-year-old Lyuba replaced my parents. It was just the two of us who ran the place. In his memoirs, my father writes that his older daughters turned me against him. It is not true. It’s just that no one ever invited me to the house where dad lived with Bonner. I rarely came there, completely missing my father. And Elena Georgievna did not leave us alone for a minute. Under the stern gaze of my stepmother, I did not dare to talk about my boyhood problems. There was something like a protocol: a joint lunch, routine questions and the same answers.”

Remember the magnificent fairy tale “Morozko”? Unlike the Russian fairy tale, the overseas “Morozko” generously rewarded the stepmother’s children, to the detriment of their own children. The evil stepmother did not send her husband to the forest to take his beautiful daughter, she forced the old man to go on a second hunger strike. The dissident Andrei Dmitrievich demanded not an end to nuclear testing, nor democratic reforms in the country, but...a visa to travel abroad for the fiancee of Alexei Semenov. By the way, according to the academician’s son, when he arrived in Gorky, where Sakharov was in exile, to persuade his father to abandon the hunger strike that was killing him, he saw Alexei’s bride eating pancakes with black caviar.

“Elena Georgievna knew perfectly well how destructive hunger strikes were for dad, and she perfectly understood that she was pushing him to the grave,” says Dmitry Andreevich Sakharov. After that hunger strike, the academician experienced a cerebral vascular spasm. These confessions of Sakharov’s son were not made to please the KGB - such an organization has not existed for a long time.

And here is an interesting excerpt from a report to the CPSU Central Committee, dated December 9, 1986: “While in Gorky, Sakharov returned to scientific activity. As a result, he's been coming up with new ideas lately. For example, he expresses his thoughts in the field of further development of nuclear energy, on issues related to controlled thermonuclear fusion (the Tokamak system), and on a number of other scientific areas.

It is characteristic that in the absence of Bonner, who was in the United States for some time, he became more sociable, willingly entered into conversations with Gorky residents, in which he criticized the American “star wars” program, positively commented on the peace initiatives of the Soviet leadership, and objectively assessed the events at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

These changes in Sakharov's behavior and lifestyle are still persistently opposed by Bonner. She essentially persuades her husband to give up scientific activity, directs his efforts to produce provocative documents, and forces him to keep diary entries with the prospect of publishing them abroad.”

In 1982, in exile in Gorky, the disgraced academician was visited by the young artist Sergei Bocharov. In an interview with Express Gazeta, this representative of bohemia said: “Sakharov did not see everything in black terms. Andrei Dmitrievich sometimes even praised the USSR government for some successes. Now I don’t remember why exactly. But for every such remark he immediately received a slap on the bald head from his wife. While I was writing the sketch, Sakharov got hit no less than seven times. At the same time, the world’s luminary meekly endured the cracks, and it was clear that he was used to them.”

Then the portrait painter sketched Bonner’s face with black paint over the image of the academician, but Elena Georgievna, seeing this, began to smear the paint on the canvas with her hand. “I told Bonner that I didn’t want to draw a “stump” who repeats the thoughts of his evil wife, and even suffers beatings from her,” recalls Sergei Bocharov. “And Bonner immediately kicked me out onto the street.” A private opinion of a representative of the artistic intelligentsia, and here is the official report from the competent authorities.

On December 23, 1989, American diplomats discussed the reasons for the premature death of Academician Sakharov. Reports about this neatly fell on the table of the workers of the CPSU Central Committee: “When discussing the causes of A. Sakharov’s death, American diplomats express the opinion that it was caused by great emotional and physical overload. This was facilitated to a certain extent by the widow of academician E. Bonner, who fueled her husband’s political ambitions and tried to play on his pride”...

Great Soviet scientists are known all over the world. One of them is Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, a physicist. He was one of the first to write works on the implementation of the thermonuclear reaction, therefore it is believed that Sakharov is the “father” of the hydrogen bomb in our country. Sakharov Anatoly Dmitrievich is an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, professor, doctor of physical and mathematical sciences. In 1975 he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

The future scientist was born in Moscow on May 21, 1921. His father was Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov, a physicist. For the first five years, Andrei Dmitrievich studied at home. This was followed by 5 years of study at school, where Sakharov, under the guidance of his father, seriously studied physics and conducted many experiments.

Studying at the university, working at a military factory

Andrei Dmitrievich entered the Faculty of Physics at Moscow State University in 1938. After the outbreak of World War II, Sakharov and the university went into evacuation to Turkmenistan (Ashgabat). Andrei Dmitrievich became interested in the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. In 1942 he graduated from Moscow State University with honors. At the university, Sakharov was considered the best student among all who had ever studied at this faculty.

After graduating from Moscow State University, Andrei Dmitrievich refused to stay in graduate school, which was advised to him by Professor A. A. Vlasov. A.D. Sakharov, having become a specialist in the field of defense metallurgy, was sent to a military plant in the city and then Ulyanovsk. Living and working conditions were very difficult, but it was during these years that Andrei Dmitrievich made his first invention. He proposed a device that made it possible to control the hardening of armor-piercing cores.

Marriage to Vikhireva K. A.

An important event in Sakharov’s personal life occurred in 1943 - the scientist married Klavdiya Alekseevna Vikhireva (life: 1919-1969). She was from Ulyanovsk and worked at the same plant as Andrei Dmitrievich. The couple had three children - a son and two daughters. Because of the war, and later because of the birth of children, Sakharov’s wife did not graduate from university. For this reason, subsequently, after the Sakharovs moved to Moscow, it was difficult for her to find a good job.

Postgraduate studies, master's thesis

Andrei Dmitrievich, returning to Moscow after the war, continued his studies in 1945. He is to E.I. Tamm, who taught at the Physics Institute. P. N. Lebedeva. A.D. Sakharov wanted to work on fundamental problems of science. In 1947, his work on non-radiative nuclear transitions was presented. In it, the scientist proposed a new rule according to which selection should be made based on charging parity. He also presented a method for taking into account the interaction of a positron and an electron during pair production.

Work at the "facility", testing a hydrogen bomb

In 1948, A.D. Sakharov was included in a special group led by I.E. Tamm. Its purpose was to test the hydrogen bomb project made by the group of Ya. B. Zeldovich. Andrei Dmitrievich soon presented his design for a bomb, in which layers of natural uranium and deuterium were placed around an ordinary atomic nucleus. When an atomic nucleus explodes, the ionized uranium greatly increases the density of deuterium. It also increases the speed of the thermonuclear reaction, and under the influence of fast neutrons it begins to fission. This idea was supplemented by V.L. Ginzburg, who proposed using lithium-6 deuteride for the bomb. Tritium is formed from it under the influence of slow neutrons, which is a very active thermonuclear fuel.

In the spring of 1950, with these ideas, Tamm’s group was sent almost in full force to the “facility” - a secret nuclear enterprise, the center of which was located in the city of Sarov. Here the number of scientists working on the project increased significantly as a result of the influx of young researchers. The group's work culminated in the testing of the first hydrogen bomb in the USSR, which successfully took place on August 12, 1953. This bomb is known as the “Sakharov puff”.

The very next year, on January 4, 1954, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov became a Hero of Socialist Labor and also received the Hammer and Sickle medal. A year earlier, in 1953, the scientist became an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

New test and its consequences

The group, headed by A.D. Sakharov, subsequently worked on compressing thermonuclear fuel using radiation obtained from the explosion of an atomic charge. In November 1955, a new hydrogen bomb was successfully tested. However, it was overshadowed by the death of a soldier and a girl, as well as the injuries of many people who were located at a considerable distance from the training ground. This, as well as the mass eviction of residents from nearby territories, forced Andrei Dmitrievich to seriously think about what tragic consequences atomic explosions could lead to. He wondered what would happen if this terrible force suddenly got out of control.

Sakharov's ideas, which laid the foundation for large-scale research

Simultaneously with the work on hydrogen bombs, Academician Sakharov, together with Tamm, proposed in 1950 an idea on how to implement magnetic confinement of plasma. The scientist made fundamental calculations on this issue. He also owned the idea and calculations for the formation of super-strong magnetic fields by compressing the magnetic flux with a cylindrical conducting shell. The scientist dealt with these issues in 1952. In 1961, Andrei Dmitrievich proposed the use of laser compression in order to obtain a controlled thermonuclear reaction. Sakharov's ideas laid the foundation for large-scale research carried out in the field of thermonuclear energy.

Two articles by Sakharov on the harmful effects of radioactivity

In 1958, Academician Sakharov presented two articles devoted to the harmful effects of radioactivity resulting from bomb explosions and its effect on heredity. As a result of this, as the scientist noted, the average life expectancy of the population is decreasing. According to Sakharov, in the future, each megaton explosion will lead to 10 thousand cases of cancer.

In 1958, Andrei Dmitrievich unsuccessfully tried to influence the USSR’s decision to extend the moratorium he had declared on atomic explosions. In 1961, the moratorium was interrupted by the testing of a very powerful hydrogen bomb (50 megaton). It had more political than military significance. Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov received the third Hammer and Sickle medal on March 7, 1962.

Social activity

In 1962, Sakharov came into sharp conflict with government authorities and his colleagues over the development of weapons and the need to ban their testing. This confrontation had a positive result - in 1963, an agreement was signed in Moscow prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons in all three environments.

It should be noted that Andrei Dmitrievich’s interests in those years were not limited exclusively to nuclear physics. The scientist was active in social activities. In 1958, Sakharov spoke out against the plans of Khrushchev, who planned to shorten the period of obtaining secondary education. A few years later, together with his colleagues, Andrei Dmitrievich freed Soviet genetics from the influence of T. D. Lysenko.

In 1964, Sakharov gave a speech in which he spoke out against the election of biologist N.I. Nuzhdin as an academician, who ultimately did not become one. Andrei Dmitrievich believed that this biologist, like T.D. Lysenko, was responsible for the difficult, shameful pages in the development of domestic science.

In 1966, the scientist signed a letter to the 23rd Congress of the CPSU. In this letter (“25 celebrities”), famous people opposed the rehabilitation of Stalin. It noted that the “greatest disaster” for the people would be any attempt to revive the intolerance of dissent, a policy pursued by Stalin. In the same year, Sakharov met R. A. Medvedev, who wrote a book about Stalin. She significantly influenced the views of Andrei Dmitrievich. In February 1967, the scientist sent his first letter to Brezhnev, in which he spoke out in defense of four dissidents. The authorities’ harsh response was to deprive Sakharov of one of the two positions he held at the “facility.”

Manifesto article, suspension from work at the “facility”

In June 1968, an article by Andrei Dmitrievich appeared in foreign media in which he reflected on progress, intellectual freedom and peaceful coexistence. The scientist spoke about the dangers of environmental self-poisoning, thermonuclear destruction, and dehumanization of humanity. Sakharov noted that there is a need to bring the capitalist and socialist systems closer together. He also wrote about the crimes committed by Stalin and that there is no democracy in the USSR.

In this manifesto article, the scientist advocated the abolition of political courts and censorship, and against the placement of dissidents in psychiatric clinics. The authorities reacted quickly: Andrei Dmitrievich was removed from work at the secret facility. He lost all posts related in one way or another to military secrets. The meeting of A.D. Sakharov with A.I. Solzhenitsyn took place on August 26, 1968. It was revealed that they had different views on the social transformations that the country needs.

Death of his wife, work at FIAN

This was followed by a tragic event in Sakharov’s personal life - in March 1969, his wife died, leaving the scientist in a state of despair, which later gave way to mental devastation that lasted for many years. I. E. Tamm, who at that time headed the Theoretical Department of the Lebedev Physical Institute, wrote a letter to M. V. Keldysh, President of the USSR Academy of Sciences. As a result of this and, apparently, sanctions from above, Andrei Dmitrievich was enrolled in a department of the institute on June 30, 1969. Here he took up scientific work, becoming a senior researcher. This position was the lowest of all that a Soviet academician could receive.

Continuation of human rights activities

In the period from 1967 to 1980, the scientist wrote more than 15. At the same time, he began to conduct active social activities, which increasingly did not correspond to the policies of official circles. Andrei Dmitrievich initiated appeals for the release of human rights activists Zh. A. Medvedev and P. G. Grigorenko from psychiatric hospitals. Together with R. A. Medvedev and physicist V. Turchin, the scientist published the “Memorandum on democratization and intellectual freedom.”

Sakharov came to Kaluga to participate in picketing the court, where the trial of the dissidents B. Weil and R. Pimenov was taking place. In November 1970, Andrei Dmitrievich, together with physicists A. Tverdokhlebov and V. Chalidze, founded the Human Rights Committee, whose task was to implement the principles laid down by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Together with academician Leontovich M.A. in 1971, Sakharov spoke out against the use of psychiatry for political purposes, as well as for the right of Crimean Tatars to return, for freedom of religion, for German and Jewish emigration.

Marriage to Bonner E.G., campaign against Sakharov

Marriage to Bonner Elena Grigorievna (years of life - 1923-2011) occurred in 1972. The scientist met this woman in 1970 in Kaluga, when he went to a trial. Having become a comrade-in-arms and faithful, Elena Grigorievna focused Andrei Dmitrievich’s activities on protecting the rights of individual people. From now on, Sakharov considered program documents as subjects for discussion. However, in 1977, the theoretical physicist nevertheless signed a collective letter addressed to the Presidium of the Supreme Council, which spoke of the need to abolish the death penalty and an amnesty.

In 1973, Sakharov gave an interview to U. Stenholm, a radio correspondent from Sweden. In it, he spoke about the nature of the then existing Soviet system. The Deputy Prosecutor General issued a warning to Andrei Dmitrievich, but despite this, the scientist held a press conference for eleven Western journalists. He condemned the threat of persecution. The reaction to such actions was a letter from 40 academicians, published in the newspaper Pravda. It became the beginning of a vicious campaign against the social activities of Andrei Dmitrievich. Human rights activists, as well as Western scientists and politicians, supported him. A.I. Solzhenitsyn proposed to award the scientist the Nobel Peace Prize.

The first hunger strike, Sakharov's book

In September 1973, continuing the fight for everyone’s right to emigrate, Andrei Dmitrievich sent a letter to the American Congress in which he supported the Jackson Amendment. The following year, R. Nixon, US President, arrived in Moscow. During his visit, Sakharov held his first hunger strike. He also gave a television interview in order to draw public attention to the fate of political prisoners.

E. G. Bonner, on the basis of the French humanitarian prize received by Sakharov, founded the Fund for Assistance to Children of Political Prisoners. In 1975, Andrei Dmitrievich met with G. Bell, a famous German writer. Together with him, he made an appeal aimed at protecting political prisoners. Also in 1975, the scientist published his book in the West entitled “About the Country and the World.” In it, Sakharov developed the ideas of democratization, disarmament, convergence, economic and political reforms, and strategic balance.

Nobel Peace Prize (1975)

The Nobel Peace Prize was deservedly awarded to the academician in October 1975. The award was received by his wife, who was treated abroad. She read out Sakharov's speech, which he had prepared for the award ceremony. In it, the scientist called for “genuine disarmament” and “true detente,” for political amnesty throughout the world, as well as for the widespread release of all prisoners of conscience. The next day, Sakharov’s wife delivered his Nobel lecture “Peace, Progress, Human Rights.” In it, the academician argued that all three of these goals are closely related to each other.

Accusation, exile

Despite the fact that Sakharov actively opposed the Soviet regime, he was not formally charged until 1980. It was brought forward when the scientist sharply condemned the invasion of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. On January 8, 1980, A. Sakharov was deprived of all government awards he had previously received. His exile began on January 22, when he was sent to Gorky (today Nizhny Novgorod), where he was under house arrest. The photo below shows the house in Gorky where the academician lived.

Sakharov's hunger strike for E. G. Bonner's right to travel

In the summer of 1984, Andrei Dmitrievich went on a hunger strike for his wife’s right to travel to the United States for treatment and to meet with her family. It was accompanied by painful feeding and forced hospitalization, but did not bring results.

In April-September 1985, the academician's last hunger strike took place, pursuing the same goals. Only in July 1985 was E.G. Bonner granted permission to leave. This happened after Sakharov sent a letter to Gorbachev promising to stop his public appearances and concentrate entirely on scientific work if the trip was allowed.

Last year of life

In March 1989, Sakharov became a people's deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The scientist thought a lot about the reform of the political structure in the Soviet Union. In November 1989, Sakharov presented a draft constitution, which was based on the protection of individual rights and the right of peoples to statehood.

The biography of Andrei Sakharov ends on December 14, 1989, when, after another busy day spent at the Congress of People's Deputies, he died. As the autopsy showed, the academician's heart was completely worn out. In Moscow, at the Vostryakovsky cemetery, lies the “father” of the hydrogen bomb, as well as an outstanding fighter for human rights.

A. Sakharov Foundation

The memory of the great scientist and public figure lives in the hearts of many. In 1989, the Andrei Sakharov Foundation was formed in our country, the purpose of which is to preserve the memory of Andrei Dmitrievich, promote his ideas, and protect human rights. In 1990, the Foundation appeared in the United States. Elena Bonner, the wife of the academician, was the chairman of these two organizations for a long time. She died on June 18, 2011 from a heart attack.

In the photo above is a monument to Sakharov erected in St. Petersburg. The square where it is located is named after him. The Soviet Nobel Prize laureates are not forgotten, as evidenced by the flowers offered to their monuments and graves.