Andrei Sakharov

Andrei Sakharov

Andrei Sakharov is often called the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, but most people know him as one of the twentieth century’s most ardent and unrelenting champions of human rights and freedoms. It was for his work as an outspoken dissident to the Soviet regime that the Nobel Committee awarded him the Peace Prize in 1975.

Sakharov was born in 1921 to a family of Moscow intelligentsia. His father was a teacher of physics and a popular writer of science books, as well as a humane and forthright man (Gorelik, 1999). After graduating high school, Andrei enrolled in Moscow University in 1938. When the war broke out wit Germany, his weak heart prevented him from being drafted. He graduated with honors in 1942 and didn’t want to pursue further studies. Instead he wanted to help with the war effort. He worked as an engineer in a military ammunition plant where he met his wife Klavdia Vikhireva (Gorelik, 1999).

Physicist Sakharov

Sakharov twice declined invitations from senior officials to join the atomic weapons project because he was exhilarated with pure physics. It wasn’t until 1948 when Igor Tamm, a leading theoretical physicist, announced that he and some selected associates, including Sakharov, had been assigned to investigate the possibilities of a hydrogen bomb that Sakharov agreed to work o the project. Sakharov was intrigued with the combination of theoretical physics and engineering required in making the hydrogen bomb (Gorelik, 1999). Despite his junior status, Sakharov proposed a radically different design, called the sloika or “layered roll.” It was used in the first Soviet hydrogen bomb

that was tested in 1953. It yielded energy about twenty times that of the Hiroshima

bomb (Gorelik, 1999). A few months after the testing Sakharov was elected a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and at age 32 was the youngest physicist ever. He also received the Stalin Prize and was decorated with the title Hero of Socialist Labor (Gorelik, 1999). Soviet leadership had great hopes for Sakharov. After testing of the revised unlimited hydrogen bomb in 1955, which killed a soldier and a toddler, Sakharov began to realize the capabilities and uses of his bomb. When asked to toast at a celebration banquet that night, he announced, “May all our devices explode as successfully as today’s, but always over test sites and never over cities.” A joke was made to the effect that scientists should make the bombs and let the military men decide where they should explode (Gorelik, 1999). As variation of the basic thermonuclear device continued to be tested, Sakharov became increasingly concerned about the unidentifiable victims of each blast. He taught himself enough genetics to calculate how many persons worldwide would be affected by cancer and other mutations of nuclear testing (Gorelik, 1999). Sakharov voiced his concerns about testing and the Soviet premier Nikita Khushchev supported his ideas, testing was ceased. The United Sates and Britain continued testing and after six months Khushchev ordered that testing be resumed. Sakharov tried to explain to Khushchev that computers and limited experiments could make testing unnecessary. Khushchev did not agree nor did he welcome his advice (Gorelik, 1999). It wasn’t until 1963 that his suggestion of a ban on harmful atmosphere testing was well received by authorities and resulted in the signing of the Limited Test

Ban Treaty in Moscow. Sakharov was proud of his contribution and after testing was

stopped the harmful effects ceased to worry him. Sakharov felt that his presence would be essential to his retaining influence over the politics of weapons and decided to leave the bomb program (Gorelik, 1999).

Nobel Peace Prize

In 1975 Andrei Sakharov was