Creator of the hydrogen bomb in the USSR and human rights activist. Who was Academician Sakharov really? Postgraduate studies, master's thesis

Andrei Sakharov is hailed by his supporters as a kind of cult figure. Creator of the Soviet hydrogen bomb. A measure of morality. A freedom fighter. And many others. A symbol of something bright and good. Even selfless. But who was he really?

An avenue in Moscow, on which he never lived, bears his name. And a nearby museum, where people who receive grants from Russia’s geopolitical competitors usually gather for their events.

At the end of the 80s, when Gorbachev returned him from Gorky to Moscow, there were people who expected either political or moral revelations from Sakharov.

Andrey Sakharov. © RIA Novosti / Igor Zarembo

True, after he took the podium at the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, many were clearly disappointed: poor diction, slurred speech, empty thoughts.

And there was also the obvious unethicality of the statements: many then, under the influence of “perestroika propaganda,” were negatively opposed to the participation of Soviet troops in the war in Afghanistan and were traumatized by rumors about closed coffins coming from there, but they were also offended by the words of this man, who called the Soviet soldiers fighting there “occupiers.” "

Whether he really was the creator of the hydrogen bomb is for physicists to judge. Officially, he was part of the group working on it. True, his colleagues in the specialty are somehow evasive about his contribution, vaguely asserting that “he was, of course, a competent physicist.” And sometimes it was said that his part of the contribution to the development of the bomb overlapped too much with the contents of the letter of some unknown provincial colleague.

Others also say that Igor Kurchatov signed his proposal for election to the Academy of Sciences in order to solve his housing problem.

Some, in response to the question about his role in the creation of the bomb, suggest thinking about why the man proclaimed its creator then never created anything in science equal to this invention. Not even in military affairs, but in peaceful nuclear physics.

But these are issues of corporate recognition. And then it’s up to physicists to figure it out. He himself became more interested in politics. And appeals to morality.

For example, when he was once told that in the struggle for the happiness of people and the future of humanity there are sacrifices, he was indignant and declared: “I am convinced that such arithmetic is fundamentally wrong. We, each of us, in every matter, both “small” and “big,” must proceed from specific moral criteria, and not from the abstract arithmetic of history. Moral criteria categorically dictate to us: “Thou shalt not kill.”

And in the draft Constitution he composed, he pathetically wrote: “All people have the right to life, freedom and happiness.” Whether the people of the country in whose destruction he took part have become freer and happier - everyone can judge this for themselves.

In 1953 he was made an academician at the age of 32.

By the end of the 50s, he would propose stopping new developments in the field of weapons and simply placing heavy-duty explosive devices of 100 megatons each along the US coast. And, if necessary, blow up the entire American continent.

What would happen to the people living there and to all the other continents did not particularly concern him: the idea was bold and beautiful.

Later, Roy Medvedev would write: “He lived for too long in some extremely isolated world, where they knew little about the events in the country, about the lives of people from other strata of society, and even about the history of the country in which and for which they worked.”

Even the extravagant Khrushchev was not inspired by Sakharov’s idea to blow everyone up. And the relationship between them began to deteriorate.

The last meeting of the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, which was attended by Andrei Sakharov. © RIA Novosti

And when the question of new tests arose, they separated. Khrushchev believed that it was necessary to study the possibilities and consequences of using nuclear weapons. Sakharov believed that this was unnecessary: ​​everything that was already available could be blown up without particularly thinking about the consequences. And when the first one suggested that he not put forward his exotic ideas, but take up science, even if not military, the academician decided to fight for “human rights.”

Once upon a time, he began to study the problems of the peaceful use of thermonuclear energy, but quickly moved away from the topic: it took a long time to work, and no quick result was expected.

Yes, he will receive the Nobel Prize. But not for scientific discoveries - the peace prize. Like Gorbachev, for fighting against his country. And after Keldysh and Khariton, Simonov and Sholokhov and dozens of other iconic figures, scientists and writers, publicly condemn Sakharov.

Sakharov will often swear in the name of morality and appeal to the commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” But in 1973 he would write a letter of greeting to General Pinochet, calling his coup and executions the beginning of an era of happiness and prosperity in Chile. The academician always believed that people have the right to life, freedom and happiness.

His human rights activist followers do not like to remember this. Just as they deny in every possible way that in the late 70s he wrote a letter to the US President calling on him to launch a preventive, terrifying nuclear strike in order to enforce compliance with “human rights” in the USSR.

In 1979, he published a letter condemning the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan on the pages of leading Western publications. Before that, he had not published such letters either condemning the American war in Vietnam or Israel's Middle East wars. And he will not condemn either the war between England and Argentina for the Falkland Islands, or the American invasion of Granada or Panama.

As a true intellectual and humanist, he only knew how to condemn his own country. Obviously, believing that condemnation of other countries is the business of their intellectuals and humanists.

In general, as the mathematician Yaglom, who knew him in his school years, recalled, even when solving a problem, Sakharov “could not explain how he came to the solution, he explained in a very abstruse way, and it was difficult to understand him.”

And academician Khariton, giving a posthumous interview after Sakharov’s funeral, in which, of course, the rule “either good or nothing” applied, was still forced to say that Sakharov “couldn’t even imagine that someone would figure something out.” better than him. Somehow one of our colleagues found a solution to a gas-dynamic problem that Andrei Dmitrievich could not find. This was so unexpected and unusual for him that he extremely energetically began to look for flaws in the proposed solution. And only after some time, having not found them, I was forced to admit that the decision was correct.”

And even then, in 1989, in conditions of hysteria, when it was simply dangerous to say anything in condemnation of Sakharov or in defense of Soviet society, Khariton will say, assessing his political activity: “To that part of his activity when he fought against obvious injustice, I have great respect for. My skepticism concerns his ideas regarding economic issues. The fact is that I did not agree with some of the provisions that Andrei Dmitrievich developed, in particular concerning the characteristics of socialism and capitalism.”

Gorbachev brought him back from Gorky, and Sakharov became a deputy of the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR from the Academy of Sciences. True, voters will fail it at the first vote. The media, supervised by Alexander Yakovlev, will throw a hysteria, and Gorbachev will cancel the election results, giving instructions to hold a repeat vote - with an expansion of the circle of voters and a strict attitude: “We need to elect.”

In violation of the electoral norm, Sakharov will be made a deputy: Gorbachev recruited supporters for the congress. But having become a deputy, Sakharov will immediately turn away from his patron and become one of the leaders of the opposition to him - the “Interregional Deputy Group”, the co-chairs of which were also Boris Yeltsin, Gavriil Popov, Yuri Afanasyev.

But, as the latter two do not admit today, Sakharov began to burden them more and more with his unintelligible speeches from the rostrum, his discrediting manner of speaking and his claim to be absolutely right.

It’s difficult to say what actually happened there, on December 14, 1989, at a meeting of this “group,” but on the evening of the same day, Sakharov died of a heart attack. And it’s strange - he became much more useful and profitable to his dead comrades than to his living ones.

And a month before this, Sakharov will present his draft of a new Constitution, where he will proclaim the right of all peoples to statehood, that is, to proclaim their own states and to destroy the Soviet Union.

Andrei Sakharov with Elena Bonner. © RIA Novosti

It is generally accepted that his departure from scientific work and the transition to the fight against his country was mainly influenced by his new wife, Elena Bonner. This is not entirely true: Sakharov met her in 1970 at the trial of a group of “dissidents” in Kaluga. Already then he wrote “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom”, the main idea containing a call for the country to abandon its socio-economic structure and transition to development according to the Western model. And then he regularly went to such trials.

But the truth is that it was after this acquaintance (they officially married two years later) that he focused almost entirely on “dissident activities.”

As he himself writes in his diary about the role of his new wife: “Lucy told me (the academician) a lot that I would not have understood or done otherwise. She’s a great organizer, she’s my think tank.” She suggested so much and so urgently that he not only adopted her children, but also almost forgot about his own. As his own son Dmitry would later joke bitterly: “Do you need the son of Academician Sakharov? He lives in the USA, in Boston. And his name is Alexey Semyonov. For almost 30 years, Alexey Semyonov gave interviews as “the son of Academician Sakharov”; foreign radio stations shouted in his defense in every possible way. And with my father alive, I felt like an orphan and dreamed that dad would spend at least a tenth of the time with me that he devoted to my stepmother’s offspring.”

The son recalled that one day he felt especially embarrassed for his father. He, already living in Gorky, once again went on a hunger strike, demanding that the fiancée of Bonner’s son, who had already remained in the United States without any permission, be allowed to go there. Dmitry came to his father. I tried to persuade him not to risk his health on this matter: “It is clear that if he had sought to stop nuclear weapons testing in this way or demanded democratic reforms... But he just wanted Lisa to be allowed to go to America to see Alexei Semyonov. But Bonner’s son might not have bothered to go abroad if he really loved the girl so much.” After marrying Bonner, Sakharov would move in with her, leaving his fifteen-year-old son to live with his 22-year-old sister; he considered that they were already adults, and without his attention they could make do. Until he was 18, he helped his son with money, but then he stopped. Everything is according to the law.

My father was really self-tormenting. Sakharov had severe heart pain, and there was a huge risk that his body would not withstand the nervous and physical stress. But his stepson’s fiancée, because of whom he was starving... “By the way, I found Lisa at dinner! As I remember now, she ate pancakes with black caviar,” the son recalls. But Dmitry Sakharov and Bonner strongly opposed the emigration: “My stepmother was afraid that I could become a competitor to her son and daughter, and - most importantly - she was afraid that the truth about Sakharov’s real children would be revealed. Indeed, in this case, her offspring could receive fewer benefits from foreign human rights organizations.”

In 1982, the young artist Sergei Bocharov, fascinated by the legend of the “freedom fighter,” came to Gorky to visit Sakharov; he wanted to paint a portrait of the “people’s defender.” Only he will see something completely different from the legend: “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.”

And the artist, having realized who really makes decisions and dictates to the “celebrities” what to say and what to do, painted a portrait of Bonner instead of his portrait. She flew into a rage and rushed to destroy the sketch: “I told Bonner that I didn’t want to draw a “hemp” who repeated the thoughts of his evil wife and even suffered beatings from her. And Bonner immediately kicked me out into the street.”

Those who made and make him their banner declare him a “great humanist.”

Andrei Sakharov with Elena Bonner, her daughter and grandchildren. Photo by ITAR-TASS

Him, who first called on the USSR to blow up the American continent, then called on the United States to launch a nuclear strike on the USSR in the name of “human rights.”

Him, who welcomed Pinochet and declared the soldiers of his country occupiers.

Him, who essentially abandoned his own children and was controlled by their stepmother, meekly enduring slaps from her when trying to praise his country. He did not know his country, nor its people, nor its history and suffered everything from his wife, who turned him into her political instrument.

Of course, anyone who wants can continue to read it. But at a minimum, the truth must be told about him to the end. Who is he. Who was he. What he destroyed. And what exactly does it have to do with humanism and morality? And at the very least, admit that the citizens of the country they hate have neither the obligation nor the need to speak about it with reverence.

Sergey CHERNYAKHOVSKY

He was a professor and physics teacher at the Moscow Pedagogical Institute (now a university) named after V.I. Lenin, author of popular books and a problem book on physics. Mother, Catherine Sofiano, was of noble origin and was the daughter of a military man.

In 1945, he entered graduate school at the Lebedev Physical Institute, and in November 1947 defended his Ph.D. thesis. In 1953, Sakharov defended his doctoral dissertation and in the same year was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In 1948, Andrei Sakharov was included in the research group for the development of thermonuclear weapons, led by Igor Tamm, where he worked until 1968. Sakharov proposed his own bomb design in the form of layers of deuterium and natural uranium around a conventional atomic charge. The group's intensive work culminated in the successful test of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb on August 12, 1953.

Subsequently, the group led by Sakharov worked on improving the hydrogen bomb. At the same time, Sakharov, together with Tamm, put forward the idea of ​​magnetic plasma confinement and carried out fundamental calculations of controlled thermonuclear fusion installations. In 1961, Sakharov proposed using laser compression to produce a controlled thermonuclear reaction. These ideas laid the foundation for large-scale research into thermonuclear energy.

In 1969, Sakharov returned to scientific work at the Lebedev Physical Institute. On June 30, 1969, he was enrolled in the department of the institute, where his scientific work began, as a senior researcher.

Since the late 1950s, Sakharov has been involved in human rights activities. In 1958, two of his articles were published on the harmful effects of radioactivity from nuclear explosions on heredity and, as a consequence, a decrease in average life expectancy. In the same year, Sakharov tried to influence the extension of the moratorium on atomic explosions declared by the USSR. In 1966, he signed a letter “25 celebrities” to the XXIII Congress of the CPSU against the rehabilitation of Stalin.

The European Parliament established the Sakharov Prize "For Freedom of Thought".

Since 1995, the Russian Academy of Sciences has awarded the A.D. Gold Medal to domestic and foreign scientists for outstanding work in nuclear physics, elementary particle physics and cosmology. Sakharov. Since 2001, Russian journalists have been awarded the Andrei Sakharov Prize “For Journalism as an Act.”

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, a world-famous scientist and public figure, was born on May 21, 1921 in Moscow. His parents are Ekaterina Alekseevna Sakharova and Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov, a physics teacher, author of a number of textbooks and problem books on physics, as well as many popular science books. Subsequently, Dmitry Ivanovich was an assistant professor in the department of general physics at the physics department of the Lenin Moscow State Pedagogical Institute.

In 1938 he entered the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University. In 1941, after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, he was drafted, but did not pass the medical examination and was evacuated along with Moscow State University to Ashgabat, where in 1942 he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Physics. He was invited to remain at the department and continue his education. Andrei Dmitrievich refused this offer and was sent by the People's Commissariat of Armaments to work in Ulyanovsk at a defense plant. During the war years, Andrei Dmitrievich made inventions and improvements to control the quality of armor-piercing cartridges. The control method he proposed was included in a textbook called “Sakharov’s Method”. While working as an engineer, A.D. Sakharov also independently engaged in scientific research and completed several scientific works in 1944-1945. In January 1945, he entered graduate school at the Physics Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (FIAN), where his supervisor was Academician I.E. Tamm. He graduated from graduate school, defending his thesis in November 1947, and until March 1950 he worked as a junior researcher. In July 1948, by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, he was involved in the creation of thermonuclear weapons. Andrei Dmitrievich began research on the nuclear problem against his will. Later, having already started working, he came to the conclusion that this problem needed to be dealt with. Similar research was already underway in the United States, and A.D. Sakharov believed that a situation in which the United States would become the monopoly owner of thermonuclear weapons should not be allowed. In this case, the stability of the world would be jeopardized. The problem of creating Soviet thermonuclear weapons was successfully solved, and A.D. Sakharov played an outstanding role in creating the thermonuclear power of the USSR. He held a number of leadership positions - in recent years, the position of deputy scientific director of a special institute. While working on the creation of thermonuclear weapons, A.D. Sakharov simultaneously put forward and developed, together with his teacher I.E. Tamm, the idea of ​​​​using thermonuclear energy for peaceful purposes. In 1950, A.D. Sakharov and I.E. Tamm considered the idea of ​​a magnetic thermonuclear reactor, which formed the basis for work in the USSR on controlled thermonuclear fusion.

A.D. Sakharov was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor three times (in 1953, 1956 and 1962); in 1953 he was awarded

USSR State Prize, and in 1956 - the Lenin Prize. In 1953 he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He was then 32 years old. Few people were elected academician so early. Subsequently, A.D. Sakharov was elected a member of a number of foreign academies. He is also an honorary doctor from many universities.

While working on the creation of hydrogen weapons, A.D. Sakharov at the same time realized the great danger that threatens humanity and all life on Earth if these weapons are put into use. Even the test explosions of nuclear weapons, which were then carried out in the atmosphere, on the surface of the earth and in water, posed a danger to humanity. For example, atmospheric explosions led to contamination of the atmosphere and the fallout of radioactive fallout at large distances from the test site. In 1957-1963, A.D. Sakharov actively opposed the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in water and on the surface of the earth. He was one of the initiators of the Moscow International Treaty banning nuclear tests in three environments. In the early 70s, the media in our country began a massive campaign against A.D. Sakharov. His statements were distorted, and slanderous materials were published about him and his wife. Despite this, A.D. Sakharov continued his social activities. In 1975, he wrote the book "About the Country and the World." In the same year he was awarded

Nobel Peace Prize. In his Nobel lecture “Peace, Progress, Human Rights,” outlining his views, he noted that “the only guarantee of peace on Earth can only be the observance of human rights in every country.” The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to A.D. Sakharov was accompanied by a new wave of disinformation and slander against him.

In 1979, immediately after the entry of troops into Afghanistan, A.D. Sakharov

issued a statement against the move, saying it was a tragic mistake. Soon after this, he was deprived of all government awards and on January 22 of the same year he was exiled without trial to the city of Gorky. He spent 7 years in exile, minus a few days. Access to him during these years was kept to a minimum; he was isolated from the Soviet and world community. During Gorky's exile, A.D. Sakharov held three hunger strikes, physical measures were used against him, and during the hunger strikes he was isolated even from his wife. Despite enormous difficulties, A.D. Sakharov continued his scientific research and social activities in Gorky. He writes statements in defense of political prisoners in the USSR, articles on disarmament problems, and on international relations.

In December 1986, A.D. Sakharov returned to Moscow. He speaks at the international forum “For a nuclear-free world, for the survival of mankind,” where he proposes a number of disarmament measures aimed at moving forward negotiations with the United States (these proposals were implemented, which made it possible to conclude an agreement with the United States on the destruction of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles) . He also proposes concrete steps in reducing the army in the USSR and effective measures to ensure the safety of nuclear power plants. Then A.D. Sakharov works at the Physical Institute named after. P.N. Lebedev Academy of Sciences of the USSR as chief researcher. He was elected a member of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences and continues to actively participate in public life. In the fall of 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR informed A.D. Sakharov that the issue of returning government awards to him, which he was deprived of in 1980, was being considered. HELL. Sakharov refused this until the release and complete rehabilitation of all those who were convicted of their

beliefs in the 70s and 80s. He was elected honorary chairman of the public council of the All-Union Society "Memorial".

His public activities were aimed at ensuring that perestroika was carried out actively and consistently, without delay, and that it became irreversible. In 1989, after an election campaign of unprecedented duration and intensity, A.D. Sakharov became a people's deputy of the USSR from the USSR Academy of Sciences. He was one of the founders and co-chairs of the largest parliamentary group - the interregional parliamentary group, uniting the most active, progressive-minded deputies. Without exaggeration, we can say that as a result of his parliamentary activities, he became one of the main political figures in our country. In the last months of his life, he prepared a draft of a new Constitution of the USSR, based on the principles of democracy, respect for human rights, and the sovereignty of nations and peoples. A.D.

Sakharov is the author of many bold political ideas, often ahead of their time, and then gaining increasing recognition. Sakharov died on December 14, 1990, after a busy day of work at the Congress of People's Deputies. Hundreds of thousands of people came to say goodbye to the great man.

The first meetings of A.I. Solzhenitsyn and A.D. Sakharov

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov and Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn met for the first time on August 26, 1968 - a few days after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the troops of the Warsaw Pact countries.

Academician, three times Hero of Socialist Labor and “father of the hydrogen bomb” A.D. Sakharov only recently, in May 1968, acted as a dissident, publishing his first large memorandum “Reflections on progress, peaceful coexistence and intellectual freedom” with a call for the development of democracy and pluralism. This speech quickly brought Sakharov fame both in the Soviet Union and in the West. But he still had almost no connections, not only with dissident groups, but even with writers and scientists outside the large but closed group of atomic scientists.

Solzhenitsyn gained worldwide fame much earlier, at the end of 1962, after the publication in Novy Mir of the famous story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” - the first truthful book about Stalin’s camps published in the USSR. This publication was part of the “de-Stalinization” policy carried out after the 22nd Congress of the CPSU, and at meetings of party leaders with cultural figures, not only Nikita Khrushchev, but also Mikhail Suslov shook Solzhenitsyn’s hand and warmly welcomed the appearance of “Ivan Denisovich.” Solzhenitsyn took the path of open opposition to the regime only in May 1967, publishing an “Open Letter to the IV Congress of the Union of Soviet Writers” protesting against censorship and political persecution of Soviet writers. At the same time, Solzhenitsyn’s great novel “In the First Circle” was sent to the West for translation and publication. Solzhenitsyn, unlike Sakharov, had many friends and acquaintances among writers, but he kept to himself and avoided any dissident circles.

The occupation of Czechoslovakia was a big shock not only for dissidents, and now, at the end of August 1968, both Solzhenitsyn and Sakharov, not wanting to remain silent, decided to somehow combine their efforts. The idea of ​​a meaningful protest that could be supported by several dozen of the most famous intellectuals of that time, as they say, was in the air.

Unexpectedly, a very emotional and deep text was proposed by film director Mikhail Ilyich Romm. Sakharov was ready to join him, but did not want his signature to come first. Late in the evening of August 23, academician Igor Tamm signed this document, and several other scientists followed his example. Sakharov wanted to go to Tvardovsky, but, as it turned out, Alexander Trifonovich did not even appear at the editorial office of Novy Mir these days, did not meet with anyone, and then Andrei Dmitrievich asked his friends about Solzhenitsyn, who, as it turned out, was looking for him himself. meetings.

Solzhenitsyn arrived in Moscow from Ryazan on the evening of August 24 to get acquainted with the situation and support the general protest. He devoted the next day to meetings with various people, and on August 26, in compliance with all the rules of secrecy, he met and had a long, one-on-one conversation with Sakharov. Of course, this meeting could not be completely hidden from the KGB:

Sakharov at that time was not only a classified, but also a protected scientist; back in the early 1960s, he decisively refused open security, but could not prevent covert escort. However, apparently, the “authorities” learned little about the content and nature of the conversation that took place, and only much later did both Solzhenitsyn and Sakharov write about this important meeting for them in their memoirs.

“I met Sakharov for the first time at the end of August 1968,” Solzhenitsyn recalled, “shortly after our occupation of Czechoslovakia and after the release of his memorandum. Sakharov had not yet been released from his position as a top-secret and especially protected person. From the first sight and from the very first words, he makes a charming impression: tall stature, perfect openness, a bright, soft smile, a bright gaze, a warm-throated voice. Despite the stuffiness, he was old-fashioned and caring, wearing a tight tie, a tight collar, and a jacket that was only unbuttoned during the conversation—obviously inherited from his old-Moscow intellectual family. We sat with him for four evening hours, which was already quite late for me, so I didn’t think well and didn’t speak well. The first feeling was also unusual - here, touch it, in the bluish jacket sleeve lies the hand that gave the world the hydrogen bomb. I was probably not polite enough and too persistent in my criticism, although I realized this only later: I did not thank him, did not congratulate him, but criticized, refuted, and disputed his memorandum. And it was precisely in this bad two-hour criticism of mine that he conquered me! - he was not offended in any way, although there were reasons, he did not persistently object, he explained, he smiled faintly in confusion - but he was not offended even once, not at all - a sign of a great, generous soul. Then we tried to see if we could somehow make a statement on behalf of Czechoslovakia - but we couldn’t find anyone to gather for a strong performance: all the eminent ones refused.”1

And here’s what Sakharov wrote: “We met at the apartment of one of my friends. Solzhenitsyn, with lively blue eyes and a reddish beard, temperamental speech of an unusually high timbre of voice, contrasting with calculated, precise movements, he seemed like a living ball of concentrated and purposeful energy. I mostly listened attentively, and he spoke - passionately and without any hesitation in his assessments and conclusions. He sharply formulated what he disagreed with me about. We cannot talk about any convergence. The West is not interested in our democratization, it is confused with its purely material progress and permissiveness, but socialism can completely destroy it. Our leaders are soulless automata, they cling their teeth to their power and benefits, and without a fist they will not loosen their teeth. I downplay Stalin's crimes and in vain separate Lenin from him. It is wrong to dream of a multi-party system; a non-party system is needed, because every party is violence against the beliefs of its members for the sake of the interests of the bosses. Scientists and engineers are a huge force, but at the core there must be a spiritual goal, without it any scientific regulation is self-deception, a path to suffocation in the smoke and burning of cities. I said there was much truth in his remarks, but my article reflected my beliefs. The main thing is to point out the dangers and a possible way to eliminate them. I count on people's goodwill. I don’t expect a response to my article now, but I think it will influence minds.”2

From the point of view of expressing protest against the invasion of Czechoslovakia, the meeting ended inconclusively; it was not possible to prepare any general document; Strong pressure was put on Igor Tamm, and he withdrew his signature. After that everything fell apart. But the controversy that had begun continued.

A little later, Solzhenitsyn outlined his comments on the memorandum “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom” in writing and handed them over personally to Sakharov, but did not allow them into Samizdat. It was an extensive "letter, occupying more than twenty pages and beginning with the highest praise of Sakharov, whose fearless and honest speech is "a major event in modern history." Solzhenitsyn did not like, however, that Sakharov in his treatise condemned only Stalinism, and not all communist ideology, because “Stalin was, although very mediocre, but a very consistent and faithful successor of the spirit of Lenin’s teaching." There is, in Solzhenitsyn’s opinion, no “world progressive community” to which Sakharov addressed. There is and cannot be “moral socialism ": “Sakharov is even excessive in extolling socialism." All this is “hypnosis of an entire generation.” Sakharov misses the importance in our country of “living national forces and the vitality of the national spirit,” and reduces everything to scientific and technological progress. Hopes for convergence are also absurd : this prospect is “rather bleak: two societies suffering from vices, gradually drawing closer and turning into one another, what can they give? - a society immoral across the board.” Intellectual freedom will not save Russia, just as it did not save the West, which “has choked on all types of freedoms and appears today in weakness of will, in darkness about the future, with a torn and depressed soul.” While criticizing Sakharov, Solzhenitsyn did not offer anything. “It will be reproached,” he wrote at the end of his letter, “that while criticizing Academician Sakharov’s useful article, we ourselves did not seem to offer anything constructive. If so, let us consider these lines not a frivolous end, but only a convenient beginning of a conversation.”3

But Sakharov did not respond to Solzhenitsyn in the same way as to some other famous dissidents and public figures in the West who decided to express their comments and wishes to the author in writing. memorandum. In 1969, a serious illness, and then the death of the scientist’s first wife, Claudia Alekseevna, unsettled him for a long time. He dated almost no one.

Sakharov returned to both scientific and social activities at the beginning of 1970, he actively participated in many actions of the human rights movement, and became acquainted with many of its leaders. At the beginning of May of that year, a new, very lengthy meeting with Solzhenitsyn took place.

This time, the subject of discussion was Sakharov's new large memorandum - a letter to the leaders of the Soviet Union L.I. Brezhnev, A.N. Kosygin and N.V. Podgorny, dedicated to the problems of democratization of Soviet society. Solzhenitsyn, according to Sakharov, gave this document a “much more positive and unconditional” assessment than Reflections; “He was glad that I had firmly taken the path of confrontation.” However, Solzhenitsyn resolutely refused to participate in campaigns to protect people subjected to political repression. “I asked him,” Sakharov recalled, “if anything could be done to help Grigorenko and Marchenko. Solzhenitsyn snapped: “No! These people went to the ram, they chose their fate themselves, it is impossible to save them. Any attempt may cause harm to them and others.” I was overcome with cold from this position, which was so contrary to immediate feeling.”4

Nevertheless, already in June 1970, both Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn, independently of each other, publicly and decisively protested against the forced psychiatric hospitalization of Zhores Medvedev, whom both of them had known since the fall of 1964. It was a short but very intense and successful public campaign.

In the fall of 1970, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature - the fourth for Russian literature after Ivan Bunin, Boris Pasternak and Mikhail Sholokhov. Solzhenitsyn was inspired, but at the same time extremely concerned by the scale of the newspaper and political campaign launched against him, which extremely complicated his life and daily contacts. He decided to cancel his trip to Stockholm for the award ceremony and for some time did not know how to behave and what to do. His fame in the world grew, but Solzhenitsyn himself later called 1971 “the passage of an eclipse, an eclipse of determination and action”5. He refused to sign the letter drawn up by Sakharov to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the abolition of the death penalty in our country, stating that participation in such collective actions would interfere with the implementation of those tasks for which he felt responsible. After this, Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn did not meet or talk with each other for more than a year.

Scientific work

Liberation and final years

Contribution to science

Awards and prizes

Performance evaluations

In the names of streets and squares

In other countries

In the encyclopedias of the world

Sakharov Archive

In culture and art

Bibliography

(May 21, 1921, Moscow - December 14, 1989, ibid.) - Soviet physicist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, one of the creators of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb. Subsequently - a public figure, dissident and human rights activist; People's Deputy of the USSR, author of the draft constitution of the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1975.

For his human rights activities, he was deprived of all Soviet awards and prizes and was expelled from Moscow.

Origin and education

Father, Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov, is a physics teacher, author of a famous problem book, mother Ekaterina Alekseevna Sakharova (ur. Sofiano) - the daughter of hereditary military Greek origin Alexei Semenovich Sofiano - is a housewife. Maternal grandmother

Zinaida Evgrafovna Sofiano is from the family of Belgorod nobles Mukhanov.

The godfather is the famous musician Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser.

He spent his childhood and early youth in Moscow. Sakharov received his primary education at home. I went to school from the seventh grade.

After graduating from high school in 1938, Sakharov entered the physics department of Moscow State University.

After the start of the war, in the summer of 1941 he tried to enter the military academy, but was not accepted for health reasons. In 1941 he was evacuated to Ashgabat. In 1942 he graduated from the university with honors.

In another presentation of this story, the exam takes place during graduate school; together with I. E. Tamm, S. M. Rytov and E. L. Feinberg take the exam, and Sakharov receives only a “B”.

In 1942, it was placed at the disposal of the People's Commissar of Armaments, from where it was sent to the cartridge factory in Ulyanovsk. In the same year, he made an invention to control armor-piercing cores and made a number of other proposals.

Scientific work

At the end of 1944, he entered graduate school at the Lebedev Physical Institute (scientific supervisor - I. E. Tamm). Employee of the Lebedev Physical Institute. Lebedev remained until his death.

In 1947 he defended his Ph.D. thesis.

In 1948, he was enrolled in a special group and until 1968 he worked in the field of development of thermonuclear weapons, participated in the design and development of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb according to the scheme called “Sakharov’s layer”. At the same time, Sakharov, together with I.E. Tamm, carried out pioneering work on controlled thermonuclear reactions in 1950-1951. At the Moscow Energy Institute he taught courses in nuclear physics, the theory of relativity and electricity.

Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (1953). In the same year, at the age of 32, he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, becoming the second youngest academician in history at the time of his election (after S. L. Sobolev). The recommendation that accompanied the submission to academicianship was signed by Academician I. V. Kurchatov and corresponding members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Yu. B. Khariton and Ya. B. Zeldovich. According to V.L. Ginzburg, nationality played a certain role in the election of Sakharov immediately as an academician - bypassing the level of corresponding member:

“He lived for too long in some extremely isolated world, where they knew little about events in the country, about the lives of people from other walks of life, and even about the history of the country in which and for which they worked,” noted Roy Medvedev.

In 1955, he signed the “Letter of the Three Hundred” against the notorious activities of academician T. D. Lysenko.

According to Valentin Falin, Sakharov, in an attempt to stop the ruinous arms race, proposed a project to station super-powerful nuclear warheads along the American maritime border:

Human rights activities

Since the late 1950s, he has actively campaigned for an end to nuclear weapons testing. Contributed to the conclusion of the Moscow Treaty banning tests in three environments. A.D. Sakharov expressed his attitude to the question of the justification of possible victims of nuclear tests and, more broadly, human sacrifices in general in the name of a more optimal future:

Since the late 1960s, he was one of the leaders of the human rights movement in the USSR.

In 1966, he signed a letter from twenty-five cultural and scientific figures to the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I. Brezhnev against the rehabilitation of Stalin.

In 1968, he wrote the brochure “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom,” which was published in many countries.

In 1970, he became one of the three founding members of the Moscow Human Rights Committee (together with Andrei Tverdokhlebov and Valery Chalidze).

In 1971, he addressed the Soviet government with a “Memoir”.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, he went to the trials of dissidents. During one of these trips in 1970 in Kaluga (the trial of B. Weil - R. Pimenov), he met Elena Bonner, and in 1972 he married her. There is an opinion that the departure from scientific work and switching to human rights activities occurred under her influence. He indirectly confirms this in his diary: “Lucy told me (the academician) a lot that I would not have understood or done otherwise. She’s a great organizer, she’s my think tank.”

In the 1970s - 1980s, campaigns were carried out in the Soviet press against A.D. Sakharov (1973, 1975, 1980, 1983).

On August 29, 1973, the Pravda newspaper published a letter from members of the USSR Academy of Sciences condemning the activities of A.D. Sakharov (“Letter of 40 Academicians”).

In September 1973, in response to the campaign that had begun, mathematician Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences I. R. Shafarevich wrote an “open letter” in defense of A. D. Sakharov.

In 1974, Sakharov held a press conference at which he announced the Day of Political Prisoners in the USSR.

In 1975 he wrote the book “About the Country and the World.” In the same year, Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Soviet newspapers published collective letters from scientists and cultural figures condemning the political activities of A. Sakharov.

In September 1977, he sent a letter to the organizing committee on the problem of the death penalty, in which he advocated its abolition in the USSR and throughout the world.

In December 1979 and January 1980, he made a number of statements against the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, which were published on the editorial pages of Western newspapers.

Exile to Gorky

On January 22, 1980, on his way to work, he was detained and then, together with his wife Elena Bonner, exiled to the city of Gorky without trial. At the same time, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he was deprived of the title of three times Hero of Socialist Labor and by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR - the title of laureate of the Stalin (1953) and Lenin (1956) prizes (also the Order of Lenin, the title of member of the USSR Academy of Sciences was not deprived). In Gorky, Sakharov went on three long hunger strikes. In 1981, he, together with Elena Bonner, endured the first, seventeen-day trial - for the right to visit her husband abroad for L. Alekseeva (the Sakharovs' daughter-in-law).

In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (published in 1975) and then in encyclopedic reference books published until 1986, the article about Sakharov ended with the phrase “In recent years I have withdrawn from scientific activities”. According to some sources, the formulation belonged to M. A. Suslov. In July 1983, four academicians (Prokhorov, Scriabin, Tikhonov, Dorodnitsyn) signed a letter “When they lose honor and conscience” condemning A.D. Sakharov.

In May 1984, he held a second hunger strike (26 days) to protest against the criminal prosecution of E. Bonner. In April-October 1985 - the third (178 days) for the right of E. Bonner to travel abroad for heart surgery. During this time, Sakharov was repeatedly hospitalized (the first time was forcibly on the sixth day of the hunger strike; after his announcement to end the hunger strike (July 11), he was discharged from the hospital; after its resumption (July 25), two days later he was again forcibly hospitalized) and forcibly fed (tried to feed, sometimes it was successful). During the entire time of A. Sakharov’s exile, a campaign was going on in many countries of the world in his defense. For example, the square, a five-minute walk from the White House, where the Soviet embassy was located in Washington, was renamed “Sakharov Square.” “Sakharov Hearings” have been held regularly in various world capitals since 1975.

Liberation and final years

He was released from Gorky exile with the beginning of perestroika, at the end of 1986 - after almost seven years of imprisonment. On October 22, 1986, Sakharov asks to stop his deportation and the exile of his wife, again (previously he turned to M.S. Gorbachev with a promise to focus on scientific work and stop public appearances, with the proviso: “except in exceptional cases” if his wife’s trip for treatment is allowed) promising to end his public activities (with the same proviso). On December 15, a telephone was unexpectedly installed in his apartment (he did not have a telephone during his entire exile); before leaving, the KGB officer said: “They will call you tomorrow.” The next day, M. S. Gorbachev actually called, allowing Sakharov and Bonner to return to Moscow. Arkady Volsky testified that while he was Secretary General, Andropov also wanted to return Sakharov, as stated by Volsky: “Yuri Vladimirovich was ready to release Sakharov from Gorky on the condition that he would write a statement and ask for it himself... But Sakharov [refused] flatly: “ Andropov hopes in vain that I will ask him for something. No repentance." Later, when Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Central Committee, he personally dialed Sakharov's number..." Academician Isaac Khalatnikov wrote in his memoirs that Andropov told Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov, who was busy with Sakharov being exiled to Gorky, that this exile was the most “mild” punishment, when other members of the Politburo demanded much more severe measures.

On December 23, 1986, together with Elena Bonner, Sakharov returned to Moscow. After returning, he continued to work at the Physical Institute. Lebedeva.

In November-December 1988, Sakharov's first trip abroad took place (meetings took place with Presidents R. Reagan, G. Bush, F. Mitterrand, M. Thatcher).

In 1989, he was elected as a people's deputy of the USSR, in May-June of the same year he participated in the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, where his speeches were often accompanied by slamming, shouts from the audience, and whistling from some of the deputies, who were later the leader of the MDG, historian Yuri Afanasyev and the media characterized it as an aggressively obedient majority.

In November 1989, he presented a “draft of a new constitution”, which is based on the protection of individual rights and the right of all peoples to statehood.

December 14, 1989, at 15:00 - Sakharov’s last speech in the Kremlin at a meeting of the Interregional Deputy Group (II Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR).

Buried at Vostryakovskoye Cemetery in Moscow

Family

In 1943, Andrei Sakharov married Klavdiya Alekseevna Vikhireva (1919-1969), a native of Simbirsk (died of cancer). They had three children - two daughters and a son (Tatiana, Lyubov, Dmitry).

In 1970, he met Elena Georgievna Bonner (1923-2011), and in 1972 he married her. She had two children (Tatiana, Alexey), who were already quite old by that time. As for the children of A.D. Sakharov, the two eldest were quite adults at that time. The youngest, Dmitry, was barely 15 years old when Sakharov moved in with Elena Bonner. His older sister Lyubov began to take care of his brother. The couple had no children together.

Contribution to science

One of the creators of the hydrogen bomb (1953) in the USSR. Works on magnetic hydrodynamics, plasma physics, controlled thermonuclear fusion, elementary particles, astrophysics, gravitation.

In 1950, A.D. Sakharov and I.E. Tamm put forward the idea of ​​implementing a controlled thermonuclear reaction for energy purposes using the principle of magnetic thermal insulation of plasma. Sakharov and Tamm considered, in particular, the toroidal configuration in stationary and non-stationary versions (today it is considered one of the most promising).

Sakharov is the author of original works in particle physics and cosmology: on the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, where he connected baryon asymmetry with combined parity nonconservation (CP violation), experimentally discovered during the decay of long-lived mesons, symmetry violation during time reversal, and baryon charge nonconservation ( Sakharov considered proton decay).

A.D. Sakharov explained the emergence of inhomogeneity in the distribution of matter from the initial density disturbances in the early Universe, which had the nature of quantum fluctuations. After the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation, a new analysis of fluctuations in the early Universe was made by Ya. B. Zeldovich and R. A. Sunyaev and, independently of them, J. Peebles with J.T. Yu. Zeldovich and Sunyaev predicted the existence of peaks in the angular spectrum of the distribution of cosmic microwave background radiation. Discovered by astrophysicists in the 2000s in the WMAP experiment and other experiments, the acoustic oscillations of the cosmic microwave background radiation (“Sakharov oscillations”) are an imprint of the very density perturbations that Sakharov theoretically described in his 1965 work.

Has works on muon catalysis (1948, 1957), magnetic cumulation and explosive magnetic generators (1951-1952); put forward the theory of induced gravity and the idea of ​​the zero Lagrangian (1967), the study of high-dimensional spaces with different numbers of time axes (“Cosmological transitions with a change in the metric signature”, JETP, 1984), “Evaporation of mini-black holes and high-energy physics” (“Letters in ZhETF", 1986).

Predicting the development of the Internet

In 1974, Sakharov wrote:

The Internet became a socially significant phenomenon in the early 1990s, after Sakharov’s death, but much earlier than 50 years after the above article was written.

Awards and prizes

• Hero of Socialist Labor (01/04/1954; 09/11/1956; 03/07/1962) (in 1980 “for anti-Soviet activities” he was stripped of his title and all three medals);
• Stalin Prize (1953) (in 1980 he was deprived of the title of laureate of this prize);
• Lenin Prize (1956) (in 1980 he was deprived of the title of laureate of this prize);
• Order of Lenin (01/04/1954) (in 1980 he was also deprived of this order);
• Awards from foreign countries, including:
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Vytis (8 January 2003, posthumously)

Performance evaluations

A.I. Solzhenitsyn, while generally highly appreciating Sakharov’s activities, criticized him for missing “the opportunity for the existence of living national forces in our country,” for excessive attention to the problem of freedom of emigration from the USSR, especially the emigration of Jews.

A. A. Zinoviev ironically called him “The Great Dissident” in a number of his books.

According to Pavel Pryanikov, to this day Academician Sakharov remains the last most popular moral authority among the public in the USSR/Russia. According to the data cited by Pryanikov, if in 1981 40% of Soviet people saw him as their leader, and after his death, in 1991 - more than 50%, in 2010 - more than 70%.

A negative assessment of Sakharov is found in the communist, far-right and Eurasian press. Some publicists (for example, A.G. Dugin) consider A.D. Sakharov an enemy of the USSR and an assistant to the United States in geopolitical confrontation.

Memory

• In 1979, an asteroid was named after A.D. Sakharov.
• At the main entrance to the capital of Israel, Jerusalem, there are the Sakharov Gardens; Streets in some Israeli cities are named after him.
• In Nizhny Novgorod there is a Sakharov Museum - apartment at Gagarin Ave., 214, apt. 3, on the first floor of a 12-story building (Shcherbinki microdistrict), in which Sakharov lived during seven years of exile. Since 1992, the city has hosted the Sakharov International Arts Festival.
• There is a museum and public center named after him in Moscow.
• In Belarus, the International State Ecological University named after Sakharov is named after Sakharov. HELL. Sakharov
• In 1988, the European Parliament established the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which is awarded annually for “achievements in the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as for respect for international law and the development of democracy.”
• In 1991, the USSR Post Office issued a stamp dedicated to A.D. Sakharov.
• In December 2009, on the twentieth anniversary of the death of A.D. Sakharov, the RTR channel showed a documentary film “Exclusively Science. No politics. Andrei Sakharov."
• At the Lebedev Physical Institute. Lebedev has a bust of Sakharov in front of the entrance.
• In Yerevan, secondary school No. 69 is named after A.D. Sakharov.
• In the city of Arnhem (Netherlands) there is the Andrei Sakharov Bridge (Dutch. Andrej Sacharovbrug).

In the names of streets and squares

In Russia

60 streets in Russian cities and villages are named after Sakharov

In other countries

• In August 1984, in New York, the intersection of 67th Street and 3rd Avenue was named “Sakharov-Bonner Corner,” and in Washington, the square where the Soviet embassy was located was renamed “Sakharov Square.” SakharovPlaza) (appeared as a sign of protest by the American public against the retention of A. Sakharov and E. Bonner in Gorky’s exile).
• In Yerevan, the square on which a monument was erected to him is named after A.D. Sakharov.
• In Lviv there is Academician Sakharov Street
• In Lyon there is Andrei Sakharov Avenue (Fr. avenue Andrei Sakharov)
• There is Andrei Sakharov Square in Vilnius (lit. Andrejaus Sacharovo aikštė), Los Angeles (English) Andrei Sakharov Square), Nuremberg (German) Andrej-Sacharow-Platz)
• In Sofia, a boulevard is named after him (Bulgarian). Boulevard Academician Andrei Sakharov)
• Sakharov Street is located in Amsterdam, The Hague, Yerevan, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kolomyia, Krivoy Rog, Odessa, Riga, Rotterdam, Stepanakert, Sukhum, Ternopil, Utrecht, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Schwerin (German). Andrej-Sacharow-Strasse).
• Sakharov Gardens at the entrance to Jerusalem.

In the encyclopedias of the world

Sakharov Archive

The Sakharov Archive was founded at Brandeis University in 1993, but was soon transferred to Harvard University. The Sakharov archive contains KGB documents related to the dissident movement. Most of the documents in the archive are letters from KGB leaders to the CPSU Central Committee about the activities of dissidents and recommendations for interpreting or suppressing certain events in the media. The archive documents date from 1968 to 1991.

In culture and art

The painting “Sakharov” by the Italian artist Vinzela is dedicated to the personality of Academician Sakharov.

In 1984, American director Jack Gold made the biographical film Sakharov (starring Jason Robards).

In 2007, the English BBC channel released the television film “Nuclear Secrets”, where the young Sakharov was played by Andrew Scott.

Bibliography

• A. D. Sakharov, “Gorky, Moscow, then everywhere”, 1989 htm
• A. D. Sakharov, Memoirs (1978-1989). 1989 htm
• Constitutional ideas of Andrei Sakharov. M., "Novella", 1990. 96 pp., 100,000 copies. ISBN 5-85065-001-6
• Edward Kline. Moscow Committee of Human Rights. 2004 ISBN 5-7712-0308-4 htm
• Yu. I. Krivonosov. Landau and Sakharov in the developments of the KGB. TVNZ. August 8, 1992.
• Vitaly Rochko “Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov: fragments of biography” 1991
• Memoirs: in 3 volumes / Comp. Bonner E. - M.: Time, 2006.
• Diaries: in 3 volumes - M.: Vremya, 2006.
• Anxiety and hope: in 2 volumes: Articles. Letters. Performances. Interview (1958-1986) / Comp. Bonner E. - M.: Time, 2006.
• And one warrior in the field 1991 [Collection / Compiled by G. A. Karapetyan]
• E. Bonner. - Free notes on the genealogy of Andrei Sakharov
• Nikolai Andreev "Life of Sakharov", 2013, M. "New chronograph". Biography.

The Nobel Peace Prize has been the subject of heated debate in recent years. Many are convinced that its laureates have recently become people and organizations that discredit this high award. The talk of the town was the award in 2009 to US President Barack Obama, who in subsequent years devoted more time to fomenting new armed conflicts than to the cause of peace.

However, this Nobel award has always caused controversy because of its politicization and short-term nature. The names of most of its laureates will say little to subsequent generations or will raise serious questions.

To this day, debate continues as to how justified the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 to the first and last USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev.

But in Russian history there was another Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who received it 15 years earlier - the Soviet physicist and human rights activist Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov. And this award, like the identity of the laureate, looks no less controversial.

“Dad made me a physicist”

Young Andryusha Sakharov, born in 1921, has problems finding an answer to the question “Who should I be?” did not have. The answer to this question was given by his father, Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov, physics teacher, science popularizer, author of a textbook that was used by several generations to study.

As Sakharov Jr. himself said, “Dad made me a physicist, otherwise God knows where I would have gone!”

Andrei Sakharov received his primary education at home, and when he came to school in the seventh grade, he was already clearly moving along the scientific path. After graduating from school in 1938, he entered the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University, and in 1944, he entered graduate school at the Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences, where he became his supervisor. future Nobel laureate Igor Tamm.

Already at that time, Andrei Sakharov was considered one of the most promising physicists in the country, and it is not surprising that he soon became one of those tasked with creating the country’s “nuclear shield”.

Academician Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov at his dacha in Zhukovka. 1972 Photo: RIA Novosti

Since 1948, Sakharov worked for twenty years on the creation of Soviet thermonuclear weapons, in particular, he designed the first Soviet hydrogen bomb.

Three stars of the Hero of Socialist Labor, the Order of Lenin, one Stalin and one Lenin Prize, numerous scientific regalia and other benefits that the Soviet state generously showered on him speak volumes about how successful Sakharov was on this path.

From nuclear tsunami to the fight for peace

The enthusiasm of young Sakharov amazed even the military. Thus, his ideas about using super-powerful nuclear charges to carry out underwater explosions, causing a giant tsunami capable of washing away all cities on the US coast, seemed excessive even to Soviet generals and admirals who were not prone to sentimentality.

However, in the 1960s, something happened to Sakharov that had previously happened to many other nuclear physicists both in the USSR and in the USA - he comes to the conclusion that his activities are immoral and blasphemous, and decides to devote himself to the fight for peace, disarmament and a just world order.

In the mid-1960s, Sakharov's social activities began to supplant scientific ones. He writes letters against “Lysenkoism”, against the rehabilitation of Stalinism, in defense of writers and public figures who came into conflict with the Soviet regime due to political differences.

Adherent of planned economy

In 1968, Andrei Sakharov wrote a policy article “Reflections on progress, peaceful coexistence and intellectual freedom.” In it, he examined global problems threatening humanity and put forward the thesis of “the rapprochement of the socialist and capitalist systems, accompanied by democratization, demilitarization, social and scientific and technological progress, as the only alternative to the destruction of humanity.”

Already in this article, Sakharov’s main shortcoming as a public figure was revealed - his ideas and thoughts looked extremely divorced from reality, from the realities of real life.

At the same time, for those who know about Sakharov’s activities only by hearsay, some of the postulates of this article may be very surprising: for example, the academician believed that a socialist society in sociocultural terms is a step above capitalism, and a planned economy is superior to the market in its potential.

Of course, the article also contained criticism of the Soviet system - the only system that, in fact, Sakharov knew personally.

Three times Hero of Socialist Labor, an atomic scientist who scolds the Soviet regime - in the West, Sakharov’s person was immediately and firmly grasped. He promised to become an excellent weapon in anti-Soviet propaganda.

On the other hand, the Soviet state security authorities took the academician-social activist “on their pencil” as a potentially dangerous person.

Academician Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov at the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR (May - June 1989). Exhibition Fund. Photo: RIA Novosti / Sergey Guneev

The king is played by his retinue

It is likely that the Sakharov who is known today would not have existed if two fatal circumstances had not happened - the death of the academician’s first wife and his acquaintance with dissident Elena Bonner.

In order not to be unfounded, we will quote from the diary of the academician himself: “Lucy (Bonner - editor's note) told me (the academician) a lot that I would not have understood or done otherwise. She’s a great organizer, she’s my think tank.”

The “organizer” and “think tank”, who married Sakharov in 1972, finally turned the academician away from science towards human rights activities.

Bonner's influence on Sakharov is becoming stronger. If in the early years of his public activity he criticized only individual shortcomings of the Soviet system, then the further he went, the more he began to contrast the gloomy totalitarianism of the socialist camp with the pure democracy of the capitalist world.

The more harshly Sakharov spoke, the more attention he received from both the Western and Soviet press. But if in the West the Soviet academician was presented as a fighter against the horrors of the Soviet regime, then in the USSR - as a real scoundrel, throwing mud at the Motherland, which gave him everything.

Both sides mixed a vigorous cocktail of grains of truth and a stream of propaganda.

Be that as it may, Academician Sakharov becomes a person known throughout the world.

In the beginning there was Sakharov...

The authorities did not resort to punitive measures against Sakharov; they were mostly punished by his comrades in the dissident movement. The academician was closely monitored by KGB officers, and he was strongly advised not to irritate senior Soviet leaders.

The enraged academician, however, did not listen, giving regular press conferences for Western journalists working in the USSR.

Today people don’t really like to remember what the academician said at these press conferences. This is explained simply - when Sakharov left conversations on the topic “for everything good against everything bad” to discuss current events, his assessments turned out to be extremely controversial. And over the years it turned out to be wrong.

When Armenian nationalists carried out a terrorist attack in the Moscow metro in January 1977, Sakharov said: “I cannot get rid of the feeling that the explosion in the Moscow metro and the tragic death of people is a new and most dangerous provocation of the repressive authorities in recent years. It was this feeling and the associated fears that this provocation could lead to changes in the entire internal climate of the country that was the motivating reason for writing this article. I would be very glad if my thoughts turned out to be wrong..."

Academician Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (right) at an authorized rally in Luzhniki during the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Mikhalev

Does this remind you of anything, dear readers? Twenty years later, the version about the involvement of Russian special services in the explosions in Moscow, and then about the involvement of the Belarusian special services in the explosions in Minsk, will be built on the same basis.

For his statement, Sakharov received a summons to the prosecutor’s office, where he was given an official warning: “Citizen A. D. Sakharov is warned that he made a deliberately false slanderous statement, which claims that the explosion in the Moscow metro is a provocation of the authorities aimed at against so-called dissidents. Gr. Sakharov is warned that if he continues and repeats his criminal actions, he will be held accountable in accordance with the laws in force in the country.”

Sakharov refused to sign the warning notice, saying: “I refuse to sign this document. I must first clarify what you said regarding my last statement. It does not directly accuse the KGB of organizing an explosion in the Moscow metro, but I express certain concerns (the feelings I have written). I also express in it the hope that this was not a crime sanctioned from above. But I am aware of the acute nature of my statement and do not repent of it. In acute situations, sharp remedies are needed. If, as a result of my statement, an objective investigation is carried out and the true culprits are found, and the innocent are not harmed, if provocation against dissidents is not carried out, I will feel great satisfaction.”

People's Deputy of the USSR Academician Andrei Sakharov (left) with his wife Elena Bonner (right). 1989 Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Fedorenko

Prize and tea and cake

But let's go back to the early 1970s. By 1975, Andrei Sakharov had transformed from a secret nuclear scientist into a world-famous person who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by various public groups in the West.

Sakharov was an extremely convenient figure for the Nobel Committee - a famous nuclear physicist who repented of creating what brought him fame and honor, and who fought for peace and freedom, regardless of personal benefits. Such a portrait fit perfectly into the essence of the award, conceived Alfred Nobel. Of course, Western politicians contributed in every possible way to this decision, for whom such a laureate was an excellent assistant in the ideological struggle against the USSR.

The Soviet Union, of course, was not too happy, but had no real leverage over the Nobel Committee. In addition, the detente of the 1970s was still in the yard, Moscow received the right to host the Olympics, and the Soviet leaders were not going to seriously quarrel with the West over Sakharov.

On the day that the prize was awarded to Sakharov in Oslo, his wife Elena Bonner was in Italy, where she was receiving treatment for her eyesight. The dissident academician himself was at that moment visiting friends in the human rights movement, drinking tea and apple pie. Soon, Sakharov’s associates, as well as Western journalists, arrived there. This warm company celebrated the award to the academician.

Untimely thoughts

Sakharov did not go to the award ceremony itself, but the intrigues of the KGB, by and large, had nothing to do with it. The academician was “restricted to travel” due to the fact that he was the bearer of too many defense secrets. By the way, according to Elena Bonner, Sakharov himself admitted this and did not particularly complain.

The award for Sakharov was received by his wife, who safely traveled from Italy to Norway with the text of Sakharov’s traditional “Nobel lecture” in her pocket, which she read out in Oslo.

In this lecture, in addition to the expected criticism of the Soviet regime, some fair, some not, there are extremely topical words:

“In an effort to protect the rights of people, we must act, in my opinion, first of all as defenders of the innocent victims of the regimes existing in different countries, without demanding crushing and total condemnation of these regimes. We need reforms, not revolutions. What is needed is a flexible, pluralistic and tolerant society that embodies the spirit of inquiry, discussion and free, non-dogmatic use of the achievements of all social systems."

Neither Libya, nor Syria, nor the Kiev “Euromaidan” fit into these naive ideas of Sakharov... Perhaps today the academician would not be awarded a prize for such speeches.

Academician Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (center) during his return from Gorky to Moscow. 1986 Photo: RIA Novosti / Yuri Abramochkin

When patience runs out

After receiving the award, Elena Bonner safely returned to her husband in the USSR, where the couple began to fight the Soviet system with even greater energy.

I am not inclined to consider the authorities of the Soviet Union prone to humanism, but the fact is that harsh measures were taken against Sakharov only in 1980, when he openly opposed the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan.

Probably, the annoying academician could have been expelled from the USSR earlier, like Solzhenitsyn and Rostropovich, but everything again came down to “nuclear secrets” - he knew too much.

But in 1980, détente gave way to a long life, the warring parties again switched to harsh rhetoric, and in these conditions they no longer stood on ceremony with Sakharov - they deprived him of Hero’s stars, orders and other regalia, and sent him into exile in Gorky.

For these sufferings, the Nobel Committee would be happy to give Sakharov another Peace Prize, but, according to its status, the award is awarded only once...