Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (Russian: Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров; 21 May 1921 – 14 December 1989) was a Soviet physicist and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world.
Andrei Sakharov | |
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Андрей Сахаров | |
Sakharov in 1989 | |
Born | |
Died | 14 December 1989 68) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | (aged
Resting place | Vostryakovskoye Cemetery |
Nationality | Russian |
Citizenship | Soviet Union |
Alma mater | |
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Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Thesis | Теория ядерных переходов типа 0→0 (1947) |
Doctoral advisor | Igor Tamm |
Doctoral students | Erast Gliner |
Although he spent his career in physics in the Soviet program of nuclear weapons, overseeing the development of thermonuclear weapons, Sakharov also did fundamental work in understanding particle physics, magnetism, and physical cosmology. Sakharov is mostly known for his political activism for individual freedom, human rights, civil liberties and reforms in the Soviet Union, for which he was deemed a dissident and faced persecution from the Soviet establishment.
In his memory, the Sakharov Prize was established and is awarded annually by the European Parliament for people and organizations dedicated to human rights and freedoms.