Andrey Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was born on May 21, 1921, in Moscow. His father, named Dmitri Ivanovich Sakharov, was a distinguished scientist, a writer of science, and pedagogy. He also had a hobby of playing the piano for silent films and at home. His mother, named Ekaterina Alekseevna was the daughter of a distinguished General, Aleksei Sophiano, who was a Greek-Russian aristocrat in Moscow. Young Andrei Sakharov was a voracious reader. He graduated from high school with excellence. From 1938, Sakharov studied physics at Moscow State University. He graduated 'cum laude' in 1942, while the university was evacuated in Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan during WWII.
Sakharov created a number of inventions for the Soviet military industry during the Second World War. He earned his Ph. D. in 1947 and was included in the top-secret Soviet thermonuclear research group under Igor Tamm. In 1949-50 Sakharov became the co-inventor of the controlled hydrogen reaction. Today he is known as "the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb." He was secretly awarded the State Prize by Joseph Stalin, who had a personal meeting with Sakharov and Lavrenti Beria, the chief of NKVD/KGB.
After giving the hydrogen bomb to Joseph Stalin, Sakharov went through a dramatic moral transformation. He wrote in his 'Memoirs' that from 1952-1961 he grew to realization that his invention is extremely harmful in the hands of politicians, and that it caused him serious moral pain. Sakharov rose to become a staunch opponent of the nuclear tests and made a political statement in 1961, making Nikita Khrushchev angry. During the Cuban missile crisis, Sakharov had a clear vision of the danger that his mighty invention may cause in the hands of undereducated politicians, who exterminated millions of their own people. Sakharov voiced his opinion in 1966-1967 on defense of the political prisoners in the USSR; at a time when Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was being terrorized by the KGB.
Sakharov's integrity took him on a
Sakharov created a number of inventions for the Soviet military industry during the Second World War. He earned his Ph. D. in 1947 and was included in the top-secret Soviet thermonuclear research group under Igor Tamm. In 1949-50 Sakharov became the co-inventor of the controlled hydrogen reaction. Today he is known as "the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb." He was secretly awarded the State Prize by Joseph Stalin, who had a personal meeting with Sakharov and Lavrenti Beria, the chief of NKVD/KGB.
After giving the hydrogen bomb to Joseph Stalin, Sakharov went through a dramatic moral transformation. He wrote in his 'Memoirs' that from 1952-1961 he grew to realization that his invention is extremely harmful in the hands of politicians, and that it caused him serious moral pain. Sakharov rose to become a staunch opponent of the nuclear tests and made a political statement in 1961, making Nikita Khrushchev angry. During the Cuban missile crisis, Sakharov had a clear vision of the danger that his mighty invention may cause in the hands of undereducated politicians, who exterminated millions of their own people. Sakharov voiced his opinion in 1966-1967 on defense of the political prisoners in the USSR; at a time when Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was being terrorized by the KGB.
Sakharov's integrity took him on a