Sakharov Prize. Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich (born 1921-21-05, died 1989-14-12) is an outstanding physicist, one of the creators of the hydrogen bomb, the first Soviet human rights activist, politician, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Sakharov's scientific and political works have been translated into many foreign languages, and his views, beliefs and discoveries are recognized by scientists and statesmen around the world.

In 1988, the European Parliament established the annual Sakharov Prize "For Freedom of Thought".

Sakharov Andrey. Biography

Birth of A. D. Sakharov in Moscow, where he spent his childhood and early youth. He did not go to elementary school, but was educated at home, studying with his father, a physics teacher. Sakharov's mother was a housewife. The future scientist began attending school only from the 7th grade, and after graduation he entered the Faculty of Physics at Moscow University.

When the war began, Andrei Sakharov tried to enter the military academy, but he was not accepted due to poor he alth. Together with Moscow University, Andrey was evacuated to Ashgabat, where he graduated with honors in 1942.

The beginning of scientificactivities

After graduating from Sakharov University, he was assigned to the Ulyanovsk Cartridge Plant. Here he immediately finds ways to improve product quality control, and also introduces his first inventions into production.

In 1943-44, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov independently prepared several scientific papers and sent them to the head of the theoretical department of the Physical Institute. Lebedeva Tammu I. E. And already at the beginning of 1945, Sakharov was summoned to Moscow to take exams and enroll in graduate school. In 1947, he defended his Ph. D. thesis, and in 1948 he became a member of a secret group of scientists involved in the creation of thermonuclear weapons in the closed city of Arzamas-16. In this team, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov became a participant in the design and creation of the first hydrogen bomb, conducted his research until 1968. At the same time, together with Tamm, he conducted experiments on controlling a thermonuclear reaction.

In 1953, Sakharov became a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences and was elected a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

The political beliefs of Andrei Sakharov

In the late 1950s, Sakharov began to actively oppose nuclear testing. As a result of his activities, an agreement was signed banning tests in three environments (atmosphere, ocean and space), and in 1966, in collaboration with other scientists, he published a collective letter against the rehabilitation of Stalin.

In 1968, Sakharov's political beliefs found an outlet in the glob alto its content and political significance, an article where the scientist reflected on comprehensive progress, intellectual freedom and the possibility of peaceful coexistence of various political systems. In his work, he spoke about the need for a mutual convergence of the capitalist system with the socialist one in order to create a foundation for further development and ensure peace throughout the planet. This article has been translated into several languages, and its circulation abroad amounted to more than 20 million copies. The Soviet government did not appreciate the works of Sakharov, which differed from the ideology being implanted. He was removed from secret work on nuclear weapons in Arzamas-16, and the scientist returned to work at the Physics Institute.

Andrey Sakharov became more and more interested in the idea of human rights activities, as a result of which, in 1970, he joined the group that founded the Human Rights Committee. He began to actively defend basic human freedoms: the right to receive and disseminate information, to leave the country and return to it, freedom of conscience.

The book "About the country and the world"

As an expert in the field of nuclear weapons, Sakharov often called for disarmament, and in 1975 his book "On the Country and the World" was published. In this work, the scientist, and now a politician, harshly criticizes the political regime that existed at that time, one-party ideology, restrictions on human rights and freedoms. Sakharov calls the Soviet Union "a closed totalitarian police state dangerous to the world, armed with super-powerful weapons and possessing enormous resources." Academician offers a number ofreforms relating to both the political and economic components of state activity, leading, in his opinion, to “improving the social situation in the country.”

Regarding the Western countries, Sakharov spoke of their "weakness and disorganization", called the US a leader and called for unity, once again emphasizing the need for joint disarmament.

In a separate paragraph, the scientist emphasized the importance of protecting human rights throughout the world, especially the right to choose a country of residence and to receive information, as well as the need for comprehensive assistance to third world countries.

Nobel Prize Award

After the publication of the book "On the Country and the World", translated and published in the countries mentioned in it, not a single political figure or scientist of the Soviet Union could boast of such worldwide fame as Sakharov. The Peace Prize found its hero on October 9, 1975. In the formulation of the Nobel Committee, Sakharov's activities were called "the fearless support of the fundamental principles of the world", and the scientist himself was "a courageous fighter against the abuse of power and various forms of suppression of human dignity."

The Soviet leadership decided that such a dangerous person as Andrei Sakharov could not travel abroad. The Nobel Prize was awarded to his wife, Elena Bonner, who delivered her husband's lecture on "Peace, Progress and Human Rights". And again, Sakharov, through the mouth of his wife, exposed all the imperfection of political power and the situation as a whole, both in the USSR and throughout the world.

Deprivationawards and link

The last straw that broke the patience of the Soviet leadership was Sakharov's tough speech in 1979 against the introduction of troops into Afghanistan. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR deprived the academician of all awards, including the title of Hero of Socialist Labor three times in January 1980.

Sakharov was arrested right on the street and sent to the city of Gorky, where the scientist lived with his wife who shared his fate for 7 years under house arrest.

While in exile, the scientist saw indefinite hunger strikes as the only way to fight injustice. But he was hospitalized and force-fed.

Return and rehabilitation

With the beginning of perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev, who was in power, allowed Sakharov to return and continue his scientific work. Sakharov resumed speaking with a call for disarmament and became a deputy of the Supreme Council from the Academy of Sciences. And again, the academician had to seek the right to speak about the problems that worried him.

The constant struggle against the restrictions of the existing political regime and the exhausting years of exile greatly undermined Sakharov's he alth. After another debate and futile attempts to prove his case, Andrei Sakharov, a great scientist and human rights activist, died of a heart attack at home. The biography of this man is full of significant dates and fateful events. His contribution to the protection of human rights and the development of nuclear physics is invaluable.

Sakharov Prize "For Freedom of Thought"

Foreign scientificthe community, the political elite, as well as the population of Western countries, appreciated the importance of Sakharov's beliefs and the depth of his contribution to the global cause of protecting human rights. In Germany, Lithuania, the USA and other countries there are streets, squares and parks named after this great man.

The European Parliament, during the lifetime of the scientist, in 1988, approved the Sakharov Prize "For Freedom of Thought". The award is presented annually in December and amounts to 50,000 euros. The Sakharov Prize may be awarded for achievements in any of the following areas of human rights work:

• protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
• protecting the rights of minorities;
• respect for international law;
• development of democratic processes and confirmation of the leading role of the letter of the law.

Winners of the Freedom of Thought Award

The first recipients of the Sakharov Prize were South African anti-apartheid fighter N. Mandela and Soviet political prisoner A. Marchenko.

In subsequent years, the Andrei Sakharov Prize was awarded to the Argentine organization Mothers of May Square (1992), a newspaper from Bosnia and Herzegovina (1993), the United Nations (2003), the Belarusian Association of Journalists (2004), the Cuban movement Women in white” (2005) and a number of other organizations and individuals whose activities are to defend human rights and freedoms.

Memorial human rights organization

In 2009, in the year of the twentieth anniversary of the death of A. D. Sakharov, the EuropeanParliament awarded the Peace Prize to the human rights organization Memorial. It is noteworthy that one of the founders of this organization and the first chairman of a very small society at that time was Academician Sakharov. "Memorial" fully absorbed all Sakharov's ideas about the leading role of human rights, and especially intellectual freedom for the progressive development of the whole world.

At the moment, Memorial is a huge non-governmental organization with offices in Germany and the countries of the former socialist camp. The main activities of this community are advocacy, research and educational work.

Modern Laureates of the Freedom of Thought Award

In 2013, former CIA agent E. Snowden and Belarusian political prisoners were nominated for the award, and the Sakharov Prize was awarded to fifteen-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who waged an unequal struggle against the Taliban and the entire established system for the right of her compatriots attend school. From the age of eleven, Malala wrote a BBC blog detailing the hardships of her life and the Taliban's attitude towards girls' education.

In 2014, the Sakharov Prize was awarded to Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist from the Congo. This man attracted the attention of the European Parliament by organizing a center in his country where psychological and medical assistance is provided to victims of sexual violence.

Another Sakharov Prize

In 2001, entrepreneur and human rights activist Petr Vins, who was born in Kyiv in 1956, establishedRussian award named after Andrey Sakharov "For journalism as an act." The chairman of the jury of this award is the writer, film director and human rights activist A. Simonov, and the rest of the panel of judges is made up of well-known Russian sociologists, journalists and human rights defenders. Participates in the selection of laureates and a number of journalists from Spain, USA and Austria.

The Sakharov Prize "For journalism as an act" is awarded to Russian authors of materials who uphold in their work those values and ideals that Sakharov fought for, who made this their life position.

In 2012, the prize was awarded to Viktor Shostko, special correspondent for the Rostov newspaper Krestyanin. He attracted the attention of the public and the jury of the competition with his journalistic investigation of the sensational case of massacres in the village of Kushchevskaya, Rostov region.

In other years, well-known Russian journalists became the laureates of the award: Tatyana Sedykh, Elvira Goryukhina, Galina Kovalskaya, Anna Politkovskaya and others.

Sakharov is an outstanding man who warned thirty years ago about the world's problems that are observed today. He tirelessly tried to show the ruling forces the right way out of the economic and political crisis. In the photo of Sakharov, Andrei Dmitrievich can often be seen with eyes burning with an inner idea. This beacon of Russian thought left to posterity a storehouse of political wisdom in his writings.