Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov, (1921-89). Russian physicist and political figure. A graduate of Moscow University, Sakharov was assigned to military research during World War II. From 1947 he took a leading role in the development of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, which was exploded successfully in 1954. During the 1960s how-ever, he began to campaign against further nuclear testing and to argue for greater freedom of speech in the Soviet Union. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 made Sakharov internationally famous; it also provoked a campaign of harassment by the Soviet government, culminating in his exile to Gorky in 1980. Here he continued to argue outspokenly for disarmament and human rights. Following international protests, Sakharov was finally released in 1986, In 1989 he was elected to the new Chamber of People’s Deputies, where he argued for liberal reform until his death a few months later.
