The Sakharov Prize. The Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought

Sakharov Andrey Dmitrievich (born 21.05.1921, died on December 14, 1989) 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, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Sakharov's scientific and political works have been translated into many foreign languages, and his views, convictions and discoveries have been 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

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

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

The beginning of scientific activity

After graduation from the university, Sakharov was sent to the Ulyanovsk cartridge factory for distribution. 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 prepares several scientific papers and sends them to the head of the theoretical department of the Physics Institute. Lebedeva Tammu IE And in early 1945 Sakharov was summoned to Moscow for passing exams and enrolling in graduate school. In 1947 he defended his thesis, and in 1948 he became a member of a secret group of scientists engaged 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 construction of the first hydrogen bomb, conducted his studies until 1968. Then, together with Tamm, he conducted experiments to control the thermonuclear reaction.

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

Political convictions of Andrei Sakharov

In the late 1950s, Sakharov began to actively oppose the testing of nuclear weapons. As a result of his activities, an agreement was signed on 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 convictions found a way out in a global article on his content and political significance, 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 rapprochement of the capitalist system with the socialist system in order to create a foundation for further development and ensuring peace on the whole planet. This article was translated into several languages, and its circulation abroad was more than 20 million copies. The Soviet government did not appreciate the works of Sakharov, which differed from the ideology being planted. He was removed from the secret work on nuclear weapons in Arzamas-16, and the scientist returned to work at the Physics Institute.

Andrei Sakharov was more and more fond of the idea of human rights activities, as a result of which in 1970 he became a member of the group that founded the Human Rights Committee. He began to actively defend the 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"

Being an expert in the field of nuclear weapons, Sakharov often made an appeal for disarmament, and in 1975 his book "On the Country and the World" was published. In this work, a scientist, and now a politician, severely criticizes the political regime that existed at that time , a one-party ideology, restrictions on human rights and freedoms. Sakharov calls the Soviet Union "dangerous for the world closed totalitarian police state, armed with super-powerful weapons and has huge resources." The academician proposes a number of reforms concerning both the political and the economic component of state activity, leading, in his opinion, to "improving the social situation in the country."

With regard to Western countries, Sakharov spoke of their "weakness and disorganization," called the US leader and called for unity, once again stressing the need for joint disarmament.

A separate point 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.

Award of the Nobel Prize

After the publication of the book "About the Country and the World", translated and published in the countries mentioned in it, no politician 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 work was called "fearless support of the fundamental principles of peace" and the scientist himself "a courageous fighter with abuse of power and various forms of suppressing human dignity."

The Soviet leadership decided that a dangerous person abroad could not go abroad, like Andrei Sakharov. The Nobel Prize was awarded to his wife, Elena Bonner, who read out her husband's lecture on "Peace, Progress and Human Rights". Again, Sakharov, through the lips of his wife, exposed all the imperfections of political power and the situation as a whole both in the USSR and throughout the world.

Deprivation of rewards and reference

The last straw that overflowed 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, the academician was deprived of all awards, including the title of thrice Hero of Socialist Labor in January 1980.

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

Being in exile, the scientist saw the only way to fight injustice perpetual hunger strikes. But he was placed in a hospital and fed forcibly.

Return and Rehabilitation

With the onset of perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev, who was in power, allowed Sakharov to return and continue his scientific work. Sakharov resumed his speeches with an appeal 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.

Constant struggle against the limitations of the existing political regime and exhausting years of exile severely undermined Sakharov's health. After regular disputes and vain attempts to prove his rightness from a heart attack at home, the great scientist and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov died. 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 are invaluable.

Sakharov's Prize "For Freedom of Thought"

The foreign scientific community, the political elite, as well as the population of Western countries, appreciated the importance of Sakharov's convictions and the depth of his contribution to the worldwide 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, even during the life of the scientist, in 1988, approved the Sakharov Prize "For Freedom of Thought". The award is given annually in December and amounts to 50 thousand euros. The Sakharov Prize can be awarded for achievements in any of the following areas of human rights activities:

• Protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
• Protection of minority rights;
• Respect for international law;
• The development of democratic processes and the confirmation of the primacy of the letter of the law.

Laureates of the prize "For Freedom of Thought"

The first laureates to whom the Sakharov Prize was awarded were the South African wrestler with the apartheid N. Mandela and the Soviet political prisoner A. Marchenko.

In subsequent years, the Andrei Sakharov Prize was awarded to the Argentinean organization "Mother of the Square of May" (1992), the 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 activity is to uphold human rights and freedoms.

Human rights organization "Memorial"

In 2009, the year of the twentieth anniversary of the death of Alexander Sakharov, the European Parliament awarded a peace prize to the human rights organization Memorial. It is noteworthy that one of the founders of this organization and the first chairman at that time of a very small society was Academician Sakharov. "Memorial" fully absorbed all Sakharov's ideas about the predominant role of human rights, and especially intellectual freedom for the possibility of progressive development of the whole world.

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

Modern laureates of the award "For Freedom of Thought"

In 2013, former CIA agent E. Snowden and Belarusian political prisoners were nominated for the award, and Sakharov was awarded the fifteen-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malale Yusufzai, who waged an unequal fight with the Taliban and with the entire system for the right of her compatriots to attend school. From the age of eleven, Malala maintained a blog for the Air Force, which described in detail the difficulties of her life and the attitude of the Taliban towards the education of girls.

In 2014, the Sakharov Prize was awarded to Denis Mukvege, a gynecologist from the Congo. The attention of the European Parliament was attracted by the fact that he organized a center in his country where psychological and medical assistance to victims of sexual violence is provided.

Another Sakharov Prize

In 2001, an entrepreneur and human rights activist, Peter Vince, born in Kiev in 1956, established the Andrei Sakharov Russian Award "For journalism as an act". The chairman of the jury of this award is the writer, film director and human rights defender A. Simonov, and the remaining panel of judges is made up of well-known Russian sociologists, journalists and human rights advocates. A number of journalists from Spain, the United States and Austria participate in the selection of laureates.

Sakharov's Prize "For journalism as an act" is presented to the Russian authors of materials defending in their work those values and ideals for which Sakharov fought, which made this his vital position.

In 2012, the prize was awarded to Viktor Shostko, a special correspondent for the Rostov newspaper Peasant. He drew the attention of the public and the jury of the contest with his journalistic investigation of the sensational case of mass killings in the village of Kuschevskaya, Rostov Region.

In other years, famous Russian journalists became Tatnea Sedykh, Elvira Goriukhina, Galina Kovalskaya, Anna Politkovskaya and others.

Sakharov is an outstanding man who, thirty years ago, warned about the world problems observed today. He tirelessly tried to show the ruling forces the right ways out of the economic and political crisis. In the photo, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov can often be seen with eyes burning with inner idea. This luminary of Russian thought left to its descendants in its works a well of political wisdom.