9th October 1975
(read time: 2 mins.)
Andrei Sakharov watched with horror as the nuclear arms race built momentum. Mutually assured destruction was now a reality. He called for peace, for an end to the arms race and greater respect for human rights. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 9 October 1975.
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov…
…was born in Moscow in May 1921. This was the period when the Bolshevik Revolution was taking hold and the Russian Empire’s citizens were coming to terms with a new reality.
Sakharov was a proud citizen. He worked hard throughout his education while Stalin was tightening his grip on the expanding USSR. In 1942, Andrei graduated with honours in Physics from Moscow State University and was recruited to support development of the hydrogen bomb.
As a Soviet patriot, Andrei believed that America’s monopoly on nuclear weapons should be broken. In 1953, the Soviets test-launched their first hydrogen bomb. The Soviets rewarded Sacharov with election to the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
He was only 32 years old.
Then everything changed.
