Andrei Sakharov

Andrei Sakharov
Андрей Сахаров
Sakharov in March 1989
Born	(1921-05-21)21 May 1921 Moscow, Russia
Died	14 December 1989(1989-12-14) (aged 68) Moscow, Soviet Union
Resting place	Vostryakovskoye Cemetery
Alma mater	Moscow State University Lebedev Physical Institute
Known for	RDS-37 Soviet nuclear program Tsar Bomba Explosively pumped flux compression generator Electromagnetic pulse Tokamak Muon-catalyzed fusion Sakharov conditions Induced gravity Proton decay Dissidence Human rights activism Sakharov Prize
Spouses	Klavdia Vikhireva (1943–1969; her death) Yelena Bonner (1972–1989; his death)
Awards	Hero of Socialist Labor (1953, 1955, 1962) Stalin Prize (1953) Lenin Prize (1956) Prix mondial Cino Del Duca (1974) Nobel Peace Prize (1975) Elliott Cresson Medal (1985)
Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Thesis	Теория ядерных переходов типа 0→0 (1947)
Doctoral advisor	Igor Tamm

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (Russian: Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров; 21 May 1921 – 14 December 1989) was a Soviet physicist and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world.

Although he spent his career in physics in the Soviet program of nuclear weapons, overseeing the development of thermonuclear weapons, Sakharov also did fundamental work in understanding particle physics, magnetism, and physical cosmology. Sakharov is mostly known for his political activism for individual freedom, human rights, civil liberties and reforms in the Soviet Union, for which he was deemed a dissident and faced persecution from the Soviet establishment.^{[1][better source needed]}

In his memory, the Sakharov Prize was established and is awarded annually by the European Parliament for people and organizations dedicated to human rights and freedoms.^[2]