- published: 16 Jan 2012
- views: 3897
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (Russian: Андре́й Дми́триевич Са́харов; May 21, 1921 – December 14, 1989) was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist.
He gained renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. The Sakharov Prize, which is awarded annually by the European Parliament for people and organizations dedicated to human rights and freedoms, is named in his honor.
Sakharov was born in Moscow on May 21, 1921. His father was Dmitri Ivanovich Sakharov, a private school physics teacher and an amateur pianist. His father later taught at the Second Moscow State University. Dmitri's grandfather Ivan had been a prominent lawyer in Tsarist Russia who had displayed respect for social awareness and humanitarian principles (including advocating the abolition of capital punishment) that would later influence his grandson. Sakharov's mother was Yekaterina Alekseyevna Sakharova (née Sofianos and of Greek ancestry). His parents and his paternal grandmother, Maria Petrovna, largely shaped Sakharov's personality. Although his paternal great-grandfather had been a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church, and his pious mother did have him baptised, his father was an atheist and religion did not play an important role in his life, though he did believe that a non-scientific "guiding principle" governed the universe and human life.
Actors: Carl Davis (composer), Renée Glynne (miscellaneous crew), Tom Wilkinson (actor), Glenda Jackson (actress), Lee Montague (actor), Jack Gold (director), Ron Donachie (actor), Anna Massey (actress), Frank Finlay (actor), Jason Robards (actor), Paul Freeman (actor), Derek Lyons (actor), Anton Lesser (actor), Keith Palmer (editor), Sarah Lucraft (miscellaneous crew),
Plot: Biography of Russian physicist & dissident Andrei Sakharov focuses on his first acts in his civil rights movement to his receiving the Nobel Peace prize. Sakharov's actions first caused him to lose a senior party position, then half his salary, and finally completely being dismissed from his job and exiled to Gorky, an industrial city. When the Nobel prize is awarded, he is denied the trip to receive it. His wife was able to go there. Sakharov launched a lengthy hunger strike to protest his country's treatment of its people.
Genres: Biography, Drama,