Memoirs (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Andrei Sakharov
- First Published: 1990
- Type of Work: Memoir
- Time of Work: The twentieth century
- Setting: The Soviet Union
- Principal Characters: Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, Ekaterina sofiano Sakrarov, Dmitri Sakharov, Klavdia “Klava” Vikhireva, Elena “Lusia” Georgievna Bonner, Joseph Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev, Roy Medvedev, Zhores Medvedev
- Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir
- Subjects: Twentieth century, Human rights, Science or scientists, Nobel Prizes, Peace, Nuclear warfare or weapons, Soviet Union or Soviets, Dissent or dissenters, Hydrogen bomb, Nuclear physics
- Locales: Soviet Union
At the center of Andrei Sakharov’s life lies a paradox. Known for decades as the moral and intellectual leader of the liberal dissidents in the Soviet Union, he was also the “father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb.” For Sakharov, developing the hydrogen bomb represented the highest kind of scientific challenge and an opportunity to do “superb physics.” “The physics of atomic and thermonuclear explosions,” he observed, “is a genuine theoretician’s paradise.”
Yet, it was more than theoretical physics that attracted Sakharov to the development of nuclear weapons. In...
[The entire page is 2143 words long]
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