Andrei Sacharov

Why an honorary doctorate? 

Andrei Sakharov was very significant to freedom within the Soviet Union and on a larger social level. That is why he received an honorary doctorate from VUB in 1985.

East, West, Freedom Best

In 1985, freedom fighter and scientist Andrei Sakharov received an honorary doctorate from VUB. The choice to laud him was determined, among other things, by what was happening at the social and political level in his most active years. The Cold War was a constant threat in Europe during those years, between 1960 and 1989. VUB showed a strong commitment to scientists who were given too little freedom or dared to denounce abuses. As did Sakharov, a humanitarian hero and champion of free speech. A critical spirit with democratic roots: a personification of the VUB core values.

These were bold words, echoing in a Communist society where government and police were keeping a watchful eye on everyone's opinion. But Andrei Sakharov spoke - and would not be silenced - when it came to his ideals. Freedom of speech means listening to one's own mind and that of others. Profound thoughts and ideas only grow on and out of (the ground of) intellectual independence. Debate is the platform where opinions meet and - preferably - can embrace, regardless of questions of inequality. 

About his career

The bomb

Inventor of the RDS-37, the first hydrogen bomb developed by the Soviet Union.

Humanitarian

He stood guard in front of closed courtrooms and wrote on behalf of prisoners.

East, West, Freedom best

Instead of leaving the Soviet Union, Sakharov took up arms against one of the most dangerous authoritarian systems the world has ever seen.

1975. The Nobel Peace Prize

1985: The Elliot Cressan Medal

1989: Elected member of the Russian parliament

Humanitarian scientist

21 May 1921 Andrei Sakharov is born in Moscow. He grows up in a prominent family; his father is a teacher, his mother the great-granddaughter of an important military commander, his grandfather is a lawyer. It is the latter, who among other things advocated the abolition of the death penalty, that would later influence Andrei. 

Sakharov turns out to be a beautiful mind. He goes on to study at the university, where he later earns his doctorate. The Second World War is over and he starts researching cosmic rays. It is 1948 when he takes part in the Soviet atomic bomb project.

1950: Andrei Sakharov plays a key role in the development of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb. His design is known in Russia as Sakharov's third idea. Even if the results are initially somewhat disappointing, the design turns out to be more than worth building on. His RDS-37 is first tested in 1955. 

We are in 1965 and Sakharov returns to particle physics and physical cosmology. He is conducting pioneering research. Yet since the late 1950s, he has been concerned about the moral and political implications of his work. He is politically active in the 1960s. He speaks out against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and calls for an end to atmospheric testing.  

1964. The Academy of Sciences, of which he is a member, nominates scientist Nikolai Nuzhdi for full membership. Sakharov publicly speaks out against this and holds him responsible for the slander, dismissal and even death of many real scientists. The man is not elected, but Sakharov does have the KGB (Soviet Union's secret service) on his back. Party leader Khrushchev orders compromising material to be collected on Sakharov.

1967. On the issue of ballistic missile defence - an important point in US-Soviet relations - Sakharov writes a secret letter to the Soviet leaders. He asks them to take the Americans at their word. He wants to reduce the chances of nuclear war. Sakharov asks permission to publish his words in the newspaper, but the government ignores both his writing and his request. 

In 1968, Sakharov circulates his essay on the threat of antiballistic missile defence. His essay also spreads beyond the national borders. Sakharov is no longer allowed to conduct military-related research. 

Andrei Sakharov takes on the role of a recognised and open dissident in Moscow. He keeps watch on closed courtrooms, writes on behalf of prisoners and publishes essays on the need for democratisation. In 1970, together with two others, he founds the Committee for Human Rights in the USSR. The organisation joins several international human rights organisations. Sakharov meets with Western correspondents and maintains links with the US Congress. He is a thorn in the side of the leaders of the Soviet Union.

He describes his country as one of totalitarian suppression of dissent, an authoritarian power structure, with no public scrutiny of important domestic and/or foreign decisions, a society that does not inform its citizens and shuts them off from the outside world, with no freedom of travel or exchange of information.

Yet Sakharov does not consider himself to be some kind of prophet; he simply calls himself a man with an unusual destiny. When he receives the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, he is not allowed to leave the Soviet Union to receive it. It is his wife who reads his speech at the ceremony in Oslo. Sakharov writes in the speech that he shares his prize with the political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in the USSR. 

On 22 January 1980, Sakharov is exiled to Gorky because he had earlier publicly protested against the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. He is under police surveillance for the next six years. House searches and raids are frequent. And that despite the fact that the American Humanist Association proclaimed him Humanist of the Year...

In the years that follow, Sakharov goes on hunger strike twice and is in isolation for months. It is 1985 when the European Parliament establishes the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. A year later, Sakharov receives a telephone call from Gorbachev: he and his wife (who had also been exiled in the meantime) may return to Moscow.  

1989. Andrei Sakharov is elected to the new Parliament and leads the democratic opposition. On 14 December, when he goes to take a nap before preparing an important speech for the congress, a cardiac arrhythmia kills him.

In several places in the world, buildings, monuments, museums, and streets are named after him. He wrote books, articles, and gave interviews. Andrei Sakharov was a memorable man.