h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Andrei Sakharov: the USSR, the H-Bomb, and Human Rights - A697746
Author: Belshazzar, Keeper of The Writing On The Wall and All Graffiti - U188050

A peek behind the Iron Curtain.

Brilliant entry.

I agree , a very thorough and intreging enry.

Indeed! I didn't even find a typo!

of course, it fails to mention sakharov's work on muon catalyzed fusion for space drives which could be very important to the future of space travel.

here is a link.

http://www.zpower.net/documents/Outline_SpaceDrive.htm

Of course, how could we forget muon catalyzed fusion!
Awu

A very interesting point.

S wrote influential papers on various other topics. Example: cosmology, where he put forward two highly innovative proposals.

The first dealt with a strange cosmological asymmetry between ordinary matter and anti-matter. S connected this with a deviation from symmetry in the microscopic world. He predicted that proton decay would result in an asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the swiftly expanding superdense gas that made up the early universe. Experiments are still going on in this area.

S's other proposal attempted to explain gravitation as originating from properties that the theory of quantum physics suggests would be found even in empty space -- the quantum vacuum. Again, still a huge subject.

S had also got into genetics through his estimates of the biological effects of radioactivity, and greatly contributed to a full political rehabilitation of genetics and molecular biology in the Soviet Union.

Or so I'm told.

Well done! You've given us a first rate Entry, which provides us with a clear, concise, and moving portrait of a great man. As has been mentioned, there is obviously a lot more that one could say about his contribution to science; but that would come at the expense of the balance of your Entry. On the other hand, and at the risk of revealing my personal bias, it would be worthwhile, I think, to mention the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

If this Entry were to fall into my in-tray this afternoon, I would return it in time to be picked as the Editor's Selection for tomorrow... which would be a shame, because it deserves a spot on the front page through the weekend, at least.

JTG

Thanks very much, John. Actually there's a whole lot more to be said about lots of things around Sakharov, and the whole question of human rights in the USSR, which is very difficult for Westerners who have no inside knowledge to understand, and often beggars belief, as I am sure you are well aware. Of course a 3000 word article can only skim the surface - that hardly needs saying. But, incredibly, I couldn't find anything in h2g2 about life behind the Iron Curtain, so this is a start. There's so much more.

Regarding the Prize, yes John, it does get a mention. You'll find it under the header 'Exile', third para, where it says:

"Also during this period the European Parliament was in clandestine contact with him and set up a Sakharov Prize to be awarded each year for services to human rights and freedom of thought. Notable recipients of this prize include Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi."

Sorry I didn't mention Ngawang Sangdrol, I just picked the two names I thought the majority of hikers would be most familiar with.

Oops... I must have had something in my eye when I read that bit.

Although Ngawang Sangdrol was nominated for the prize, which raised a storm of protest from the PRC, it was ultimately awarded to Basta Ya.

Yes, right, I knew there must have been a good reason not to mention Ngawang Sangdrol

Something in your eye?

I just thought I'd add my support for this entry. No nitpicks - beautifully written. Would get my vote!

I agree, very good entry.

Small nitpick that I'm not sure is even correct: the KGB is mentioned in connection with their surveilance of S, while he was in internal exile. Are you sure it was the KGB, which I gathered was the organ for outside the SU, and not the NKVD (or possibly NVKD, can't remember the acronym), which I thought was the internal one?

At that time it was the KGB, not any of its predecessors. They were everywhere.

In general, a very fine Entry. I just feel that here and there you've lapsed into some rather Cold War-ish phraseology to describe the old Soviet regime: e.g. 'the repressive nature of the Communist regime', 'the iron grip of the Soviet system', and 'Champagne, vodka and caviare flowed in the Kremlin' (how do you know?)

You have complained in another PR thread about someone, in your view, using loaded and emotive language when discussing capitalism. It looks to me as if you're sometimes doing that when discussing communism.

I take it you are referring to my contribution to the PR thread on World Debt. But that is not a discussion of capitalism. It even contains a warning to Socialists to beware of taxing the rich. So I don't feel your analogy is valid, and anyway this is not the forum in which to discuss those interesting questions.

I am not sure why you take exception to the remark about champagne and vodka. In military terms the test was a great success, the Soviet top brass were known to be delighted, and why not? Sakharov was no doubt delighted too. No doubt the Americans toasted similar 'successes' with champagne and bourbon. I just hope the Soviets weren't celebrating with Russian beer (yuk) or that dreadful Georgian thick red wine. I was just trying to paint a picture of joy at the highest levels and S being rewarded accordingly. Maybe they had pickled mushrooms.

Nor was my entry a discussion of communism. That topic would require an entry or three all to itself. It is indeed true to say that the passing of Soviet communism is greatly deplored by some. But repression was endemic in the system. As with the death penalty for what we in the West would hardly consider capital crimes, and the Gulag system, and so on, communists may seek to excuse that or try to justify it, but the truth is out and they can no longer deny it, any more than we in the West would try to deny that we used to have slavery, or deportation for sheep-stealing. In fact they have now admitted that such 'mistakes' were made in the past. That's my view, you are entitled to disagree. Do you?

Personally, no - and I unequivocally abhor the death penalty. But words like 'repressive' are clearly value-judgemental, and Edited Guide entries are meant to be as impartial as possible. I didn't like the 'champagne and vodka' bit because it reminded of the sort of rhetoric you used to get in the right-wing press about evil, gloating Commie tyrants before the (welcome, as far as I'm concerned) fall of the Berlin Wall. That's all.

Oh come on, Ormondroyd! It was a repressive regime. That's not opinion, it's fact. The whole system was based on state control. You did what you were told. You lived where you were told. You worked where you were told. You were jailed, or worse, for speaking out of turn. And so on. I can quote countless examples. OK, debate if you will whether that sort of system is good or bad, but if you are trying to claim it wasn't repressive I think you'll have a hard row to hoe.

And don't forget, I took care to debunk the Western stereotype image of evil Soviet scientists, because it just wasn't like that, and I said so.

So are you trying to say that the East German authorities were kind and genial Commie liberals? I don't recall even the left-wing free press claiming that.

Hi, Belshazzar!

This is a wonderful entry. I'm still rather staggered by Ormondroyd's suggestion that calling the Soviet regime 'repressive' is in danger of breaching the guidelines! I certainly feel that your entry is balanced and objective.

Azara