Andrei Sakharov; The Conscience of Humanity

Drell, Sidney D. (Editor) and Shultz, George P. (Editor)

ISBN 10: 0817918957 / ISBN 13: 9780817918958

Published by Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 2015

About this Item

xxiii, [1], 164, [4] pages. Illustrated front cover. Notes. Conference Agenda. Index. Among the contributors are: Serge Schmemann, Bryan Hebir, Willing Swing, Raymond Jeanloz, Lucy Shapiro, Elizabeth Holmes, Christopher Stubbs, James Ellis, James Mattis, David Holloway, and James Goodby. Among the issues raised were: Environmental Effects, Nuclear War, Infectious Disease, Disruptive Technologies, Ethics, and Moral Reasoning. Sidney David Drell (September 13, 1926 - December 21, 2016) was an American theoretical physicist and arms control expert. He was professor emeritus at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Drell was a noted contributor in the fields of quantum electrodynamics and high-energy particle physics. The Drell-Yan process is partially named for him. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1949. He co-authored the textbooks Relativistic Quantum Mechanics and Relativistic Quantum Fields with James Bjorken. Drell was active as a scientific advisor to the U.S. government, and was a founding member of the JASON Defense Advisory Group. He was an expert in nuclear arms control and cofounder of the Center for International Security and Arms Control, now the Center for International Security and Cooperation. George Pratt Shultz (December 13, 1920 - February 6, 2021) was an American economist, diplomat, and businessman. He is one of only two people to have held four different Cabinet-level posts. He played a major role in shaping the Reagan Administration's foreign policy. Andrei Sakharov holds an honored place in the pantheon of the world's greatest scientists, reformers, and champions of human rights. But his embrace of human rights did not come through a sudden conversion; he came to it in stages. Drawing from a 2014 Hoover Institution conference focused on Sakharov's life and principles, this book tells the compelling story of his metamorphosis from a distinguished physical scientist into a courageous, outspoken dissident humanitarian voice. His extraordinary life saw him go from playing the leading role in designing and building the most powerful thermonuclear weapon (the so-called hydrogen bomb) ever exploded to demanding an end to the testing of such weapons and their eventual elimination. The essays detail his transformation, as he appealed first to his scientific colleagues abroad and then to mankind at large, for solidarity in resolving the growing threats to human survival, many of which stemmed from science and technology. Ultimately, the distinguished contributors show how the work and thinking of this eminent Russian nuclear physicist and courageous human rights campaigner can help find solutions to the nuclear threats of today.

Seller Inventory # 84099

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Andrei Sakharov; The Conscience of Humanity
• Publisher: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0817918957
• ISBN 13: 9780817918958
• Binding: Trade paperback
• Edition: First Printing [Stated].
• Condition: Very good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Human Rights
  • Nuclear Weapons

About this title

Synopsis

Andrei Sakharov holds an honored place in the pantheon of the world’s greatest scientists, reformers, and champions of human rights. But his embrace of human rights did not come through a sudden conversion; he came to it in stages. Drawing from a 2014 Hoover Institution conference focused on Sakharov’s life and principles, this book tells the compelling story of his metamorphosis from a distinguished physical scientist into a courageous, outspoken dissident humanitarian voice. His extraordinary life saw him go from playing the leading role in designing and building the most powerful thermonuclear weapon (the so-called hydrogen bomb) ever exploded to demanding an end to the testing of such weapons and their eventual elimination. The essays detail his transformation, as he appealed first to his scientific colleagues abroad and then tomankind at large, for solidarity in resolving the growing threats to human survival—many of which stemmed from science and technology. Ultimately, the distinguished contributors show how the work and thinking of this eminent Russian nuclear physicist and courageous human rights campaigner can help find solutions to the nuclear threats of today.

About the Author

Sidney D. Drell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and professor of theoretical physics emeritus at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, USA.

George P. Shultz, the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution, has had a distinguished career in government, in academia, and in business.