Pyotr Kapitza, octogenarian dissident
DOI: 10.1063/1.2995732
Some years ago, at a Pugwash Conference, four of the five Soviet academicians present signed a condemnation of Andrei Sakharov for his political utterances. The fifth, Pyotr L. Kapitza, would not sign. Kapitza—the dean of Soviet science, winner of two Stalin prizes, four times awarded the Order of Lenin and last year awarded the Nobel Prize—had previously played Sakharov’s role as the most outspoken Soviet scientist. In fact, he was also thought to have played Sakharov’s role as father of the Soviet H bomb. Nobel Laureates are usually known solely for their work; a small number, however, are known as much for their personalities or the circumstances under which they worked. Kapitza is one of the latter. Most scientists have seen abstracts of his life, but few are familiar with the entire article.
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More about the Authors
Grace Marmor Spruch. Newark Campus of Rutgers University.
