Science in the 1970s and 1980s has come to be linked closely to the unsettling matter of human rights and international accountability. Andrei Sakharov contributed to this development by relying very substantially on his colleagues in North America and Western Europe in his battles to free Soviet society. He understood---as they themselves sometimes did not---to what degree the prestige of the Soviet Union's own military-industrial complex depended not only on the West's concrete achievements in science and technology, but on the political positions its scientists adopted in the Cold War. Hence this particular study, the purpose of which is to determine the historical significance of Sakharov's drive against the Soviet regime in the light of the reaction of his scientific colleagues in the West. / Before 1968, Sakharov was known to a handful of Western scientists as the father of the Soviet H-Bomb, which partly accounts for the fact that many had doubts not only on the genuine nature of his reflections, issued that year, but on Sakharov's very existence. His deportation to Gorky in January 1980 undermined the hawks and sceptics in the West, and turned him into a global figure, characterized by original thinking, self-denial, legitimacy of purpose and undisputed moral authority. It did so on the basis of liberal philosophical principles with which most Western scientists found themselves in accord. Having reached an unprecedented level, their protests would play a crucial role in Sakharov's release by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986. / This, however, came at a price---the boycott of scientific exchanges with the Soviet Union which was the ultimate gesture of solidarity with the cause Sakharov represented. For many scientists this was a soul-wrenching choice, made in the face of persuasive arguments for maintaining open relations with the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Nevertheless, due to its exceptional symbolism, Sakharov's exile even legitimized the concept of boycott for the more important national scientific societies in the West---which only shortly prior to 1980 were still reluctant to condone any sign even of public protest. / This study makes use of previously unexplored material such as that of the Committee of Scientists for Sakharov, Orlov, and Shcharansky at the University of California in Berkeley. It also relies heavily on accounts by the latter and other scientists in the United States, France and Great Britain who took part in some of the events described, among them legendary figures such as Edward Teller and Henri Cartan. In reminding us of the ordeal once Buffered by Galileo and J. R. Oppenheimer, this dissertation concludes with the untimely death of Sakharov, which defined the future course of perestroika and dealt a blow to the cause of human rights.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.36052 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Rhéaume, Charles. |
| Contributors | Boss, Valentin J. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of History.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001686737, proquestno: NQ55373, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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