NOMINEE: Andrei Sakharov
NOMINATED BY: Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia
For me this scientist, thinker and humanist is
the Person of the Century. He was not a professional politician,
but heads of state and the world's leading politicians paid
attention to his words. Sakharov was an instrumental member of
the team that created the [Soviet] hydrogen bomb, but he was
also one of the first people to realize the danger posed to
humanity by nuclear weapons. Moved by his conscience and his
ethical convictions, academician Sakharov dared to publicly
challenge the all-powerful machine of the totalitarian state. In
the hardest years of the Soviet system, he was not afraid to
raise his voice in defense of the oppressed and persecuted. He
helped many of us take a new look at our own country and at the
way we live. I knew him personally, and he influenced my views.
Sakharov was the real spiritual father of democratic change in
Russia. I am intensely aware of how much we miss his wisdom,
firmness and humanity today. I am grateful to fate that I had
the chance to know Andrei Dmitriyevich and work alongside him.
--Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia
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