Historical Nobel Peace Prize Laureates: Andrei Sakharov

2025 marks fifty years since Andrei Sakharov received the Nobel Peace Prize. This means that the archive containing information of the nomination and election of this Soviet scientist and activist can now be opened. What lies within why is the prize to Sakharov still relevant?

This evening, we were visited by Morten Jentoft, former foreign correspondent and longtime Moscow correspondent for NRK, and Bjørn Helge Vangen, Chief Librarian at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. The conversation was moderated by Kjersti Fløgstad, Director of the Nobel Peace Center.

All material regarding the nomination and awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize is held in secrecy for fifty years. Only now can we read the nomination letters from 1975 when the renowned Soviet scientist and activist Andrei Sakharov received the peace prize.

After World War II, physicist Sakharov contributed to the development of a Soviet hydrogen bomb. However, he later warned that the arms race could lead to disaster, and in the 1960s and 70s, he became a strong critic of the Soviet system.

The authorities did not allow him to travel to Oslo to receive the peace prize, and he had to spend many years in exile. Who nominated him, and who else was nominated that year? Why was he considered an enemy of the Soviet state? And are there any parallels between Sakharov’s story and the current situation of human rights defenders in today's Russia? These are some of the questions we address.

With:

• Morten Jentoft, former foreign correspondent and longtime Moscow correspondent for NRK.
• Bjørn Helge Vangen, Chief Librarian at the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
• Kjersti Fløgstad, Director of the Nobel Peace Center as the moderator.