We are disappointed that Physics Today would publish an alleged book review (July 2016, page 61) by Alexei Kojevnikov of Andrei Sakharov: The Conscience of Humanity, which was edited by us and includes papers presented at a conference in December 2014. Kojevnikov’s piece was not a review of the book at all, but an exposition of his own flawed personal interpretation of Sakharov’s life and views. Worse, the reviewer slurs the book’s essays by maintaining, falsely, that they use Sakharov’s views on human rights to justify recent wars. Kojevnikov misrepresents both the essays and Sakharov’s own ideas and the ways in which they continually evolved. He did not provide a single citation from the essays to support his description. The editors of Physics Today were remiss in trusting—but not verifying—his outrageous claims.
An accurate statement of Sakharov’s views can be gained by reading his own writing. One example is his “Open Letter to Anatoly Aleksandrov, President of the USSR Academy of Sciences,” which reads in part,
I am convinced that the prevention of thermonuclear war is our most important problem and must take absolute priority over all other issues. The resolution of that problem involves politics, economics, the creation of international trust among open societies, the unconditional observance of fundamental civil and political rights, and disarmament.
Disarmament, especially nuclear disarmament, is mankind’s most important task.1
[Editor’s note: With sadness we inform our readers that Sidney Drell died on 21 December 2016.]
