Sakharov scholarship fund established in Russia (translated from Russian).
The fund will award The Andrei Sakharov Scholarships to the students of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Physics Department of the Moscow State University
MOSCOW, May 26, 2021 / TASS /. The fund named after the Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov aims to support science and education in Russia and was established with the help of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
“In the days of celebrating the 100th anniversary of Andrei Sakharov – the outstanding scientist and Nobel laureate, the Russian Academy of Sciences announces that a specialized legal entity called The Andrei Sakharov Science Endowment Fund has been established with the participation and assistance of the academy,” the Russian Academy of Sciences told TASS.
The academy added that the goal of the fund is to contribute to the development of science and education in Russia through financial and professional support of students as well as strengthening cooperation and ties between leading universities and scientific laboratories around the world.
Every year the fund will award on a competitive basis The Andrei Sakharov Scholarships to the students and graduate students of the Physics Department of the Moscow State University (MSU) and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in the amount of 25,000 rubles per month.
The competition will be run by universities and the final list of winners will be approved by the Board of Trustees of the fund. The Board of Trustees consists of renowned scientists, including two Nobel Prize winners in physics – Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov and is headed by the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeev. The first Andrei Sakharov Scholars will be announced in September, 2021.
According to the Russian Academy of Sciences, the current capital of the fund is 100,000,000 rubles. This amount is expected to double in the near future. Norilsk Nickel and Sberbank were among the first companies to make donations to the fund. The fund was also supported by Arkady Volozh (Yandex) and several other entrepreneurs. In addition, some well-known graduates of MIPT and MSU, including Serguei Beloussov (Acronis) and David Yang (ABBYY) contributed to the fund.
Andrei Sakharov was born in Moscow on May 21, 1921. He was one of the creators of the world’s first hydrogen bomb (RDS-6s) as well as the most powerful hydrogen bomb in history. For his scientific activities he was awarded the title of the Hero of Socialist Labor three times (1954, 1956, 1962), but in the 1980s he was stripped of all his titles for his human rights work. He vehemently protested against nuclear tests and use of military force and was one of the organizers and leaders of the human rights movement in the former USSR. He also spoke out for the abolition of the death penalty, the right to emigrate, and against the compulsory treatment of dissidents in psychiatric hospitals. In 1975 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his fight for human rights.