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Jay Bergman arguesthat policemen and scientists “were the Soviet citizens the Soviet leadershipneeded most.” Among the latter group, physicists won the greatest autonomy,both for the abstract nature of their work and its practical application innuclear weapons. In his deeply researched and largely laudatory account ofAndrei Sakharov, the father of the Soviet H-bomb turned prominent dissident,Bergman writes that while most physicists never joined Sakharov in vocallychampioning human rights, they were always in opposition to Soviet oppression.When Communist officials denounced quantum mechanics for violating the tenetsof Marxism, the physicists carried on anyway. Sakharov gets high marks for his moralconsistency on civil rights for anyone oppressed because of their beliefs orethnicity and his courage for pressing the regime to loosen its grip onsociety.
