Yuri Orlov
Encyclopedia
Yuri Feodorovich Orlov is Professor of Physics and Government at Cornell University
,
a prominent nuclear
physicist
, a former Soviet
dissident
, and a human rights
activist.
During his childhood, in the 1930s, Orlov witnessed the destruction of his home village by Stalinist collectivisation in the USSR
.
After World War II
he worked at the Moscow Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics
, from which he was fired in 1956 for his human rights
activism. He was sent into "soft exile" in Armenia
, where in the early 1970s he led Particle accelerator
projects at the Yerevan
Physics Institute.
Upon his return to Moscow in 1973 he worked at the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism and Propagation of Radio Waves
in suburban Troitsk
, whilst at the same time publicly supporting Andrei Sakharov
and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
. In 1976, to the further displeasure of the authorities, he founded the Moscow Helsinki Group
to monitor Soviet adherence to the 1975 Helsinki human rights accords
.
In 1977, Orlov was sentenced and incarcerated for almost ten years. In July 1983, the Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky
sent a letter
asking for the release of Orlov to Austria
, but it was intentionally left without an answer
.
Orlov was freed in 1986, only to be stripped of his Soviet citizenship and deported to the United States
as a part of the exchange for a Soviet spy.
Since December 1986 Orlov has pursued his physics research at Cornell University
.
A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
, Orlov studies particle accelerator
design, beam interaction analysis and quantum mechanics
. He has authored numerous research papers, articles on human rights, and an autobiography, Dangerous Thoughts (1991).
In 1995 the American Physical Society
awarded him the Nicholson Medal for Humanitarian Service.
In 2005 Orlov participated in "They Chose Freedom
", a four-part television documentary on the history of the Soviet dissident movement. In 2005 he was named the first recipient of the 2006 Andrei Sakharov Prize, awarded biennially by the American Physical Society
to honor scientists for exceptional work in promoting human rights.
.
He is a member of the Human Rights Watch
Asia Advisory and Academic Freedom Committees, and member of the Honorary 25th Anniversary Committee, Global Rights
.
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
,
a prominent nuclear
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, a former Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
, and a human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist.
During his childhood, in the 1930s, Orlov witnessed the destruction of his home village by Stalinist collectivisation in the USSR
Collectivisation in the USSR
Collectivization in the Soviet Union was a policy pursued under Stalin between 1928 and 1940. The goal of this policy was to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms...
.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he worked at the Moscow Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics
Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics
The Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics is located in Moscow, Russia as a MinAtom physical institute....
, from which he was fired in 1956 for his human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activism. He was sent into "soft exile" in Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, where in the early 1970s he led Particle accelerator
Particle accelerator
A particle accelerator is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams. An ordinary CRT television set is a simple form of accelerator. There are two basic types: electrostatic and oscillating field accelerators.In...
projects at the Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
Physics Institute.
Upon his return to Moscow in 1973 he worked at the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism and Propagation of Radio Waves
IZMIRAN
Institute of Earth magnetism, ionosphere and radiowaves propagation named after Nikolay Pushkov of the Russian Academy of Sciences or IZMIRAN for short - is a scientific institution of RAS founded in 1939 on the basis of the General Magnetic Survey Bureau and Pavlovskaya Magnetic Observatory of...
in suburban Troitsk
Troitsk, Moscow Oblast
Troitsk is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Desna River southwest of Moscow on the Kaluzhskoye Highway. Population: 39,874 ; 32,653 ;...
, whilst at the same time publicly supporting Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
. In 1976, to the further displeasure of the authorities, he founded the Moscow Helsinki Group
Moscow Helsinki Group
The Moscow Helsinki Group is an influential human rights monitoring non-governmental organization, originally established in what was then the Soviet Union; it still operates in Russia....
to monitor Soviet adherence to the 1975 Helsinki human rights accords
Helsinki Accords
thumb|300px|[[Erich Honecker]] and [[Helmut Schmidt]] in Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe held in Helsinki 1975....
.
In 1977, Orlov was sentenced and incarcerated for almost ten years. In July 1983, the Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky
Bruno Kreisky
Bruno Kreisky was an Austrian politician who served as Foreign Minister from 1959 to 1966 and as Chancellor from 1970 to 1983. Aged 72 at the end of his chancellorship, he was the oldest acting Chancellor after World War II....
sent a letter
asking for the release of Orlov to Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, but it was intentionally left without an answer
.
Orlov was freed in 1986, only to be stripped of his Soviet citizenship and deported to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a part of the exchange for a Soviet spy.
Since December 1986 Orlov has pursued his physics research at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
.
A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, Orlov studies particle accelerator
Particle accelerator
A particle accelerator is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams. An ordinary CRT television set is a simple form of accelerator. There are two basic types: electrostatic and oscillating field accelerators.In...
design, beam interaction analysis and quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
. He has authored numerous research papers, articles on human rights, and an autobiography, Dangerous Thoughts (1991).
In 1995 the American Physical Society
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
awarded him the Nicholson Medal for Humanitarian Service.
In 2005 Orlov participated in "They Chose Freedom
They Chose Freedom
They Chose Freedom is a four-part TV documentary on the history of political dissent in the USSR from the 1950s to the 1990s. It was produced in 2005 by Vladimir V...
", a four-part television documentary on the history of the Soviet dissident movement. In 2005 he was named the first recipient of the 2006 Andrei Sakharov Prize, awarded biennially by the American Physical Society
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
to honor scientists for exceptional work in promoting human rights.
.
He is a member of the Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
Asia Advisory and Academic Freedom Committees, and member of the Honorary 25th Anniversary Committee, Global Rights
Global Rights
Founded in 1978, Global Rights is an international human rights capacity-building organization that works side by side with local activists in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to promote and protect the rights of marginalized populations...
.
External links
- Орлов Ю.Ф. Опасные мысли: Мемуары из рус. жизни. - М.: Аргументы и факты, 1992. - 349 с., 4 л. портр. http://maiskoechtivo.pstu.ru/2006/4/4.htm (in Russian)
- Y.F. Orlov. Dangerous Thoughts. Memoirs of a Russian Life“ - William Morrow in May 1991, ISBN 0-688-10471-1
- Yu.Orlov, W.M.Morse, Semertzidis. Resonance method of electric-dipole-moment measurements in storage rings, PRLPhysical Review LettersPhysical Review Letters , established in 1958, is a peer reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society...
, 96 (2006) 214802; http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ex/0605022 - APS Nicholson Medal Citation and biographical background
- APS Sakharov Prize Citation and biographical background
- http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/yfo1, list of publications by Yuri Orlov at the Cornell University Homepage
- Yuri Orlov Cornell University Homepage