Scientists Raise $3000 for Sakharov

An international group of scientists and professors headed by Nobel Laureate Sheldon L. Glashow, Higgins Professor of Physics, collected $3000 this week to start a scholarship fund in honor of Soviet nuclear physicist and dissident Andrei D. Sakharov.

The Sakharov International Committee received two grants of $1000 each from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the New York Academy of Sciences, and a number of smaller grants from individuals, Edward G. Lozansky, professor of physics at George Mason University and executive director of the committee, said yesterday.

When sufficient funds have been collected, the Sakharov Committee plans to present awards to "students dedicated to the pursuit of Sakharov's scientific or humanistic goals and to scientists who, in addition to outstanding achievement in their fields, are also deeply devoted to human liberty," Glashow said Thursday.

The winners of the Sakharov awards will be selected by a committee of 20 prominent scientists, including Glashow, Nobel Laureate Baruj Benacerraf, Fabyan Professor of Comparative Pathology at the Medical School. Glashow said he hopes to include Sakharov in the final decisions, explaining that the names of the finalists could be smuggled into the Soviet Union whenever possible.

In describing Sakharov, Lozansky said, "He is a great scientist, but his concern for peace and security of the world gives him the love and respect of all those who care for the fate of mankind." Sakharov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 for his human rights work.

Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner, reportedly ended their 16-day hunger strike Tuesday after Soviet officials agreed to give the couple's daughter-in-law, Liza Alexeyeva, permission to join her husband in the United States. Sakharov and Bonner are in good health after their fast, Associated Press reports said yesterday.