J. Robert Oppenheimer and Andrei Sakharov are both considered leaders of nuclear physics during the World War II and the Cold War. The two men had astonishingly similar lives, achievements and views on nuclear weapons.

Andrei Sahkarov (1921-1989), a Soviet nuclear physicist, is said to be the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb and an advocate of human rights. In 1948, he was drawn to a top-secret scientific and engineering team that USSR leader Joseph Stalin assigned to develop thermonuclear weapons for the Soviet Union, during which he lived in the secluded city Arzamas-16. His work was crucial to the development and testing of first Soviet hydrogen bomb in August 1953. From 1960 to the time of his death, he fought for the rights and freedoms that democratic societies encompass, like the freedom of speech, assembly, and emigration, which are guaranteed in theory by the Soviet doctrines, but denied in practice. He used his influence to fight for human rights, which ultimately led to his exile.

J. R. Oppenheimer (1904-1967) was an American physicist and government adviser, who is considered the father of the atomic bomb. During the height of World War II, Oppenheimer beca

Both scientists were at the forefront of nuclear physics. Sakharov's research became the basis for the design, Sloyka, which provided the first hydrogen bomb test in 1953, the first full-fledged hydrogen bomb (successfully tested in 1955), and the Czar-Bomb in 1961 (the most powerful device ever exploded on earth). Sakharov stated, "I regarded myself as a soldier in this new scientific war." Oppenheimer's leadership at the Los Alamos Laboratories led to the development and explosion of the world's first atomic weapon in 1945. Soon after, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, followed with a second bomb against the city of Nagasaki. These bombing were credited with ending World War II. Although he was fully aware of the devastation that the bomb creates, he quoted, " We made it to prevent it from being used. [Originally]."

The physicists also suffered repercussions for their outspokenness. Oppenheimer became a target of Senator McCarthy's Communist scare and was forced out of his position as advisor to the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission. During a hearing, in 1954, orchestrated by the Personnel Security Board, Oppenheimer's past Communist acquaintances, his lack of enthusiasm for the development of the hydrogen bomb, and his questionable behavior during the Chevalier incident, caused him to lose his security clearance, banning him from the discipline that he based his entire career on. Sakharov also became t

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