---
title: "Andrei Sakharov Prize (APS)"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Sakharov_Prize_(APS)"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:23:56.798331+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The Andrei Sakharov Prize is a prize that is to be awarded every two years by the American Physical Society since 2006. The recipients are chosen for "outstanding leadership and/or achievements of scientists in upholding human rights." It is named after Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989), a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, and human rights activist. Since 2007, it has been valued at $10,000. The first Sakharov Prize was awarded to physicist and former Soviet gulag prisoner Yuri Orlov.


== Recipients ==
Source:

2006 Yuri Orlov (Cornell University)
2008 Liangying Xu (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
2010 Herman Winick (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), Joseph Birman (City University of New York), and Morris (Moishe) Pripstein (National Science Foundation)
2012 Mulugeta Bekele (University of Addis Ababa) and Richard Wilson (Harvard University)
2014 Boris Altshuler (P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute) and Omid Kokabee (University of Texas at Austin)
2016 Zafra M. Lerman (Malta Conferences Foundation)
2018 Narges Mohammadi (Iran Engineering Inspection Corporation) and Ravi Kuchimanchi (Association for India's Development)
2020 Ayşe Erzan (Istanbul Technical University) and Xiaoxing Xi (Temple University)
2022 John C. Polanyi (University of Toronto)
2024 Eugene Chudnovsky (City University of New York)


== See also ==
List of American Physical Society prizes and awards
List of physics awards


== References ==


== External links ==
Andrei Sakharov Prize, American Physical Society