Andrei Sakharov today: lasting impact on science and society

The 20-year period of 1948–1968, during which Andrei D Sakharov crucially contributed to the creation of the Soviet nuclear shield, was followed by the same length of time from 1969 to 1989, when he was no less patriotic in his human rights activities and in his efforts to save humankind from self-destruction in a thermonuclear war. When free of these commitments, Sakharov always turned to his favorite pastime, theoretical physics, where, working on the ‘roadside’ (to use his own words), he obtained a number of results of continuing importance. Some of these are described in this talk, as are Sakharov's actions and approaches, highly nontrivial and still relevant today, to solving the problems of major public concern.