Klavdia Alekseyevna Vikhireva (abt. 1919 - 1969)

Born about 1919 in Soviet Union

Wife of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov — married 10 Jul 1943 in Ulyanovsk, Russia, Soviet Union

Died 1969 at about age 50 in Soviet Union

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Biography

Klavdia was born about 1923. She passed away in 1969 from cancer.

In November 1942, Klavdia met her future husband, Andrei. She was a laboratory assistant in the chemistry department in the same Central Factory Laboratory in which Andrei worked as a research engineer in the metallurgy department.

Three children were born of their marriage: in 1945, a daughter, Tatyana; in 1949, a second daughter, Lyubov, and in 1957, a son, Dmitry.

In 1968 Klava’s health deteriorated rapidly, the result of stomach cancer that metastasized because her doctors had been unable, even with X-rays, to detect it; Sakharov may have considered their incompetence, which verged on malpractice, symbolic of the larger failings in Soviet society he deplored.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Sakharov
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt7z87d
• https://www.sakharov.space/bio/chapter-2-war-factory-graduate-school