World Notes Prizes

When the Nobel Committee awarded its 1985 peace prize to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the choice hardly seemed controversial. In a gesture of East-West amity, Soviet Cochairman Dr. Yevgeni Chazov and his U.S. counterpart, Dr. Bernard Lown, were named as recipients. A delighted Soviet government decided to allow its ambassador in Oslo to attend the Dec. 10 ceremonies. Moscow had boycotted Nobel proceedings since 1975, when Soviet Dissident Andrei Sakharov was awarded the coveted prize.

But last week West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and ten other Christian Democratic leaders protested the award for Chazov. Reason: in 1973 Chazov, along with 24 other members of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, signed a letter against Sakharov that the protesters say initiated the campaign of persecution against him. An embarrassed Nobel Committee admitted that it had not been aware of the letter and expressed its "discomfort" at the news. Chazov professed not to understand the fuss. "I'm from Gorky," he said of the city where Sakharov has been exiled since 1980. "It's a nice town."