Charles Hyder facts for kids

Charles Latif Hyder (born April 18, 1930 – died June 8, 2004) was an American astrophysicist. An astrophysicist is a scientist who studies stars, planets, and space. He was also known as a dissident from Albuquerque, New Mexico. A dissident is someone who strongly disagrees with their government's policies.

Hyder spoke out against the arms race, which is when countries build more and more weapons to compete with each other. He also opposed nuclear weapons and nuclear waste. Nuclear weapons are very powerful bombs, and nuclear waste is dangerous leftover material from nuclear power. He even ran for U.S. president in 1988.

He became well-known for his hunger strike, where he stopped eating to protest. During the Cold War, a period of tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, his protest was widely covered by Soviet media. This was seen as a response to how Western media covered Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov. Charles Hyder became very famous in the Soviet Union and its allied countries, almost like a superstar. However, he remained little known in the United States.

About Charles Hyder

Charles Hyder was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1930. After finishing high school, he joined the United States Air Force. He served during the Korean War.

He later went to the University of New Mexico. He earned his bachelor's degree in physics in 1958 and his master's degree in 1960. In 1964, he received his doctorate in astrophysics from the University of Colorado.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Dr. Hyder worked on many scientific projects related to the sun. He published over 50 scientific papers. He also worked on NASA's Solar Maximum Mission satellite, which studied the sun.

Charles Hyder was married twice and had four children.

His Activism

Dr. Hyder was most famous for his strong opposition to nuclear weapons. He used hunger strikes to draw attention to his causes.

The Hunger Strike

When he was 56 years old, Charles Hyder began a hunger strike on September 23, 1986. He protested near the White House in Washington, D.C.. He demanded that President Ronald Reagan stop the arms race and get rid of nuclear weapons. His strike was planned to last 218 days.

Many people visited Dr. Hyder during his strike. These included movie star Charlie Sheen and Congresswoman Barbara Boxer. His former university students and colleagues also came to see him. Everyone praised his dedication. However, they also asked him to stop the strike because they were worried about his health. U.S. Senator Tom Harkin supported Hyder's actions. But he also said that Hyder's life and work were more important than his death for world peace.

Impact in the Soviet Union

In the Soviet Union, Charles Hyder became a regular on the TV news program Vremya ('Time'). A special medal was even made in his honor. Many groups of Soviet workers sent letters to Ronald Reagan. These letters all basically said, "Save Doctor Hyder!"

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev wrote a letter to Dr. Hyder himself. He asked Hyder to stop his strike. Gorbachev also invited him to move to Moscow to continue his scientific work in the USSR. Dr. Hyder only accepted the first part of Gorbachev's offer.

On the 218th day of his strike, Dr. Hyder felt frustrated. He thought the U.S. President was ignoring him. So, he went to a nearby restaurant and ordered dinner. This ended his hunger strike. After the strike ended, a Soviet punk rock band called Nol ('Zero') wrote a funny song about him. The song was titled "Доктор Хайдер" ("Dr. Hyder"). Its main line meant, "Dr. Hyder has started to eat again!"