[17] In 1952, he graduated from the Moscow State University and began his postgraduate studies at the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics[18] where he later worked as a physicist.

[17] In 1956, Orlov nearly lost his scientist career due to his speech at the party meeting about discussion of the report "On the Personality Cult and its Consequences" by Khrushchev at the 20th Congress of the CPSU.

He publicly called Stalin and Beria "killers who were in power" and put forward the requirement of "democracy on the basis of socialism.

[17] Andrei Sakharov praised Orlov for systematically documenting Soviet violations of the human rights provisions of the Helsinki accords.

[28] The KGB head Yuri Andropov determined, "The need has thus emerged to terminate the actions of Orlov, fellow Helsinki monitor Ginzburg and others once and for all, on the basis of existing law.

[34] The courtroom was filled with some 50 individuals selected by the authorities, while supporters and friends of Orlov, including Andrei Sakharov, were barred from entering because there was no room.

[37] Washington senator Henry M. Jackson said, "The Orlov trial, and the Ginzburg and Shcharansky incarcerations, are dramatic cases in point" when discussing Soviet breaches of law.

[20] In Perm Camp 37, he mounted three hunger strikes to make the prison authorities return his confiscated writings and notes.

[47] On 5 July 1983, Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky sent the Soviet leader Yuri Andropov a letter asking for his release to Austria, but it was intentionally not answered.

[48] The New York-based Helsinki Watch issued a statement about Orlov's health deterioration, "He has frequent headaches and dizzy spells, resulting from an old skull injury.

He suffers from kidney and prostate inflammation, low blood pressure, rheumatic pains, toothaches, insomnia and vitamin deficiency.

[54] Orlov's release from exile and expulsion from the USSR lifted hopes among Westerners that the Helsinki process might finally start yielding progress.

[6][59] A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Orlov studied particle accelerator design, beam interaction analysis and quantum mechanics.

"[66] On 18 July 1991, Orlov and Elena Bonner wrote an open letter about the fact that Soviet army and special troops have been systematically deporting thousands of Armenians from Azerbaijan to Armenia.

[68] In 2005, he was named the first recipient of the Andrei Sakharov Prize, awarded biennially by the American Physical Society to honor scientists for exceptional work in promoting human rights.

"[70] On 24 March 2005, Orlov wrote a letter to Putin to express disquiet over the criminal prosecution of Anna Mikhalchuk, Yuri Samodurov, and Ludmila Vasilovskaya in the case concerning the Sakharov Museum exhibition on religion.