Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
Encyclopedia
International organization
An intergovernmental organization, sometimes rendered as an international governmental organization and both abbreviated as IGO, is an organization composed primarily of sovereign states , or of other intergovernmental organizations...
that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of armed conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats. It was founded in 1957 by Joseph Rotblat
Joseph Rotblat
Sir Joseph Rotblat, KCMG, CBE, FRS , was a Polish-born, British-naturalised physicist.His work on nuclear fallout was a major contribution to the agreement of the Partial Test Ban Treaty...
and Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
in Pugwash, Nova Scotia
Pugwash, Nova Scotia
-Notable residents:Notable current and former residents of Pugwash include:*Charles Aubrey Eaton , clergyman and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the from 1925–1933, and the from 1933-1953....
, Canada, following the release of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto
Russell-Einstein Manifesto
The Russell–Einstein Manifesto was issued in London on July 9, 1955 by Bertrand Russell in the midst of the Cold War. It highlighted the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and called for world leaders to seek peaceful resolutions to international conflict...
in 1955.
Rotblat and the Pugwash Conference won jointly the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
in 1995 for their efforts on nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated....
.Russell's exclusion is explained because the Nobel Prizes are never awarded posthumously. International Student/Young Pugwash
International Student/Young Pugwash
International Student/Young Pugwash is an international organization that promotes awareness and action among students and young professionals in relation to ethical implications of science and technology policy, particularly matters of international security and weapons of mass destruction...
groups have existed since 1979.
Origin of the Pugwash Conferences
The Russell-Einstein Manifesto, released July 9, 1955, called for a conference for scientists to assess the dangers of weapons of mass destructionWeapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
(then only considered to be nuclear weapons). Cyrus Eaton, a Canadian industrialist who had known Russell since 1938, offered on July 13 to finance the conference in his hometown of Pugwash, Nova Scotia
Pugwash, Nova Scotia
-Notable residents:Notable current and former residents of Pugwash include:*Charles Aubrey Eaton , clergyman and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the from 1925–1933, and the from 1933-1953....
. This was not taken up at the time because a meeting was planned for India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, at the invitation of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
. With the outbreak of the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
the Indian conference was postponed. Aristotle Onassis
Aristotle Onassis
Aristotle Sokratis Onassis , commonly called Ari or Aristo Onassis, was a prominent Greek shipping magnate.- Early life :Onassis was born in Karatass, a suburb of Smyrna to Socrates and Penelope Onassis...
offered to finance a meeting in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
instead, but this was rejected. Eaton's former invitation was taken up.
The first conference was held in July 1957 in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, hence the organization's name. It was organized by Joseph Rotblat, who served as secretary-general of the organization from its inception until 1973. The Russell-Einstein Manifesto became the Pugwash Conferences' founding charter.
Twenty-two scientists attended the first conference:
- seven from the USA (David F. Cavers, Paul Doty, Hermann J. Muller, Eugene RabinowitchEugene RabinowitchEugene Rabinowitch was a Russian-born American biophysicist who is best known for his work in relation to nuclear weapons, especially as a co-author of the Franck Report and a co-founder in 1945 of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a global security and public policy magazine, which he edited...
, Walter Selove, Leó SzilárdLeó SzilárdLeó Szilárd was an Austro-Hungarian physicist and inventor who conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb...
, Victor F. WeisskopfVictor Frederick WeisskopfVictor Frederick Weisskopf was an Austrian-born Jewish American theoretical physicist. He did postdoctoral work with Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauli and Niels Bohr...
) - three from the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
(Alexander M. Kuzin (Александр М. Кузин), Dmitri V. SkobeltzynDmitri SkobeltsynDmitri Vladimirovich Skobeltsyn was a Soviet physisist, academician of the Soviet Academy of Sciences , Hero of Socialist Labor ....
, Alexander V. Topchiev (Александр В. Топчиев)) - three from JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(Iwao Ogawa, Shinichiro Tomonaga, Hideki YukawaHideki Yukawané , was a Japanese theoretical physicist and the first Japanese Nobel laureate.-Biography:Yukawa was born in Tokyo and grew up in Kyoto. In 1929, after receiving his degree from Kyoto Imperial University, he stayed on as a lecturer for four years. After graduation, he was interested in...
) - two from the UKUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(Cecil F. PowellCecil Frank PowellCecil Frank Powell, FRS was a British physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and for the resulting discovery of the pion , a heavy subatomic particle.Powell was born in Tonbridge, Kent, England, the son of a local...
, Joseph RotblatJoseph RotblatSir Joseph Rotblat, KCMG, CBE, FRS , was a Polish-born, British-naturalised physicist.His work on nuclear fallout was a major contribution to the agreement of the Partial Test Ban Treaty...
) - two from CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(Brock ChisholmBrock ChisholmGeorge Brock Chisholm, CC, MC & Bar was a Canadian First World War veteran, medical practitioner, and the first Director-General of the World Health Organization...
, John S. Foster) - one each from AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(Mark L. E. OliphantMark OliphantSir Marcus 'Mark' Laurence Elwin Oliphant, AC, KBE, FRS was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played a fundamental role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and also the development of the atomic bomb.During his retirement, Oliphant was appointed as the Governor of...
), AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
(Hans ThirringHans ThirringHans Thirring was an Austrian theoretical physicist, professor, and father of the physicist Walter Thirring....
), ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(Chou Pei-Yuan), FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(Antoine M. B. Lacassagne) and PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
(Marian DanyszMarian DanyszMarian Danysz was a Polish physicist.Son of Jan Kazimierz Danysz. In 1952, he co-discovered with Jerzy Pniewski a new kind of matter, an atomic nucleus, which alongside a proton and neutron contains a third particle: the lambda hyperon .Ten years later, they obtained a hypernucleus in excited...
).
Cyrus Eaton, Eric Burhop, whom Eaton had requested be invited, and Vladimir Pavlichenko also were present. Many others were unable to attend, including co-founder Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
, for health reasons.
Organizational structure
Officers include the president, secretary-general and executive director. Formal governance is provided by the twenty-eight-person Pugwash Council, which serves for five years. There is also a six-member executive committee that assists the secretary-general. Jayantha DhanapalaJayantha Dhanapala
Professor Jayantha Dhanapala is a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and a governing board member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Dr. Dhanapala was Sri Lanka's official candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations,...
is the current president.
The four Pugwash offices, in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, and Washington D.C., provide support for Pugwash activities and serve as liaisons to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and other international organizations.
There are more than forty national Pugwash groups, organized as independent entities and often supported or administered by national academies of science.
The International Student/Young Pugwash
International Student/Young Pugwash
International Student/Young Pugwash is an international organization that promotes awareness and action among students and young professionals in relation to ethical implications of science and technology policy, particularly matters of international security and weapons of mass destruction...
groups works with, but are independent from, the international Pugwash group.
Contributions to international security
Pugwash's first fifteen years coincided with the Berlin CrisisBerlin Crisis of 1961
The Berlin Crisis of 1961 was the last major politico-military European incident of the Cold War about the occupational status of the German capital city, Berlin, and of post–World War II Germany. The U.S.S.R...
, the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
, the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
On the night of 20–21 August 1968, the Soviet Union and her main satellite states in the Warsaw Pact – Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic , Hungary and Poland – invaded the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in order to halt Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring political liberalization...
, and the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Pugwash played a useful role in opening communication channels during a time of otherwise-strained official and unofficial relations. It provided background work to the Partial Test Ban Treaty
Partial Test Ban Treaty
The treaty banning nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water, often abbreviated as the Partial Test Ban Treaty , Limited Test Ban Treaty , or Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is a treaty prohibiting all test detonations of nuclear weapons...
(1963), the Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968), the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was a treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile systems used in defending areas against missile-delivered nuclear weapons....
(1972), the Biological Weapons Convention
Biological Weapons Convention
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the...
(1972), and the Chemical Weapons Convention
Chemical Weapons Convention
The Chemical Weapons Convention is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. Its full name is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction...
(1993). Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
admitted the influence of the organisation on him when he was leader of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
As international relations thawed, and as more unofficial communication channels appeared, Pugwash's visibility decreased, but still remained important in arms-control issues of the day: European nuclear forces
European Nuclear Disarmament
European Nuclear Disarmament was a Europe-wide movement for a "nuclear-free Europe from Poland to Portugal” that put on annual European Nuclear Disarmament conventions from 1982 to 1991.- Origins :...
, chemical and biological weaponry, space weapon
Space weapon
Space weapons are weapons used in space warfare. They include weapons that can attack space systems in orbit , attack targets on the earth from space or disable missiles travelling through space...
s, conventional force reductions and restructuring, and crisis control in the Third World. Pugwash's focus also has expanded to include issues of development
International development
International development or global development is a concept that lacks a universally accepted definition, but it is most used in a holistic and multi-disciplinary context of human development — the development of greater quality of life for humans...
and the environment.
Criticism
During the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, it was claimed that the Pugwash Conference became a front conference
Front organization
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations...
for the Soviet Union, whose agents often managed to weaken Pugwash critique of USSR and instead concentrate on blaming the United States and the West. In 1980, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence received a report that the Pugwash Conference was used by Soviet delegates to promote Soviet propaganda. Joseph Rotblat said in his 1998 Bertrand Russell Peace Lecture that there were a few participants in the conferences from the Soviet Union "who were obviously sent to push the party line, but the majority were genuine scientists and behaved as such".
Nobel Peace Prize
In 1995, fifty years after the bombing of Nagasaki and HiroshimaHiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
, and forty years after the signing of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, the Pugwash Conferences and Joseph Rotblat were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
jointly
- "for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms".
The Norwegian Nobel committee hoped that awarding the prize to Rotblat and Pugwash would
- "encourage world leaders to intensify their efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons".
In his acceptance speech, Rotblat quoted a key phrase from the Manifesto:
- "Remember your humanity".
"Praise The Real Heroes".
"Pugwashites"
There are more than 3,500 "Pugwashites" worldwide, individuals who have attended a Pugwash meeting and thus are considered associated with Pugwash. Some of these include:See also
- Student Pugwash USAStudent Pugwash USAStudent Pugwash USA engages students to promote the socially responsible use of science and technology in the 21st century. While run by a professional staff headquartered in Washington, D.C., the organization uses a chapter-based model on U.S. college campuses...
- International Student/Young PugwashInternational Student/Young PugwashInternational Student/Young Pugwash is an international organization that promotes awareness and action among students and young professionals in relation to ethical implications of science and technology policy, particularly matters of international security and weapons of mass destruction...
- Nuclear Weapons: The Road to ZeroNuclear Weapons: The Road to ZeroNuclear Weapons: The Road to Zero is a 1998 book edited by Joseph Rotblat. Rotblat draws heavily on the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, and in particular on a comprehensive international study published in 1993 on the need and mechanisms to eliminate nuclear weapons...
- Soviet influence on the peace movementSoviet influence on the peace movementDuring the Cold War , when the Soviet Union and the USA were engaged in an arms race, the Soviet Union promoted its foreign policy through the World Peace Council and other front organizations...
External links
- Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
- Russian Pugwash Committee
- April 2007 Youtube video of Canadian Pugwash
- The First Pugwash Conference.
- The Nobel Peace Prize, 1995.
- Profile of Joseph Rotblat
- The Early Days of Pugwash, by Joseph Rotblat in Physics Today, June 2001.
- Pugwash And The International Treaties On Chemical And Biological Warfare, by J.P. Perry Robinson.
- Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (Rome, through 1996 only)
- J. Rotblat, Scientists in the Quest for Peace: A history of the Pugwash Conferences, MIT Press,1972.