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Friday 6 August 2010

Women of the First Pugwash Conference

The talk I gave at Thinkers' Lodge on the role of Ruth Adams and Anne Kinder Jones (later, Anne Eaton) at the first Pugwash Conference is now available here.

It was a real honor to highlight the contributions of these amazing women, and as always, it was a pleasure to spend time in Pugwash, with members of the Eaton family, the Pugwash Park Commission, the Pugwash Peace Exchange, and so many other wonderful people.

Thursday 5 August 2010

Asteroid Rotblat

22645 Rotblat

Discovered 1998 July 26 by the Lowell Observatory Near Earth Object Search at the Anderson Mesa Station. ...

Athem Alsabti (Iraqi Pugwash) and Edward Bowell of Lowell Observatory worked together for this designation, which was granted in December 2009.

Tuesday 3 August 2010

Bikini Atoll, nuclear tests site - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Bikini Atoll, nuclear tests site - UNESCO World Heritage Centre: "In the wake of World War II, in a move closely related to the beginnings of the Cold War, the United States of America decided to resume nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean, on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall archipelago. After the displacement of the local inhabitants, 67 nuclear tests were carried out from 1946 to 1958, including the explosion of the first H-bomb (1952). Bikini Atoll has conserved direct tangible evidence that is highly significant in conveying the power of the nuclear tests, i.e. the sunken ships sent to the bottom of the lagoon by the tests in 1946 and the gigantic Bravo crater. Equivalent to 7,000 times the force of the Hiroshima bomb, the tests had major consequences on the geology and natural environment of Bikini Atoll and on the health of those who were exposed to radiation. Through its history, the atoll symbolises the dawn of the nuclear age, despite its paradoxical image of peace and of earthly paradise. This is the first site from the Marshall Islands to be inscribed on the World Heritage List."

Bikini Atoll Linked with Pugwash History


On 31 July the Bikini Atoll was added to the World Heritage list. The atmospheric testing of hydrogen bombs here led to the first meeting of Bertrand Russell and Jo Rotblat at a BBC studio in April 1954. They were asked to explain the technical aspects and possible impact of the little understood technology following the 1 March Castle Bravo test, which went awry and doused a Japanese fishing vessel, the Lucky Dragon. Their meeting led directly to the Russell-Einstein manifesto of July 1955, and to the first Pugwash Conference in July 1957. Today the crater remains one of the world's symbols of the excesses of the Cold War and a reminder that there is still a long way to go to eradicate these powerful weapons