Rotblat as viewed by a grad student

Maximilian Puelma Touzel, a graduate student at the Max Planck Institute, Göttingen, Germany, has published an article featuring impressions on watching Jo Rotblat's story in the Strangest Dream film by the Canadian National Film Board in the recent issue of Peace magazine. This issue of the magazine focuses on "Politics and the Nobel Peace Prize."

I am always pleased when a student becomes interested in the history of the nuclear age, and I particularly welcome the perspective Touzel takes in this piece(though I wish it had a different title). A very positive way to start the new year:

"Looking back at Rotblat’s life, how does one square the amazing anti-nuclear achievements of this single person with the apocalyptic potential of the science to which he dedicated himself? It comes down to responsibility. ... Rotblat has taught us that, if scientists desire peace, they must prepare for it."

Maximilian Puelma Touzel, "Joseph Rotblat is Dead: Who Will Save the World Now?", Peace Magazine, Jan-March 2011, p. 24.

Rotblat-a leader with a 'powerful vision'

Pugwash founder and former President Joseph Rotblat is featured on the GiANT Impact website for global business leaders, as a leader who "finished strong" and who had a powerful vision to fulfill. So true. He worked tirelessly to the end of his days to try to create conditions for a world without nuclear weapons.

I found this site cheering on a day when the New York Times has run a story (available here) about the Obama Administration's revision to guidance on what people should do in the event of a nuclear explosion. Rotblat, when asked what one should do in the event of a nuclear explosion, famously said, "Run toward it."

Here is a photo of Prof at the 1999 Student Pugwash USA 20th anniversary international conference. In the later years of his life he prioritized speaking with student and young people.

Pugwashites Mentioned at DC Symposium on Science and Nuclear Disarmament

I just came across this Physics Today blog post by Charles Day, in which he mentions that at a recent AAAS/Japan Society for the Promotion of Science meeting, discussion highlighted several Pugwashites (Rotblat, Konuma, Yukawa, Tomonaga, Perkovich) and the impact of scientists on nuclear disarmament. Interesting mention is made by Konuma that two early Japanese Pugwashites were among the first to say that possession of nuclear weapons by some states is intrinsically unstable and can lead to an arms race.

Russian Quest for Peace & Democracy

Canadian Pugwashite Metta Spencer has published a new book, The Russian Quest for Peace, which is based on decades of research and interviews. Her website contains many photos and interview transcripts, including from Pugwashites. I will post more later when I have a chance to absorb some of this fantastic material.

Carl Djerassi describes his experiences at Pugwash Conferences

I just came across an interesting video clip of chemist Carl Djerassi. It is one of 3 short videos in which he discusses his involvement in Pugwash. I like this clip in particular because it gives the flavor of participating in Pugwash Conferences. He shares his first-hand experience with dialogue across divides that is the cornerstone of Pugwash meetings.

He says he presented at the 1969 Pugwash Conference in Sochi what he considered to be one of his most important papers on birth control. Djerassi also reflects on getting tear gassed at a Pugwash meeting in Warsaw...

Click on this link here to go to the video clip.

Strangest Dream Nominated for Gemini Award

UPDATE:
Pugwash congratulates Eric Bednarski and Barry Cowling,
who received the prestigious Gemini Award!! A news clip is available here.

The Strangest Dream, by the National Film Board of Canada, has been nominated for a Gemini Award, Canada's highest award for films, in the best writing for a documentary category. Congrats go to Eric Bednarski and Barry Cowling for this honor. We will keep our fingers crossed for the November decision. The Strangest Dream provides a thoughtful and creative introduction to Pugwash, and provides a wonderful overview of the life of Jo Rotblat.

The film is now available online in its entirety for for free.

You can watch it on your computer in full screen format if you click on the rectangle in the lower right for "toggle to full screen." Here are some images from the December 2008 European launch of the film at the BAFTA theatre in London. (Sandy Butcher and Director E. Bednarski; Producer Kent Martin, Pugwash President Jayantha Dhanapala, E. Bednarski, and British Pugwash Chair John Finney)

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.

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.

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