Joseph Rotblat: A Man of Peace
David Krieger
Joseph Rotblat lived a long life – a life dedicated to peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons. He was a quiet, unassuming man, a scientist who became a leader in the global effort to abolish nuclear weapons. Joseph Rotblat’s life was shaped by the horrors of World War II and his participation in the British and American projects to create an atomic weapon. He believed that the only justification for creating such a weapon was to deter the Germans in the event they succeeded in also doing so. When Rotblat realized in late 1944 that the Germans would not succeed in this attempt, he left the US atomic bomb project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, and returned to London. He was the only Manhattan Project scientist to leave the project on principle, and he would spend the rest of his life working to eliminate nuclear weapons and war. He would never again work on creating a weapon, and spent the remainder of his career working as a physicist at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
Joseph Rotblat was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1908. At the age of 30, he accepted a fellowship and went to London to work with physicist and Nobel Laureate James Chadwick, the scientist who had proved the existence of neutrons. Rotblat left Warsaw just days ahead of the Nazi invasion of Poland. His work with Chadwick led to his involvement first with the British atomic bomb project and then with the American Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. He left the Manhattan Project about seven months before the first nuclear weapon was tested in the New Mexico dessert. He learned of the bomb’s successful creation only when he heard of its use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Stunned by the decision to use the bomb against civilian populations and its further potential to destroy civilization, he committed himself to working for the total elimination of these weapons and the elimination of war.
Rotblat helped Bertrand Russell in drafting one of the seminal documents of the 20th Century, the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, which was released on July 9, 1955, nearly ten years after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and only a few years after the first tests of the far more powerful hydrogen bombs. The Manifesto, signed by Einstein just days before his death, begins, “In the tragic situation which confronts humanity, we feel that scientists should assemble in conference to appraise the perils that have arisen as a result of the development of weapons of mass destruction, and to discuss a resolution in the spirit of the appended draft.”[1]
The resolution to which the document referred was directed to the scientists of the world and to the general public. It stated: “In view of the fact that in any future war nuclear weapons will certainly be employed, and that such weapons threaten the continued existence of mankind, we urge the governments of the world to realize, and to acknowledge publicly, that their purpose cannot be furthered by a world war, and we urge them, consequently, to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them.”[2]
Joseph Rotblat was one of only nine high-level scientists to join Russell and Einstein as the initial signatories of this Appeal. He would devote the rest of his life to realizing the aims of the Appeal.
The issuing of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto led to a groundbreaking meeting of scientists from East and West in 1957 to address the dangers of nuclear weapons. The scientists gathered in the small fishing village of Pugwash, Nova Scotia, under the sponsorship of Canadian-American industrialist Cyrus Eaton. This, in turn, led to the creation of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an organization that became influential in achieving dialogue between scientists from both sides of the Iron Curtain. Rotblat served as the Secretary-General of Pugwash from 1957 to 1973, and later as president of the organization from 1988 to 1997.
During his long life, Rotblat was a tireless crusader for the elimination of nuclear weapons, but along with the other signers of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, believed that this was not enough and that it was also necessary to abolish war. The Manifesto put the matter directly: “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war? People will not face this alternative because it is so difficult to abolish war.”[3]
In 1995, fifty years after the first use of atomic weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In his Nobel Lecture, Rotblat made three appeals. He appealed first to the nuclear weapons states “to abandon their out-of-date thinking of the Cold War period and take a fresh look.”[4] He continued: “Above all, I appeal to them to bear in mind the long-term threat that nuclear weapons pose to humankind and to begin action towards their elimination. Remember your duty to humanity.”[5]
His second appeal was to his fellow scientists. He called upon them to follow the call of senior Manhattan Project scientist Hans Bethe to give up all work on all weapons of mass destruction. “If all scientists heeded this call,” Rotblat said, “there would be no more new nuclear warheads; no French scientists at Mururoa; no new chemical and biological poisons. The arms race would be truly over.”[6]
His third appeal was to “fellow citizens of all countries.” He called upon them to prevail upon their governments to give up nuclear weapons and also war. “A nuclear-weapon-free world would be safer than the present one. But the danger of the ultimate catastrophe would still be there. The only way to prevent it is to abolish war altogether. War must cease to be an admissible social institution. We must learn to resolve our disputes by means other than military confrontation.”[7]
In the final words of his Nobel Lecture, he spoke as an elder statesman of humanity, sharing his abundant wisdom: “The quest for a war-free world has a basic purpose: survival. But if in the process we learn how to achieve it by love rather than fear, by kindness rather than by compulsion; if in the process we learn to combine the essential with the enjoyable, the expedient with the benevolent, the practical with the beautiful, this will be an extra incentive to embark on this great task. Above all, remember your humanity.”[8]
I first met Joseph Rotblat in Berlin in 1991 at the founding meeting of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility. I was impressed by his directness, honesty, wisdom and gentleness. In the years to follow, I would see Joseph at many other international meetings and my respect for him only deepened.
In 1997, Rotblat came to Santa Barbara to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. During that period, we had many in-depth discussions and I conducted an interview with him on the issue of eliminating nuclear weapons. Since nearly all of what he said then remains valid and progress toward achieving a nuclear weapons-free world has been painfully slow, I would like to share that interview below.
Joseph Rotblat celebrated his 90th birthday in 1998 at the State of the World Forum in San Francisco. His remarks on that occasion reflected his enduring optimism. He said that his short-term goal was to eliminate nuclear weapons, and his long-term goal was to eliminate war. Even in his later years, he never lost his conviction that the impossible dream was achievable; it was just a matter of effort and time. His commitment to peace and a world free of nuclear weapons inspired people through his writing, traveling, speaking, and encouraging others throughout the world, an impassioned crusade for peace in which he continued until his final years.
Bertrand Russell said of Joseph Rotblat in his autobiography, “He can have few rivals in courage and integrity and complete self-abnegation with which he has given up his own career (in which, however, he still remains eminent) to devote himself to combating the nuclear peril as well as other allied evils.”[9] Joseph Rotblat loved science, but he loved humanity even more.
I saw Joseph for the last time in July 2005, when I stopped in London to visit him at his home. He was still recovering from a stroke, but he was alert and eager to get back to his work. We had a good talk and I was inspired by his indomitable spirit. Until his final days he was a warrior for peace, committed with all his being to the twin goals of abolishing nuclear weapons and abolishing war. Now it is up to us, to carry forward his legacy of peace.
When Joseph Rotblat received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, he began his speech by describing his orientation toward peace: “I am a man of peace. I am a pacifist. I abhor war. I dislike any type of fighting, but I’m not an absolute pacifist. I would describe myself as a realistic pacifist although I know this sounds like an oxymoron. I’m not an absolute pacifist because I do not believe in absolutes. Nature is so immensely rich in its infinite varieties that nothing can be excluded. By the same token, anything could happen. Even events that seem out of this world can be realized if we put enough effort and faith into them. One such event is a world without war.”[10]
Joseph Rotblat believed in peace and human decency. He believed in possibilities that exceeded expectations. He believed in humanity, and he believed that the humanity within each of us could inspire and motivate us to contribute more to our common future. In his brilliant speeches and down-to-earth engagement with his friends and those he met throughout the world, he conveyed a consistent message. It is the message with which he ended his Nobel Lecture, and with which he lived his life: “Above all, remember your humanity.”[11]
Russell-Einstein Manifesto, 9 July 1955; www.pugwash.org/about/manifesto.htm.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Joseph Rotblat, Remember Your Humanity, 1995 Nobel Peace Prize Lecture; http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1995/rotblat-lecture.html.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Bertrand Russell, Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, London, Routledge, 2000.
- Joseph Rotblat, An Allegiance to Humanity, Santa Barbara, Waging Peace Series Booklet #39, June 1998.
- Joseph Roblat. Remember Your Humanity, op.cit.
David Krieger’s tribute to Joseph Rotblat was first published in Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, Vol. 18, No. 1, January-March 2006. The article appeared under the title, “Peace Profile: Joseph Rotblat.”
