Pugwash Holds 50th Conference

In 1955, Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell issued the now-famous manifesto that warned of the dangers of nuclear war and called on fellow scientists to help governments "find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them." Their proclamation led to the creation of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs to bring together, from around the world, influential scholars and public figures concerned with reducing the danger of armed conflict and seeking cooperative solutions for global problems.

In August of this year, Pugwash marked its 50th Conference by revisiting the central theme of the Einstein-Russell manifesto: "Eliminating the Causes of War." More than 150 scientists, scholars, and policymakers from 47 countries assembled at Queens College, Cambridge, United Kingdom, to identify current threats to peace in a nuclear age. To end "the scourge of war," the Pugwash Council called on the international community to "broaden democratic norms of governance, to strengthen international institutions and the rule of law, to reduce global inequities that often spark conflict, and above all to work for the application of science for the benefit of humanity."

Foreign Honorary Members Sir Michael Atiyah (Trinity College), President of Pugwash, and Sir Joseph Rotblat, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Pugwash in 1995, joined Fellow John Holdren (Harvard University), former Vice Chair of the Academy's Committee on International Security Studies, in addressing the conference.

For more information, contact Jeffrey Boutwell, International Pugwash, at 617-576-5021

Back to the November 2000 Newsletter