The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an

international organization An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states an ...

that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of

armed conflict War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...

and to seek solutions to

global security GlobalSecurity.org is an American nonpartisan, independent, nonprofit organization that serves as a think tank, and research and consultancy group. Focus The site is focused on national and international security issues; military analysis, syste ...

threats. It was founded in 1957 by

Joseph Rotblat Sir Joseph Rotblat (4 November 1908 – 31 August 2005) was a Polish and British physicist. During World War II he worked on Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project, but left the Los Alamos Laboratory on grounds of conscience after it became ...

and

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

Pugwash, Nova Scotia Pugwash is an incorporated village in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada, located on the Northumberland Strait at the mouth of the Pugwash River. It had a population of 746 as of the 2021 census. The name Pugwash is derived from the Mi'kmaq ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, following the release of the

Russell–Einstein Manifesto The Russell–Einstein Manifesto was issued in London on 9 July 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 ...

in 1955. Rotblat and the Pugwash Conference jointly won the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

in 1995 for their efforts on

nuclear disarmament Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the Atomic nucleus, nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear ...

.Russell's exclusion is explained because the Nobel Prizes are never awarded posthumously.

International Student/Young Pugwash International Student/Young Pugwash (ISYP) 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 inte ...

groups have existed since founder

Cyrus Eaton Cyrus Stephen Eaton Sr. (December 27, 1883 – May 9, 1979) was a Canadian-American investment banker, businessman and philanthropist, with a career that spanned seventy years. For decades Eaton was one of the most powerful financiers in the ...

's death in 1979.

Origin of the Pugwash Conferences

The

, released July 9, 1955, called for a conference for scientists to assess the dangers of

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natura ...

(then only considered to be

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

, an industrialist and philanthropist, offered on July 13 to finance and host the conference in the town of his birth,

. This was not taken up at the time because a meeting was planned for India, at the invitation of Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

. With the outbreak of the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

the Indian conference was postponed.

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; el, Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotélis Onásis, ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975), was a Greek-Argentinian shipping magnate who amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and wa ...

offered to finance a meeting in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

instead, but this was rejected. Eaton's former invitation was taken up. The first conference was held at what became known as Thinkers' Lodge in July 1957 in Pugwash,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. Twenty-two scientists attended the first conference: * seven from the United States: David F. Cavers, Paul M. Doty,

Hermann J. Muller Hermann Joseph Muller (December 21, 1890 – April 5, 1967) was an American geneticist, educator, and Nobel laureate best known for his work on the physiological and genetic effects of radiation (mutagenesis), as well as his outspoken politica ...

Eugene Rabinowitch Eugene Rabinowitch (1901–1973) was a Russian-born American biophysicist who is known for his work in photosynthesis and nuclear energy. He was a co-author of the Franck Report and a co-founder in 1945 of the ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' ...

Walter Selove Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

Leó Szilárd Leo Szilard (; hu, Szilárd Leó, pronounced ; born Leó Spitz; February 11, 1898 – May 30, 1964) was a Hungarian-German-American physicist and inventor. He conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear ...

Victor Frederick Weisskopf Victor Frederick "Viki" Weisskopf (also spelled Viktor; September 19, 1908 – April 22, 2002) was an Austrian-born American theoretical physicist. He did postdoctoral work with Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauli, and Niels Boh ...

* three from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

: Alexander M. Kuzin ( Александр М. Кузин),

Dmitri Skobeltsyn Dmitri Vladimirovich Skobeltsyn (russian: Дмитрий Владимирович Скобельцын) (November 24, 1892 in Saint Petersburg – November 16, 1990) was a Soviet physicist, academician of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1946), Hero ...

, Alexander V. Topchiev ( Александр В. Топчиев) * three from Japan: Iwao Ogawa, Shinichiro Tomonaga,

Hideki Yukawa was a Japanese theoretical physicist and the first Japanese Nobel laureate for his prediction of the pi meson, or pion. Biography He was born as Hideki Ogawa in Tokyo and grew up in Kyoto with two older brothers, two older sisters, and two yo ...

* two from the UK: Cecil F. Powell,

* two from Canada:

Brock Chisholm George Brock Chisholm (18 May 1896 – 4 February 1971) was a Canadian psychiatrist, medical practitioner, World War I veteran, and the first director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO). He was the 13th Canadian Surgeon General and t ...

, John S. Foster * one each from Australia (

Mark Oliphant Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played an important role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and in the development of nuclear weapon ...

), Austria (

Hans Thirring Hans Thirring (March 23, 1888 – March 22, 1976) was an Austrian theoretical physicist, professor, and father of the physicist Walter Thirring. He won the Haitinger Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 1920. Together with the mathemati ...

), China (

Zhou Peiyuan Zhou Peiyuan (; August 28, 1902 – November 24, 1993) was a Chinese theoretical physicist and politician. He served as president of Peking University, and was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Born in Yixing, Jiangsu, C ...

), France ( Antoine M. B. Lacassagne), and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

(

Marian Danysz Marian Danysz (March 17, 1909 – February 9, 1983) was a Polish physicist, Professor of Physics at Warsaw University. Son of Jan Kazimierz Danysz. In 1952, he co-discovered with Jerzy Pniewski a new kind of matter, an atomic nucleus, which ...

). Cyrus Eaton,

Eric Burhop Eric Henry Stoneley Burhop, (31 January 191122 January 1980) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian. A graduate of the University of Melbourne, Burhop was awarded an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship to study at the Cavendish Laboratory unde ...

, Ruth Adams, Anne Kinder Jones, and Vladimir Pavlichenko also were present. Many others were unable to attend, including co-founder

, for health reasons. From the Soviet Union, Mikhail Ilyich Bruk (russian: Михаил Ильич Брук; 1923

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

- 2009 Jurmala) attended as an English-Russian technical translator. Later,

Armand Hammer Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American business manager and owner, most closely associated with Occidental Petroleum, a company he ran from 1957 until his death. Called "Lenin's chosen capitalist" by the press, ...

stated, "Mike's

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

Organizational structure

Pugwash's "main objective is the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical and biological) and of war as a social institution to settle international disputes. To that extent, peaceful resolution of conflicts through dialogue and mutual understanding is an essential part of Pugwash activities, that is particularly relevant when and where nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction are deployed or could be used." "The various Pugwash activities (general conferences, workshops, study groups, consultations and special projects) provide a channel of communication between scientists, scholars, and individuals experienced in government, diplomacy, and the military for in-depth discussion and analysis of the problems and opportunities at the intersection of science and world affairs. To ensure a free and frank exchange of views, conducive to the emergence of original ideas and an effective communication between different or antagonistic governments, countries and groups, Pugwash meetings as a rule are held in private. This is the main modus operandi of Pugwash. In addition to influencing governments by the transmission of the results of these discussions and meetings, Pugwash also may seek to make an impact on the scientific community and on public opinion through the holding of special types of meetings and through its publications." Officers include the president and secretary-general. Formal governance is provided by the Pugwash Council, which serves for five years. There is also an executive committee that assists the secretary-general.

Jayantha Dhanapala Jayantha Dhanapala ( si, ජයන්ත ධනපාල; born 30 December 1938) is a Sri Lankan diplomat who serves as member of the Board of Sponsors of ''The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' and was a governing board member of the Stockholm ...

is the current president. Paolo Cotta-Ramusino is the current Secretary General. The four Pugwash offices, in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(international secretariat),

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, and

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, provide support for Pugwash activities and serve as liaisons to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

and other international organizations. There are approximately fifty national Pugwash groups, organized as independent entities and often supported or administered by national academies of science. The

groups works with, but are independent from, the international Pugwash group.

Contributions to international security

Pugwash's first fifteen years coincided with the Berlin Crisis, the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

, the

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...

, and the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. 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 The Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) is the abbreviated name of the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, which prohibited all nuclear weapons testing, test detonations of nuclear weapons exce ...

(1963), the

Non-Proliferation Treaty The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation ...

(1968), the

Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty or ABMT) (1972–2002) was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against ballis ...

(1972), the

Biological Weapons Convention The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpil ...

(1972), and the

Chemical Weapons Convention The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), officially the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, is an arms control treaty administered by the Organisation for ...

(1993). Former

US Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The s ...

Robert McNamara has credited a backchannel Pugwash initiative (code named PENNSYLVANIA) with laying the groundwork for the negotiations that ended the Vietnam War.

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

admitted the influence of the organisation on him when he was leader of the

. In addition, Pugwash has been credited with being a groundbreaking and innovative "transnational" organization and a leading example of the effectiveness of

Track II diplomacy Track II diplomacy or "backchannel diplomacy" is the practice of "non-governmental, informal and unofficial contacts and activities between private citizens or groups of individuals, sometimes called 'non-state actors. It contrasts with track I dip ...

. During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, it was claimed that the Pugwash Conference became a front conference 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". Following the end of the Cold War, the traditional Pugwash focus on decreasing the salience of nuclear weapons and promoting a world free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction addresses the following issue areas: *Nuclear stability, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation: 1. Traditional Nuclear Disarmament, US-Russia nuclear disarmament, nuclear weapons in Europe; 2. Nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, Israeli nuclear weapons, Iranian nuclear program, proposal for a Middle Eastern zone free of weapons of mass destruction, Arab attitudes towards nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation; 3. India and Pakistan nuclear relations, the effects of US India nuclear deal; 4. North Korea. *Regional security in regions where nuclear weapons exist or risks of nuclear proliferation are significant: 1. Middle East—general issues, the impact of the Palestinian problem and its relevance in the Arab world, the consequences of the so-called Arab spring and the growth of the Islamic movements and parties, Arab-Iranian, Arab-Israeli and Iran-Israeli relations; 2. South-Central Asia—traditional antagonism between India and Pakistan, the role of terrorist attacks in the worsening of such antagonism, US-Pakistani relations in general. The role of radical movements in Pakistan, reconciliation and peace in Afghanistan, talking to the Taliban (is it possible and how should be done?), Pakistani-Afghan relations. The Pugwash movement has also been concerned with environmental issues and as a result of its 1988 meeting in Dagomys it issued the Dagomys Declaration on Environmental Degradation ().

Nobel Peace Prize

In 1995, fifty years after the bombing of

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

and

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

, and forty years after the signing of the Russell–Einstein Manifesto, the Pugwash Conferences and Joseph Rotblat were awarded the

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."

International Foundation for Science

From the 1965 Pugwash conference came a recommendation to establish the International Foundation for Science "in order to address the stultifying conditions under which younger faculty members in the universities of developing countries were attempting to do research". The organization gives grants to early-career scientists in low-income countries for work on local water resources and biology.

Secretaries General

: 1957–1973 * Bernard Feld : 1973–1978 * Martin Kaplan : 1978–1989 * Francesco Calogero : 1989–1997 * George Rathjens : 1997–2002 * Paolo Cotta-Ramusino : 2002–

Pugwash Presidents

As of 2019, 13 individuals have served as Presidents of the Pugwash Conferences. * Earl (Bertrand) Russell, 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature, a founder of the movement, was its natural head in its initial years. The formal office of the presidency was established at the Quinquennial Conference in Ronneby, in 1967. The president's role was to "preside over the Annual Pugwash Conferences and, in addition, between Conferences, to offer his counsel and advice to the members of the Continuing Committee and the Secretary-General, and thereby assist them in the execution of the activities of the Movement." * Sir John Cockcroft, joint recipient of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics for pioneering work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles, was elected as the first president in 1967, though he died suddenly ten days later. *

Lord Florey Howard Walter Florey, Baron Florey (24 September 189821 February 1968) was an Australian pharmacology, pharmacologist and pathology, pathologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Ernst Chain, Sir Ernst Chain and ...

, who shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for extraction of penicillin, was then invited to become president, though he also died within weeks. At that point the Continuing Committee decided to have a rotating presidency for a term of one year, to have that office held by a distinguished person in the country where the annual conference would be held each year. *

Francis Perrin Francis Perrin may refer to: * Francis Perrin (actor) (born 1947), French actor, screenwriter and director * Francis Perrin (physicist) (1901–1992), French physicist See also

* Perrin (disambiguation) {{hndis, Perrin, Francis ...

(1968), had worked with Frederic Joliot's team to establish in 1939 the possibility of nuclear chain reactions and nuclear energy production.
Mikhail Millionshchikov
(1969), an eminent physicist who later became Speaker of the Russian Parliament. *

(1970), American biophysicist who worked on the Manhattan Project and was co-author with Leo Szilard of the Franck Report and co-founder in 1945 of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In September 1970, the Continuing Committee switched back to the initial idea of a permanent office of president, with a five-year term. *

Hannes Alfvén Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (; 30 May 1908 – 2 April 1995) was a Swedish electrical engineer, plasma physicist and winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). He described the class of MHD waves now ...

(1970–1975), recipient of the 1970 Nobel in Physics for work on his theory of magnetohydrodynamics. *

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (née Crowfoot; 12 May 1910 – 29 July 1994) was a Nobel Prize-winning British chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential fo ...

(1976–1988), recipient of the 1964

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances. * Sir Joseph Rotblat (1988–1997), physicist, one of the founders of the Pugwash Movement, co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize. *

Sir Michael Atiyah Sir Michael Francis Atiyah (; 22 April 1929 – 11 January 2019) was a British-Lebanese mathematician specialising in geometry. His contributions include the Atiyah–Singer index theorem and co-founding topological K-theory. He was awarded th ...

(1997–2002), a mathematician, was awarded the 1966 Fields Medal, for his work in developing K-theory. * Prof. M.S. Swaminathan (2002–2007), agricultural scientist, one of the pioneers of the

Green Revolution The Green Revolution, also known as the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period of technology transfer initiatives that saw greatly increased crop yields and agricultural production. These changes in agriculture began in developed countrie ...

and recipient of the World Food Prize and the UNESCO Gandhi Prize. * Amb. Jayantha Dhanapla (2007–2017), former Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs at the United Nations (1998–2003), and former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the US (1995–97) and to the UN Office in Geneva (1984–87) * Amb. Sergio Duarte (2017–), former UN Undersecretary for Disarmament Affairs and a retired career diplomat from Brazil

Pugwashites

The Pugwash Conference itself does not have formal membership (although national organisations do). All participants take part in their individual capacities and not as representatives of any organization, institution or government. Anyone who has attended a meeting is considered a "Pugwashite". There are more than 3,500 "Pugwashites" worldwide.

Pugwash Council for the 2007–2012 Quinquennium

*Amb.

(President), former UN Under-Secretary-General *Prof. Paolo Cotta-Ramusino (Secretary General), Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Milano (Italy) *Amb. (ret.) Ochieng Adala, former Perm Rep of Kenya to the United Nations in New York. *Amb. Sergey Batsanov, Director, Geneva Pugwash, former Rep of the USSR/Russia to CD *Dr. Adele Buckley, fmr VP of Tech, Ontario Centre for Enviro Tech Advancement. *Prof. Francesco Calogero (Fmr Sec Gen), Prof, Theoretical Physics, Univ of Rome "La Sapienza". *Dr. Lynn Eden, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford Univ. *Prof. John Finney, Emeritus Prof of Physics, University College London. *Prof. Galia Golan-Gild, Professor of Govt, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel. *Prof. Karen Hallberg, Prof of Physics, Fellow, Argentine Natl Council, Science & Tech *Dr. Peter Jones, fmr sr Policy Advisor, Sec & Intell Secretariat, Ottawa (PM's Department). *Gen. (ret.) Dr. Mohamed Kadry Said, Head of the Military Studies Unit, Al-Ahram Center *Dr. Mustafa Kibaroglu, Chair of the International Relations, Okan University Tuzla, Turkey *Mr. Cliff Kupchan, Director of Europe and Asia of the Eurasia Group, Washington, DC *Mr. Sverre Lodgaard, former Director, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs *Prof. Saideh Lotfian (Council Chair), Assoc Prof, Political Science, University of Tehran. *Dr. Riad Malki, Min. of Foreign Affairs, Min. of Information, Palestinian Natl Authority. *Amb. Miguel Marin-Bosch, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Mexico. *Gen. (ret.)

Talat Masood Lieutenant-General Talat Masood (Urdu: طلعت مسعُود) is a retired three-star rank army general, a political commentator, and a mechanical engineer. His career in the military spent in the Pakistan Army Corps of EME as an engineerin ...

, former Secretary, Defence Production Division, MOD *Prof. Amitabh Mattoo Professor of International Relations and Member, National Knowledge Commission *Dr. Steven Miller (Chair of Executive Committee), International Security Program of the Belfer Center, Harvard University *Prof. Götz Neuneck, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH), Hamburg. *Dr.

Alexander Nikitin Alexander Konstantinovich Nikitin (russian: Алекса́ндр Константи́нович Ники́тин; born 16 May 1952) is a Russian former submarine officer and nuclear safety inspector turned environmentalist. In 1996 he was accused ...

, Director of the Center for Political and International Studies *Mr. Niu Qiang, Secretary General, Chinese People's Assoc for Peace and Disarmament *Gen. Pan Zhengqiang, Deputy Chair, China Foundation of International Studies *Acad. Yuri Ryzhov, President, International Engineering University, Moscow *Prof.

Ivo Slaus Ivo is a masculine given name, in use in various European languages. The name used in western European languages originates as a Normannic name recorded since the High Middle Ages, and the French name Yves is a variant of it. The unrelated So ...

, former Member of the Croatian Parliament *Dr. Mark Byung-Moon Suh, Chair, Corea Trust Fund *Prof. Takao Takahara, Professor of International Politics and Peace Research, Faculty of International Studies, Meiji Gakuin University, Japan *Dr. Bob van der Zwaan, Senior Scientific Researcher, Energy Research Center of The Netherlands

Other Pugwashites

Syed Azeez Pasha Syed Azeez Pasha, a politician from Communist Party of India, was a Member of the Parliament of India representing Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicame ...

Ruth Adams
*

Raymond Aubrac Raymond Aubrac (31 July 1914 – 10 April 2012) was a leader of the French Resistance during the Second World War and a civil engineer after the Second World War. Early life Aubrac was born Raymond Samuel into a middle-class Jewish family in Ves ...

Lev Artsimovich Lev Andreyevich Artsimovich (Russian: Лев Андреевич Арцимович, February 25, 1909 – March 1, 1973), also transliterated Arzimowitsch, was a Soviet physicist who is regarded as the one of the founder of Tokamak— a device t ...

Frank Barnaby Frank Charles Barnaby (27 September 1927 – 1 August 2020) was the Nuclear Issues Consultant to the Oxford Research Group, a freelance defence analyst, and a prolific author on military technology. He was based in the United Kingdom.

* Ana Maria Cetto *

Carl Djerassi Carl Djerassi (October 29, 1923 – January 30, 2015) was an Austrian-born Bulgarian-American pharmaceutical chemist, novelist, playwright and co-founder of Djerassi Resident Artists Program with Diane Middlebrook, Diane Wood Middlebrook. He is b ...

* Paul M. Doty * Bernard T. Feld * Shalheveth Freier *

John Holdren John Paul Holdren (born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1944) is an American scientist who served as the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues through his roles as Assistant to the President for Science and ...

George Ignatieff Count George Pavlovich Ignatieff, (russian: Георгий Па́влович Игнатьев; December 16, 1913 – August 10, 1989) was a Canadian diplomat. His career spanned nearly five decades in World War II and the postwar period. Ear ...

Frédéric Joliot-Curie Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie (; ; 19 March 1900 – 14 August 1958) was a French physicist and husband of Irène Joliot-Curie, with whom he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of Induced radioactivity. T ...

Peter Kapitza Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa or Peter Kapitza (Russian: Пётр Леонидович Капица, Romanian: Petre Capița ( – 8 April 1984) was a leading Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate, best known for his work in low-temperature physics ...

Sergey Kapitsa Sergey Petrovich Kapitsa (russian: Сергей Петрович Капица; 14 February 192814 August 2012) was a Russian physicist and demographer. He was best known as host of the popular and long-running Russian scientific TV show, ''Evident ...

* Patricia Lindop *

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* Ali Asghar Soltanieh *

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Legacy

As the birthplace of the Pugwash movement, the Thinkers' Lodge was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...

in 2008.

Jubilee Pugwash Conference Astana

The Jubilee 62nd Pugwash Conference devoted to nuclear disarmament was held in

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...

, the capital of

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, in 2017. The conference celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first Pugwash Conference, held in Pugwash, Nova Scotia in 1957. The theme of the conference was "Confronting New Nuclear Dangers." The conference agenda focused on strengthening the nuclear test ban and combating terrorism. The Astana conference working groups included: * Nuclear disarmament and the UN negotiation process to prohibit nuclear weapons * Nuclear non-proliferation, civilian nuclear energy and energy security * Regional Security: Europe and NATO * Regional Security: Middle East * Regional Security: South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India) * Regional Security: Northeast Asia * Emerging new technologies and security issues (Cyber Security, AI, Robot)

Notes

References

Books

External links

Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs

Russia: Russian Pugwash Committee

Canada: Canadian Pugwash Group
-see:
France: Association Française pour le Mouvement Pugwash

*

by Joseph Rotblat in ''Physics Today'', June 2001.

by J.P. Perry Robinson.

(Rome, through 1996 only)

* J. Rotblat, Scientists in the Quest for Peace: A history of the Pugwash Conferences, MIT Press,1972. {{Authority control Anti–nuclear weapons movement International conferences International scientific organizations Organizations awarded Nobel Peace Prizes International nongovernmental organizations International organisations based in Italy Ethics of science and technology International security Organisations based in Rome Non-profit organisations based in Italy Scientific organisations based in Italy Scientific organizations established in 1957 1957 establishments in Canada Buildings and structures in Nova Scotia 1957 in Nova Scotia Existential risk organizations