Sir Józef Rotblat, or sometimes incorrectly Joseph Rotblat (born November 4, 1908) is a Polish (though with British citizenship) physicist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 in conjuction with the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an organization of scientists which he headed at the time, for their efforts towards nuclear disarmament.
Rotblat was born in Łódź in central Poland. He graduated from the Warsaw University and until 1939 he worked at the university, the Radium Institute in Warsaw and other scientific institutions.
He went to Liverpool on a scientific grant and was struck by the fighting in World War II. In Britain he collaborated with James Chadwick, and during the war he was involved in the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bombs. However, after Nazi Germany was defeated, Rotblat became the only physicist to leave the Project, feeling that its initial purpose (to beat Nazi Germany in producing the first bomb) was no longer justifiable.
He became one of the most prominent critics of the nuclear arms race and, with Bertrand Russell, founded the Pugwash organization. Despite the Iron Curtain and the Cold War he advocated establishing links between scientists from the West and East. Just as the Hippocratic Oath provides a code of conduct for physicians, he thought that scientists should have their own code of moral conduct.
He was knighted in 1998.
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Last updated: 06-09-2005 11:05:57
