Joseph Rotblat at McGill University
Fifty-four
years after abandoning the Manhattan Project, 1995 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Joseph Rotblat is still fighting for a nuclear-free world. In a lecture at
McGill last Wednesday, Rotblat looked back on the 20th century, a century unique
in its unprecedented threats to human survival.
"Science
is largely responsible for the benefits to mankind in this century, but also for
much of the dangers we face. Because of nuclear warheads, the future of the
human race cannot be guaranteed. Our species is now an endangered species."
He
reminded a generation that has seen the passing of the cold war that humanity
has, in the past, come within a hair of nuclear war.
"On
several occasions, we came close to the actual use (of nuclear missiles). I'll
never forget one of them, the Cuban missile crisis, in which the human race's
fate depended on the decisions of one man. Thankfully, (Soviet president)
Khrushchev was a sane man. We might not be so lucky the next time."
Rotblat
is a co-founder and former president of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and
World Affairs. Pugwash conferences are held annually to examine the dangers of
armed conflict. Scientists are asked to examine the ethical issues raised by
their work. Pugwash conferences have been credited with inspiring, among other
initiatives, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968, the Biological
Weapons Treaty of 1972 and the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.
Rotblat,
who is president emeritus of the
London headquarters of Pugwash, is equally famous for his participation in
developing the atom bomb, then walking away as perhaps the first nuclear
protester. In 1939, Rotblat worked with James Chadwick, discoverer of the
neutron, at Liverpool University. He then worked for the Manhattan Project, the
American initiative to create the atomic bomb. He decided to leave that project
in 1944. During his lecture, Rotblat offered an inside view on his, and other
scientists', reasoning at the time.
"Early
in 1939, when I and other scientists came to understand the huge amounts of
energy released by nuclear reactions, we also understood that this could be used
to create an atom bomb. I wanted to put that idea out of my mind, but I knew
that other scientists would not have the same scruples."
He
chose to work on the bomb out of his belief in the principle of deterrence.
"We
reasoned that, once the bomb was developed by other nations, the only way to
stop nations from using it would be to have it ourselves."
But
Rotblat learned that the Americans were looking further ahead than World War II,
and were already planning for the cold war. They wanted the bomb "to subdue
the Russians," in the words of American general Leslie Groves, not so much
to fight Germany. But the clincher was news coming from Germany.
"At
that time (the end of 1944), large parts of Germany were already occupied by the
allied forces and many senior scientists were interned. Therefore, we had
intelligence information that the Germans had ceased to work on the bomb. They
had decided that it was impractical and it would weigh tons. As soon as I
learned that, I packed my bags and left Los Alamos."
Rotblat
says now that even deterrence, his original motivation for working on the
project despite his misgivings, was not reason enough.
"Deterrence
only works with a rational man -- someone who understands and respects the fact
that actions have consequences. It doesn't work with a madman. I am convinced
now that if Hitler had had the atom bomb, his last order from his bunker would
have been to drop the bomb on London, regardless of the consequences for
Germany."
Rotblat
says that the world has gone the wrong way in its efforts to grapple with the
spectre of war.
"Inspired
by the motto 'If you want peace, prepare for war,' the world has followed a
slightly different dictum: 'If you want peace, be armed to the teeth.' Because
we believe this, of course we have had many wars. If you have weapons, you will
use them eventually."
"We
need a better motto: 'If you want peace, prepare for peace.'"
As
one of the first steps toward this goal, Rotblat called for complete
disarmament. He says that the widespread availability of nukes in the post-cold
war world makes deterrence nearly irrelevant.
"We
feel it is urgent to eliminate all nuclear weapons. Nowadays, a large amount of
nuclear material, especially in Russia, is not fully controlled. There are many
opportunities for terrorist groups or rogue nations to acquire such a weapon. If
such a group or nation used it to blackmail the rest of the world, all the
thousands of nuclear weapons in the arsenals would be completely useless to deal
with such a threat. The only solution is to get rid of all these weapons."
As
for his fellow scientists, Rotblat called on them to temper the thrill of
discovery with an ethical vigilance.
"We
hope that scientists around the world will refuse to work on weapons of mass
destruction... Perhaps scientists should adopt a code of conduct, something like
the Hippocratic Oath. Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath because of their
responsibility; the life of the patient rests in the hands of the doctor.
Nowadays, the whole of humanity is in danger and the scientist is the
doctor."
The
lecture was organized by the Dean of Science, as well as McGill Student Pugwash,
the Science Undergraduate Society and the Physics Department.
From McGill Reporter
Thursday
April 9, 1998
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