Sir Joseph Rotblat (1908-2005)

Físico, vencedor do Prémio Nobel da Paz em 1995, "pelos seus esforços para diminuir o papel das armas nucleares na política internacional e, a longo prazo, para eliminar essas armas".

Joseph Rotblat was born in Warsaw, Poland, on 4 November 1908 and has been a British citizen since 1946. He has a Ph.D. in physics from University of Warsaw and several degrees from British universities. When World War II started, he was the Assistant Director of Atomic Physics Institute of Free University of Poland. He moved to England, and from 1939-1944 worked on the atom bomb at the University of Liverpool and in Los Alamos, New Mexico. In 1959 he organized the Atom Train Exhibition, the first large-scale effort to educate the public about the peaceful and military applications of nuclear energy. In 1955 he signed of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto and chaired the press conference which announced it. From 1957-1973 he was Secretary-General of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs which bring together influential scholars and public figures concerned with reducing the danger of armed conflict and seeking cooperative solutions for global problems. He was co-founder and a member of governing board of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. He held dozens of public and academic appointments, including being a member of the Management Group of World Health Organization, mainly responsible for reports on effects of nuclear war on health and health services. He authored more than 300 publications, including 20 books. (daqui)