Meet the man from Manhattan project who thought differently...

Joseph Rotblat was an amazing man who quit the Manhattan project on moral grounds. For the initiates Manhattan project was an American project to create atomic bomb. Rotblat on realizing that the Germans were not in position to make atomic bomb found it difficult to sustain the argument that Allies needed atomic bomb or for that matter world need this destructive power. Since he couldn’t reconcile these he quit, probably the only scientist to take such an action on moral grounds. What makes him amazing was that he could foresee the danger of nuclear bombs. Rotblat was a scientist who valued life, unlike other professional scientists he thought about the implications on humankind.

Einstein was an ardent supporter of nuclear free world, simultaneously in 1955 Bertrand Russell highlighted the dangers of nuclear weapons creating what is referred to as Russell-Einstein manifesto. Few days later Einstein died but a conference reiterating their intent was held in Pugwash (Canada). Russell in his Autobiography tells the wonderful story of how he had (in 1955) written up a statement calling for joint action among scientists "of both capitalist and communist ideologies" and left it with Einstein for his approval. He was "shattered" when on his flight from Rome to Paris the pilot announced the news of Einstein's death. But at his hotel in Paris he found a letter from Einstein with his agreement!!. The Manifesto is also printed in Russell's book, Has Man a Future?, It speaks passionately of the grave threat posed by the existence of nuclear weapons and the danger that scientific knowledge will be put to harmful uses. The signers speak "not as members of this or that nation, continent, or creed, but as human beings, members of the species Man, whose continued existence is in doubt.... All, equally, are in peril. We have to learn to think in a new way.... Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?"

Rotblat was the last living signer of the 1955 Russell-Einstein Manifesto, one of the great documents of the 20th century, and he often quoted its final passage: “We appeal, as human beings, to human beings: Remember your humanity and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open for a new paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.” Rotblat was for many years the General Secretary of the Pugwash Conferences, He was convinced that countries needed to abolish nuclear weapons and he devoted his life to achieving this goal, as well as the goal of ending war as a human institution. Just prior to his 90th birthday, he said that he still had two great goals in life. “My short-term goal,” he said, “is the abolition of nuclear weapons, and my long-term goal is the abolition of war.” In 1995, Joseph and the Pugwash Conferences were joint recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. He began his Nobel acceptance speech by saying, “At this momentous event in my life…I want to speak as a scientist, but also as a human being. From my earliest days I had a passion for science. But science, the exercise of the supreme power of the human intellect, was always linked in my mind with benefit to people. I saw science as being in harmony with humanity. I did not imagine that the second half of my life would be spent on efforts to avert a mortal danger to humanity created by science.”

When asked “What gives you hope for the future?”

He responded, “My hope is based on logic. Namely, there is no alternative. If we don’t do this [eliminate nuclear weapons and engender more responsibility by scientists as well as citizens in general], then we are doomed. The whole existence of humankind is endangered. We are an endangered species now and we have to take steps to prevent the extinguishing of the human species. We owe an allegiance to humanity. Since there is no other way, then we must proceed in this way. Therefore, if we must do it, then there is hope that it will be done.”

“Morality,” he wrote once, “is at the core of the nuclear issue: are we going to base our world on a culture of peace or on a culture of war? Nuclear weapons are fundamentally immoral: their action is indiscriminate, affecting civilians as well as military, innocents and aggressors alike, killing people alive now and generations as yet unborn. And the consequence of their use could bring the human race to an end.” He ended his appeal with his oft-repeated plea, “Remember your humanity.”

Joseph Rotblat died in 2005.