Retrospective: Joseph Rotblat (1908-2005)

Overview

“Joseph Rotblat...was a participant in the Manhattan Project, a pioneer in medical physics, and one of the towering figures of the 20th century in the domain of the social responsibilities of scientists. He was the only scientist to leave the American-British atomic-bomb project on moral grounds once it became clear that the Germans would not succeed in developing the bomb....In 1995, Joseph Rotblat was awarded half of the Nobel Peace Prize with a citation that read ‘for efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international affairs and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms.’ The other half of the prize went to the Pugwash organization.”