Biography
Excellence in Scholarship and Learning
Excellence in Scholarship and Learning
Joseph Rotblat
A Man of Conscience in the Nuclear Age
Martin Underwood read physics and philosophy and gained a D.Phil. from Oxford University in nuclear physics. He worked on the linear accelerator at St. Bartholomew's Medical College in 1976/77, under Joseph Rotblat. He joined BP Research, becoming Leader of both Nuclear Geophysics and Operational Physics Research Projects before following a commercial career in BP Exploration. He then became the MD of a Technology Park in Coventry. He is author of some 20 papers in various scientific journals and papers recently on Joseph Rotblat.
Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat was a distinguished
scientist who made a significant contribution to nuclear physics,
worked on the development of the atomic bomb (he was the only person
to leave the Manhattan Project), and was suspected of being a Soviet
spy. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki he became a peace campaigner and
dedicated himself to the medical uses of nuclear physics and radiation.He
took up the post of Professor of Physics (as applied to medicine)
at St. Bartholomew's Medical College and made major contributions
to this field, becoming one of the world's leading researchers into
the biological effects of radiation.
His life from the early 1950s until his death in August
2005 was devoted to the abolition of nuclear weapons and the promotion
of world peace. His work ranked with that of Albert Einstein and
Bertrand Russell. He helped found The Pugwash Conferences on Science
and World Affairs, and together with Pugwash he was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. Rotblat promoted dialogue between Soviet
and Western scientists during the Cold War, initiated discussions
to end the Vietnam War, and was instrumental in bringing about a
partial nuclear weapons test-ban treaty.
Martin Underwood worked with Sir Joseph, and takes the opportunity
to describe his personal background and circumstances, summarize
his life, achievements and contribution to mankind, and outline
his views on the moral responsibilities of the scientist. This book
will appeal to all those interested in the development of nuclear
weapons, the growth of the anti-nuclear movement, and the peaceful
uses of radioactivity.
| Paperback ISBN: | 978-1-84519-323-2 |
| Paperback Price: | £18.95 / $39.95 |
| Release Date: | July 2009 |
| Page Extent / Format: | 172 pp. / 229 x 152 mm |
| Illustrated: | No |
Preface and Acknowledgements
1 Poland: Early Life and Influences, 1908–1939
2 Liverpool University, 1939–1943
3 The Manhattan Project, 1944–1943
4 Under Suspicion
5 Return to Liverpool, 1945–1950
6 St Bartholomew’s Medical College, 1950–1976
7 Politics: Rotblat’s Growth into a Public Figure
8 The Pugwash Conferences
9 World Government
10 Fallout from Pugwash and Post-Retirement Activities
11 Thoughts on a Creative Life
Appendices 1–7
1 ‘Leaving the Bomb’,
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, August 1985. Reproduced with
permission.
2 The Russell–Einstein Manifesto. This was originally
a Press Release.
3 Statement from the First Pugwash Conference, Pugwash, July
7–10, 1957. Reproduced by permission of the US Pugwash
Group.
4 Statement from the Third Pugwash Conference, Vienna, September
14–20, 1958. Reproduced by permission of the US Pugwash
Group.
5 ‘Time to Rethink the Idea of World Government’.
This was a paper given by Rotblat at the 42nd Pugwash Conference,
Berlin, 1992. Reproduced by permission of the US Pugwash Group.
6 ‘Remember Your Humanity’. This is his Nobel
Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, 1995. © 1995 The Nobel
Foundation. Reproduced with permission.
7 ‘The Nuclear Issue: Pugwash and the Bush Policies’.
The 53rd Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs:
Advancing Human Security – The Role of Technology and
Politics. Reproduced by permission of the US Pugwash Group.
Sources
Index
Martin Underwood has written a fine and crucial narrative of one of the
great heroes of the twentieth century. The only scientist to resign
his Manhattan Project post on learning that Germany would not make
an atom bomb, Rotblat fulfilled his ideal that a scientist is first
and foremost a human being. Rotblat's subsequent life-long campaign
to eliminate nuclear weapons, and ultimately to banish war, is a
story of courage and vision which Underwood writes with passion
and urgency.
John Cornwell
This work is the biography of Joseph Rotblat, who escaped
the Nazis in Poland and worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos
but then labored against and led international activities against
nuclear weapons. The first 32 pages of this slim work covers Rotblat’s
scientific career… The next 53 pages discuss Rotblat as a
public figure and his work in founding and organizing the Pugwash
Conferences on Science and World Affairs. The final 65 pages are
appendixes that contain Pugwash Conference statements and Rotblat’s
Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 1995. Author Underwood is
a physicist who worked under Rotblat from 1976 to 1977 at St. Bartholomew’s
Medical College in London. The major audience … will be those
interested in the development of the antinuclear movement and activities
and the origin of the Pugwash Conferences.
Choice
Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat was a scientist and peace
activist of the post-WWII period. After resigning from the Manhattan
Project due to reasons of conscience, he became one of the world’s
leading researchers into the biological effects of radiation. He
helped found The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs,
and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. Underwood, who worked
under Rotblat at St. Bartholomew’s Medical College in the
1970s, here describes Rotblat’s personal background, details
his scientific achievements and his efforts to abolish nuclear weapons,
and summarizes his views on the moral responsibilities of the scientist.
About 60 pages of appendices collect articles and press releases,
and conference statements, papers, and speeches given by Rotblat,
including his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Underwood is a researcher
for BP.
SciTech Book News
Martin Underwood worked with Joseph Rotblat in 1976
and this clearly made a lasting impression which has led him to publish short articles about the impact of his life. Rotblat held
the chair of Medical Physics at St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Medical School from 1950 to 1976. He has also made a significant
contribution as its second editor to Physics in Medicine and Biology,
establishing it as an important international journal. He died in
2005 at the age of 96. This short biography looks particularly at
the political impact of Sir Joseph’s life and especially at
his involvement with the antinuclear movement. There are some particularly
interesting items in the many Appendices, which form about a third
of the book, including proceedings of several of the Pugwash conferences,
of which Sir Joseph was a founding member. Of particular interest
are the articles that Rotblat himself wrote describing his reasons
for leaving the Manhattan Project and his acceptance speech on receipt
of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. … Sir Joseph’s relationship
with the nuclear bomb formed a very significant part of his personality
and this book makes an interesting contribution on this aspect of
his life and even includes his views on the Iraq war.
Philip
Mayles, Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology NHS Foundation Trus, in Scope
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