Joseph Rotblat

Who was Joseph Rotblat?

Sir Joseph Rotblat (Polish: Józef Rotblat; 4 November 1908 – 31 August 2005) was a Polish and British physicist. A signatory of the 1955 Russell–Einstein Manifesto, he was secretary-general of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs from their founding until 1973 and shared, with the Pugwash Conferences, the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize "for efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international affairs and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms." Józef Rotblat was born to a Polish-Jewish family in Warsaw, then part of the Russian-ruled Kingdom of Poland, better known as Congress Poland. His father, Zygmunt Rotblat, built up and ran a nationwide horse-drawn carriage business, owned land and bred horses.

During World War II he worked on Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project, but left the Los Alamos Laboratory on grounds of conscience after it became clear to him in 1944 that Germany had ceased development of an atomic bomb. He was one of seven children, two of whom died in infancy.

Historical significance

His work on nuclear fallout was a major contribution toward the ratification of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.