Joseph Rotblat
Biographical
Curriculum Vitae
| Born Warsaw, 4 November 1908 (British citizen since 1946) Educated at the Free University of Poland and the University of Warsaw, Poland |
| Academic Degrees |
| MA, Free University of Poland, 1932 |
| Doctor of Physics, University of Warsaw, 1938 |
| PhD, University of Liverpool, 1950 |
| DSc, University of London, 1953 |
| Honorary Degrees |
| Hon DSc, University of Bradford, 1973 |
| Hon. Fellow, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, 1985 |
| Dr Honoris causa, University of Moscow, 1988 |
| Hon DSc, University of Liverpool, 1989 |
| Professional Career | |
| 1933-1939: | Research Fellow of Radiological Laboratory of Scientific Society of Warsaw |
| 1937-1939: | Assistant Director of Atomic Physics Institute of Free University of Poland |
| 1939: | Oliver Lodge Fellowship, University of Liverpool |
| 1939-1944: | Work on atom bomb, University of Liverpool and in Los Alamos |
| 1940-1949: | Lecturer and afterwards Senior Lecturer in Department of Physics, Liverpool University |
| 1945-1949: | Director of Research in Nuclear Physics at Liverpool University |
| 1948: | Fellow of Institute of Physics |
| 1950-1976: | Professor of Physics in the University of London, at St.Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, now Emeritus |
| 1950-1976 | Chief Physicist at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital |
| Other activities and appointments | |
| 1945-1950 | Chairman, Photographic Emulsion Panel of the UK Nuclear Physics Committee (development of sensitive emulsions which made possible the discovery of pi-mesons) |
| 1946-1950 | Chairman, Cyclotron Panel of the UK Nuclear Physics Committee (planned and supervised building of cyclotrons for Harwell and Liverpool) |
| 1946-1959 | Co-founder of Atomic Scientists Association; served as its Executive Vice-President from 1952-1959 |
| 1947-1950 | Organized the Atom Train Exhibition, the first large-scale effort to educate the public about the peaceful and military applications of nuclear energy. The exhibition toured Britain, Europe and the Middle East |
| 1955 | Signatory of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto; chaired press conference which announced it |
| 1957-1973 | Secretary-General of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs; organized numerous conferences of scientists; edited Pugwash Newsletter |
| 1960-1972 | Editor-in-Chief of Physics in Medicine and Biology |
| 1966-1971 | Co-founder and member of governing board of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute |
| 1966 | Co-founder of UK Panel on Gamma and Electron Irradiation |
| 1969-1970 | President, Hospital Physicists’ Association |
| 1971-1972 | President, British Institute of Radiology |
| 1972-1975 | President, International Science Forum |
| 1972-1975 | Member of the Advisory Committee on Medical Research, World Health Organization |
| 1974-1976 | Treasurer, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College |
| 1974-1976 | Vice-Dean, Faculty of Science, University of London |
| 1975-1976 | Montague Visiting Professor of International Relations, University of Edinburgh |
| 1977 | Governor of the Voluntary Hospital of St. Bartholomew in the City of London |
| 1977-1978 | Visiting Professor of Physics, University of Penang, Malaysia; set-up school of biophysics |
| 1978-1988 | Chairman of the British Pugwash Group |
| 1984-1990 | Member of the Management Group of World Health Organization; as rapporteur mainly responsible for Reports on Effects of Nuclear War on Health and Health Services |
| 1988- | President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs |
| Membership of Academies of Science |
| Foreign Member, Polish Academy of Sciences, 1966 |
| Honorary Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1972 |
| Foreign Member, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1988 |
| Foreign Member, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 1994 |
| Fellow of the Royal Society, 1995 |
| Honours and Awards |
| Commander of the British Empire (CBE), 1965 |
| Bertrand Russell Society Award, 1983 |
| Commander, Order of Merit (Poland), 1987 |
| Gold Medal, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1988 |
| Order of Cyril and Methodius (1st Cl.) (Bulgaria), 1988 |
| Knight Commander’s Cross, Order of Merit (Germany), 1989 |
| Distinguished Citizen Award, Int. Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, 1989 |
| Honorary Member, British Institute of Radiology, 1990 |
| Albert Einstein Peace Prize, 1992 |
| Honorary Professor, University of Blagoevgrad, 1993 |
| Nobel Peace Laureate, 1995 |
| Publications |
| Over 300 publications, including 20 books, in the following areas: |
| Nuclear Physics |
| Medical Physics and Radiation Biology |
| Radiation Hazards and the Consequences of Nuclear War |
| Nuclear Power and Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Arms Control and Disarmament |
| The Pugwash Movement and the Social Responsibility of Scientists |
| Selected Bibliography |
| By Joseph Rotblat |
| Rotblat, Joseph. “Leaving the Bomb Project”, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 41 (August 1985): 16–19. Rotblat’s personal story. |
| Rotblat, Joseph, J. Steinberger and B. Udgaonkar, Nuclear-Weapon-Free World: Desirable? Feasible? Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1993. A Pugwash monograph which opened a significant debate on its theme. Also published in Russian, French, Chinese, Arabic, Swedish, and Japanese. |
| Rotblat, Joseph ed., Nuclear Weapons: The Road to Zero. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1998. Essays on the present situation and prospects for the future. |
| Rotblat, Joseph, Scientists in the Quest for Peace: A History of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1972. |
| Rotblat, Joseph, ed. Scientists, the Arms Race and Disarmament. A UNESCO/Pugwash Symposium. London: Taylor & Francis, 1982. Esp. Rotblat’s article, “Movements of Scientists against the Arms Race”, pp. 115–157. |
| Other Sources |
| De Andreis, M. and Francesco Calogero, The Soviet Nuclear Weapon Legacy, SIPRI Research Report no. 10, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. |
| Calogero, Francesco, M. Goldberger and S.P. Kapitza, eds. Verification: Monitoring Disarmament, Boulder, Colorado: Westview, 1991. Also published in Russian. Essays by top experts from U.S., Europe and Russia. |
| Moore, Mike. “Forty Years of Pugwash”, in Bulletin of Atomic Scientists vol. 53, 6 (November/December 1997):40–45. Looking back after the 40th annual meeting, held at Lillehammer, Norway. Illustrated. |
| Szasz, Ferenc Morton, British Scientists and the Manhattan Project, MacMillan 1992, Ch.5. |
| Wittner, Lawrence, The Struggle Against the Bomb. Vol. 2, Resisting the Bomb 1954–1970, (Stanford, California: Stanford Univ. Press, 1997): 33–37, 111–114, 292–96, 418– 419. A monumental work with well researched references to the hostile attitude of Western governments toward early Pugwash activities. |
This CV was first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
Sir Joseph Rotblat died on 31 August 2005.
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