“Remember your humanity, and forget the rest.”

In 1955, Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell published a manifesto, signed by eleven prominent thinkers, including nine Nobel laureates, in which they argued that nuclear warfare must be renounced by all humanity because of its destructiveness, and that scientists need to convene and converse on the topic of nuclear war. Bertrand Russell wrote previously, “The prospect for the human race is somber beyond all precedent. Mankind is faced with a clear-cut alternative: either we shall all perish, or we shall have to acquire some slight degree of common sense. A great deal of new political thinking will be necessary if utter disaster is to be averted.”

The Einstein and Russell proposal led to a meeting of 22 prominent scientists in the Canadian fishing village of Pugwash. From those early beginnings, Pugwash has become an internationally renowned group (winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995) which advocates nuclear disarmament and conversations on the intersection of science and policy and the responsibilities of scientists towards society. Pugwash covers a broad spectrum of topics, including health, energy, chemical warfare, ethics, policy, and many other emerging discussions that involve the interface of science and society. Centrally, Pugwash has offices in London, Rome, Geneva, and Washington DC, which have assisted in the organization of over 275 conferences, symposia, and workshops. Furthermore, there are hundreds of Student Pugwash groups throughout the world, including one at The Rockefeller University. Formally, Student Pugwash USA (SPUSA) was started in 1997 by Jeffery Leifer who, after attending an International Pugwash conference, believed that younger scientists should also be exposed to the topics championed by the Einstein-Russell Manifesto. Here at RU, a SPUSA chapter was started in 2003 with tremendous faculty support, in order to invite discussions on the Iraqi war and the use of chemical weapons. Since then, Pugwash has widely expanded its membership and topical interests to cover such things as poverty, neuroeconomics, policy, and the role of scientists in society.

In his memoir, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!, Richard Feynman recalled a moment after the successful test of a nuclear bomb which purports the need for groups such as Pugwash:
      After the thing went off, there was tremendous excitement at Los Alamos. Everybody had parties, we all ran around. I sat on the end of a jeep and beat drums and so on. But one man, I remember, Bob Wilson, was just sitting there moping. I said, “What are you moping about?” He said, “It’s a terrible thing that we made.” I said, “But you started it. You got us into it.” You see, what happened to me—what happened to the rest of us—is we started for a good reason, then you’re working very hard to accomplish something and it’s pleasurable, it’s excitement. And you stop thinking, you know; you just stop. Bob Wilson was the only one who was still thinking about it, at that moment.

Becoming conscious of the role and responsibility of science in modern society is not an easy step to take; this act involves shaping the way one learns, thinks, and approaches problems, and being exposed to issues that are not commonly part of our scientific life. A big picture is difficult to catch, but acknowledging the existence of problems is the first big step toward their resolution. This is the reason why Pugwash aims to cross-educate scientists with multi-disciplinary conferences and workshops, thus fostering effective collaborations that concentrate on equitable solutions. Pugwash has developed a unique mode of action, with individuals participating in conversations or conferences representing only themselves and not their institutions or governments. There is no formal membership, minimal bureaucratic structure, no official political stance, and the organization is maintained privately and independently. Pugwash was constructed in the academic tradition, with freedom of expression emphasized and minimal boundaries enforced.

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