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Joseph Rotblat
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== Peace work == Rotblat believed that scientists should always be concerned with the ethical consequences of their work.<ref name="oath">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.286.5444.1475 | last1 = Rotblat | first1 = J. | author-link = Joseph Rotblat | title = A Hippocratic Oath for scientists | journal = Science | volume = 286 | issue = 5444 | pages = 1475 | year = 1999 | pmid = 10610545 | s2cid = 4959172 }}</ref> He became one of the most prominent critics of the [[nuclear arms race]], was the youngest signatory of the [[Russell–Einstein Manifesto]] in 1955, and chaired the press conference that launched it. After the positive coverage of the manifesto, [[Cyrus Eaton]] offered to fund the influential [[Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs]], an [[international organisation]] that brought together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of [[armed conflict]] and to seek solutions to [[global security]] threats, particularly those related to [[nuclear warfare]]. With [[Bertrand Russell]] and others, Rotblat organised the first of these in 1957 and continued to work within their framework until his death. In 1958, Rotblat joined the executive committee of the newly launched [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]] (CND). Despite the [[Iron Curtain]] and the [[Cold War]], he advocated establishing links between scientists from the West and East. For this reason, the Pugwash conferences were viewed with suspicion. Initially the British government thought them little more than "Communist front gatherings".<ref name=witt>{{cite web |url=http://hnn.us/articles/14428.html |title=The Political Rehabilitation of Józef Rotblat |first=Lawrence S. |last=Wittner |year=2005 |access-date=24 November 2016 |archive-date=3 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303151648/http://hnn.us/articles/14428.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, he persuaded [[John Cockcroft]], a member of the [[United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority]], to suggest who might be invited to the 1958 conference. He successfully resisted a subsequent attempt to take over the conferences,<ref name=witt /> causing a [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|Foreign Office]] official to write that "the difficulty is to get Prof. Rotblat to pay any attention to what we think ... He is no doubt jealous of his independence and scientific integrity", and that securing "a new organizer for the British delegation seems to be the first need, but I do not know if there is any hope of this."<ref name=witt /> By the early 1960s the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] thought that the Pugwash Conferences were "now a very respectable organization", and the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|Foreign Office]] stated that it had "official blessing" and that any breakthrough may well originate at such gatherings.<ref name=witt /> The Pugwash Conferences are credited with laying the ground work for the [[Partial Test Ban Treaty]] of 1963, the [[Nonproliferation Treaty]] of 1968, the [[Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty]] of 1972, the [[Biological Weapons Convention]] of 1972 and the [[Chemical Weapons Convention]] of 1993.<ref name="obit" /> In parallel with the Pugwash Conferences, he joined with [[Albert Einstein]], [[Robert Oppenheimer]], [[Bertrand Russell]] and other concerned scientists to found the [[World Academy of Art and Science]], which was proposed by them in the mid-1950s and formally constituted in 1960.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldacademy.org/content/history |title=History |publisher=World Academy of Art and Science |access-date=24 November 2016 |archive-date=21 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221231338/http://www.worldacademy.org/content/history |url-status=live }}</ref> He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a [[world constitution]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961 |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B149-F04-022.1.8 |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B154-F05-028.1.6 |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}}</ref> As a result, for the first time in human history, a [[World Constituent Assembly]] convened to draft and adopt a [[Constitution for the Federation of Earth]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Preparing earth constitution {{!}} Global Strategies & Solutions {{!}} The Encyclopedia of World Problems |url=http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/strategy/193465 |url-status= |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Encyclopedia of World Problems {{!}} Union of International Associations (UIA)}}</ref>
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