Science, (Anti-)Communism and Diplomacy: The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs in the Early Cold War

In 1995 the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded its Nobel Peace Prize, “in two equal parts, to Joseph Rotblat and to the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms.” Rotblat, who had worked on the Allied nuclear bomb effort during World War II, resigned in the 1940s when it became clear to him that Germany would not develop nuclear weapons. Instead, he commenced work on arms control efforts. Who were the scientists involved in Pugwash? What stimulated their involvement in arms control activities? How did they bridge the gulf in understandings between the superpowers and reconcile their own beliefs in the largely apolitical nature of science with the clearly political activities in which they were involved? The authors of this edited volume on the Pugwash organization answer these...