On the
100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize, over 100 Nobel laureates, primarily from the hard sciences of chemistry (32) and physics (34), called for the "replacement of war by law," and an end to "the unilateral search for security."
Rejecting the "madman" rhetoric dominating the corporate media, they said, "The most profound danger to world - Peace in the coming years will stem not from the irrational acts of states or individuals but from the legitimate demands of the world's dispossessed," a majority of whom "live a marginal existence in equatorial climates" and will suffer most from the coming effects of global warming largely "originating with the wealthy few."
Calling the situation of the world's poor "desperate and manifestly unjust," the statement concluded by saying, "To survive in the world we have transformed, we must learn to think in a new way. As never before, the future of each depends on the good of all."
[
Read The Statement ]
Canadian Chemistry laureate,
John Polanyi, who helped draft the statement, explains why they acted--out of a sense of obligation and idealism--saying
"Stupidity is the Enemy; Idealism Is Our Only Hope" Polanyi has written extensively on
public affairs throughout his career, including a strong
statement of support for the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights on it's 50th Anniversay.
This is not an isolated expression. In November 1992, some 1,700 of the world's leading scientists, including a majority of Nobel science laureates issued
The World Scientists' Warning to Humanity which called for environmental restoration and repair, population control, gender equality and the elimination of poverty.
And, in fall 1997, the
Union of Concerned Scientists initiated the
World Scientists' Call for Action at the Kyoto Climate Summit, signed by over 1,500 scientists, including 104 of the 178 then-living Nobel Prize winners in the sciences.
