Taking a stand: Exploring the role of the scientist prior to the first PugwashConference on Science and World Affairs, 1957  Article © Sylvia Marie Nickerson, [email protected]Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto Publication forthcoming in 2013 in Scientia Canadensis: Journal of the History of Canadian Science, Technology, and Medicine  - CLICK TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

(2013) Taking a stand: Exploring the role of the scientist prior to the first Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, 1957

•   Taking a stand: Exploring the role of the scientist prior to the first PugwashConference on Science and World Affairs, 1957  Article © Sylvia Marie Nickerson, [email protected]Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto Publication forthcoming in 2013 in Scientia Canadensis: Journal of the History of Canadian Science, Technology, and Medicine   Contents:1.0   Introduction1.1
  Background to Pugwash: Man’s Peril and the Russell-Einstein Manifesto1.2
  The first Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs1.3
  Rationale for political engagement1.4
  Rationale for political disengagement1.5
  Scientists as political actors1.6
  Conclusion
  Abstract:In 1957, a small group of world-renown scientists gathered in Pugwash, Nova Scotia to discuss
  the growing threat of nuclear arms. Funded by industrialist Cyrus Eaton and spearheaded by philosopher
  Bertrand Russell and physicist Joseph Rotblat, this 1957meeting founded an organization of scientists
  that believed they had a duty to speak out against escalating nuclear testing and what they saw
  as the irresponsible use of science.However, not every scientist felt that it was appropriate to take
  a public and political stand.
  This paper gives a brief history of the Pugwash movement and how its first meeting came to be held
  in Pugwash, Nova Scotia. The perspectives of involved scientists are examined, contrasting the
  attitudes of participants in the conference with the attitudes of scientists who declined a public role.
  This paper explores how scientists perceived their own responsibility to act,
  examining the willingness to use their cultural
  identity as scientists to lobby for a particular political position Uploaded by
  Sylvia Nickerson