100 Nobel Laureates: Security Depends on Environmental & Social Reform

Our Best Point the Way

On the 100th anniversary of the Nobel prize, 100 Nobel laureates warn that our security hangs on environmental and social reform



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. Of these poor and disenfranchised, the majority live a marginal existence in equatorial climates. Global warming, not of their making but originating with the wealthy few, will affect their fragile ecologies most. Their situation will be desperate and manifestly unjust.

It cannot be expected, therefore, that in all cases they will be content to await the beneficence of the rich. If then we permit the devastating power of modern weaponry to spread through this combustible human landscape, we invite a conflagration that can engulf both rich and poor. The only hope for the future lies in co-operative international action, legitimized by democracy.

It is time to turn our backs on the unilateral search for security, in which we seek to shelter behind walls. Instead, we must persist in the quest for united action to counter both global warming and a weaponized world.

These twin goals will constitute vital components of stability as we move toward the wider degree of social justice that alone gives hope of peace.

Some of the needed legal instruments are already at hand, such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Convention on Climate Change, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. As concerned citizens, we urge all governments to commit to these goals that constitute steps on the way to replacement of war by law.

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.

THE SIGNATORIES

Zhohres I. Alferov - Physics, 2000

Sidney Altman - Chemistry, 1989

Philip W. Anderson - Physics, 1977

Oscar Arias Sanchez - Peace, 1987

J. Georg Bednorz - Physics, 1987

Bishop Carlos F.X. Belo - Peace, 1996

Baruj Benacerraf - Physiology/Medicine, 1980

Hans A. Bethe - Physics, 1967

James W. Black - Physiology/Medicine, 1988

Guenter Blobel - Physiology/Medicine, 1999

Nicolaas Bloembergen - Physics, 1981

Norman E. Boriaug - Peace, 1970

Paul D. Boyer - Chemistry, 1997

Bertram N. Brockhouse - Physics, 1994

Herbert C. Brown - Chemistry, 1979

Georges Charpak - Physics, 1992

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji - Physics, 1997

John W. Cornforth - Chemistry, 1975

Francis H. Crick - Physiology/Medicine, 1962

James W. Cronin - Physics, 1980

Paul J. Crutzen - Chemistry, 1995

Robert F. Curl - Chemistry, 1996

His Holiness The Dalai Lama - Peace, 1989

Johann Deisenhofer - Chemistry, 1988

Peter C. Doherty - Physiology/Medicine, 1996

Manfred Eigen - Chemistry, 1967

Richard R. Ernst - Chemistry, 1991

Leo Esaki - Physics, 1973

Edmond H. Fischer - Physiology/Medicine, 1992

Val L. Fitch - Physics, 1980

Dario Fo - Literature, 1997

Robert F. Furchgott - Physiology/Medicine, 1998

Walter Gilbert - Chemistry, 1980

Sheldon L. Glashow - Physics, 1979

Mikhail S. Gorbachev - Peace, 1990

Nadine Gordimer - Literature, 1991

Paul Greengard - Physiology/Medicine, 2000

Roger Guillemin - Physiology/Medicine, 1977

Herbert A. Hauptman - Chemistry, 1985

Dudley R. Herschbach - Chemistry, 1986

Antony Hewish - Physics, 1974

Roald Hoffman - Chemistry, 1981

Gerardus 't Hooft - Physics, 1999

David H. Hubel - Physiology/Medicine, 1981

Robert Huber - Chemistry, 1988

Francois Jacob - Physiology/Medicine, 1975

Brian D. Josephson - Physics, 1973

Jerome Karle - Chemistry, 1985

Wolfgang Ketterle - Physics, 2001

H. Gobind Khorana - Physiology/Medicine, 1968

Lawrence R. Klein - Economics, 1980

Klaus von Klitzing - Physics, 1985

Aaron Klug - Chemistry, 1982

Walter Kohn - Chemistry, 1998

Herbert Kroemer - Physics, 2000

Harold Kroto - Chemistry, 1996

Willis E. Lamb - Physics, 1955

Leon M. Lederman - Physics, 1988

Yuan T. Lee - Chemistry, 1986

Jean-Marie Lehn - Chemistry, 1987

Rita Levi-Montalcini - Physiology/Medicine, 1986

William N. Lipscomb - Chemistry, 1976

Alan G. MacDiarmid - Chemistry, 2000

Daniel L. McFadden - Economics, 2000

C ar Milstein - Physiology/Medicine, 1984

Franco Modigliani - Economics, 1985

Rudolf L. Moessbauer - Physics, 1961

Mario J. Molina - Chemistry, 1995

Ben R. Mottelson - Physics, 1975

Ferid Murad - Physiology/Medicine, 1998

Erwin Neher - Physiology/Medicine, 1991

Marshall W. Nirenberg - Physiology/Medicine, 1968

Joseph E. Murray - Physiology/Medicine, 1990

Paul M. Nurse - Physiology/Medicine, 2001

Max F. Perutz - Chemistry, 1962

William D. Phillips - Physics, 1997

John C. Polanyi - Chemistry, 1986

Ilya Prigogine - Chemistry, 1977

Burton Richter - Physics, 1976

Heinrich Rohrer - Physics, 1987

Joseph Rotblat - Peace, 1995

Carlo Rubbia - Physics, 1984

Bert Sakmann - Physiology/Medicine, 1991

Frederick Sanger - Chemistry, 1958; 1980

José Saramago - Literature, 1998

J. Robert Schrieffer - Physics, 1972

Melvin Schwartz - Physics, 1988

K. Barry Sharpless - Chemistry, 2001

Richard E. Smalley - Chemistry, 1996

Jack Steinberger - Physics, 1988

Joseph E. Stiglitz - Economics, 2001

Horst L. Stormer - Physics, 1998

Henry Taube - Chemistry, 1983

Joseph H. Taylor Jr. - Physics, 1993

Susumu Tonegawa - Physiology/Medicine, 1997

Charles H. Townes - Physics, 1964

Daniel T. Tsui - Physics, 1998

Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu - Peace, 1984

John Vane - Physiology/Medicine, 1982

John E. Walker - Chemistry, 1997

Eric F. Wieschaus - Physiology/Medicine, 1982

Jody Williams - Peace, 1997

Robert W. Wilson - Physics, 1978

Ahmed H. Zewail - Chemistry, 1999