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