The Strangest Dream of Pugwash, Nova Scotia
The first time it happened was in the back of a bookstore on Spring Garden Road. I had found a large coffee-table style book filled with vibrant pictures of nuclear-bomb explosions. 100 SUNS was a collection of 100 photographs from the era of 1945-1962. Right up to the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed in 1963 requiring that further tests to be conducted underground, in an effort to limit the fallout and radiation poisoning from such tests.
In the back of that bookstore, as I turned page after page of gorgeous swaths of colour and contrast of blazing domes and mushroom clouds, my vision became foggy and my cheeks wet. I could not keep the tears from welling up in my eyes as I read the list of names given to each of the elegant events, conceived by science, constructed by engineers and ignited by military. Names like Mike, King, Argus, Romeo and Joe, seemed to give each image, each event, each cloud, a personality all to its own. It seemed to give each explosion and identity and a life. Though brief, each of these bombs seemed to have a life, and a purpose all to their own. A purpose that some might attribute to gains of knowledge or defense, but ultimately the result of each was to consume or extinguish all life within its reach. I can not help but to contemplate the thoughts that must have been carried by those who worked on such projects or the feelings of those who suffered by them. So I cry.
Tonight, as I sat in the Oxford Theatre for the screening of The Strangest Dream, and the images of the products of "the greatest team of scientists ever assembled" moved on screen, I felt the same as I did in that book store but I left with a greater feeling of hope then I recalled a few years ago.
The film followed the actions of Joseph Rotblat and the founding of The Pugwash Conference. Rotblat was known as the only scientist to leave Los Alamos before the completion of the Manhattan Project and the detonation of the Trinity bomb. He wished for his work to be used in a way to improve life rather then destroy it. In the years that followed, he turned his attention and knowledge of nuclear physics to learning more about the effects of radiation and developing medical technologies.
During this time he also worked on educating the public about the applications, peaceful and military, of nuclear technologies. He made no effort to hide his belief that nuclear weapons should not be implemented and that any war involving the countries that could employ such weapons must be avoided. To help ensure peace he helped create an international network of top scientists, many of whom worked at Los Alamos. He co-founded the Atomic Scientists Association in 1946. In 1955 he signed onto the Russel-Einstein Manifesto and chaired the conference where it was announced.
Rotblat saw it necessary to have a group of scientist meet regularly, yet independently of any government that might have interest. This independence was found when Cyrus Eaton, an industrialist, and longtime friend of Bertrand Russel's offered to pay for the entire conference. So the first Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs was held at Eaton's summer home in Pugwash, Nova-Scotia, and would be the namesake of the conference held each year ever since, even though it has since been held all over the world. Its patrons' influence helped make the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty possible.
In 1995 Rotblat earned a Nobel Prize jointly with the Pugwash Conference. An honour he would extend to the town.
The theatre tonight was filled almost to capacity. The audience replied to the documentary with a standing ovation until the director and producer took to the front of the theatre to field questions, and foster a short discussion. I walked to the front to thank them, and congratulate them, along with many others.
So today I am a little more proud to be from Joseph Howe's home town. The first town in history to be touched by a mushroom cloud, and to know such devastation. I am a little more hopeful in the world that Rotblat worked to protect. Buying a copy of the dvd on the way out seemed like money well spent.
“Joseph Rotblat was a truly visionary leader...who did not succumb to panic or despair, and worked persistently to make people and politicians understand the pernicious futility of the arms race.”
- Mikhail Gorbachev
http://www.reformation.org/joseph-rothblat.html
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1995/rotblat-cv.html
http://www.pugwash.org/about.htm
http://www.isyp.org
http://www.pugwashvillage.com/history.html
Trailer at Youtube
http://www.nfb.ca/strangest-dream
In the back of that bookstore, as I turned page after page of gorgeous swaths of colour and contrast of blazing domes and mushroom clouds, my vision became foggy and my cheeks wet. I could not keep the tears from welling up in my eyes as I read the list of names given to each of the elegant events, conceived by science, constructed by engineers and ignited by military. Names like Mike, King, Argus, Romeo and Joe, seemed to give each image, each event, each cloud, a personality all to its own. It seemed to give each explosion and identity and a life. Though brief, each of these bombs seemed to have a life, and a purpose all to their own. A purpose that some might attribute to gains of knowledge or defense, but ultimately the result of each was to consume or extinguish all life within its reach. I can not help but to contemplate the thoughts that must have been carried by those who worked on such projects or the feelings of those who suffered by them. So I cry.
Tonight, as I sat in the Oxford Theatre for the screening of The Strangest Dream, and the images of the products of "the greatest team of scientists ever assembled" moved on screen, I felt the same as I did in that book store but I left with a greater feeling of hope then I recalled a few years ago.
The film followed the actions of Joseph Rotblat and the founding of The Pugwash Conference. Rotblat was known as the only scientist to leave Los Alamos before the completion of the Manhattan Project and the detonation of the Trinity bomb. He wished for his work to be used in a way to improve life rather then destroy it. In the years that followed, he turned his attention and knowledge of nuclear physics to learning more about the effects of radiation and developing medical technologies.
During this time he also worked on educating the public about the applications, peaceful and military, of nuclear technologies. He made no effort to hide his belief that nuclear weapons should not be implemented and that any war involving the countries that could employ such weapons must be avoided. To help ensure peace he helped create an international network of top scientists, many of whom worked at Los Alamos. He co-founded the Atomic Scientists Association in 1946. In 1955 he signed onto the Russel-Einstein Manifesto and chaired the conference where it was announced.
Rotblat saw it necessary to have a group of scientist meet regularly, yet independently of any government that might have interest. This independence was found when Cyrus Eaton, an industrialist, and longtime friend of Bertrand Russel's offered to pay for the entire conference. So the first Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs was held at Eaton's summer home in Pugwash, Nova-Scotia, and would be the namesake of the conference held each year ever since, even though it has since been held all over the world. Its patrons' influence helped make the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty possible.
In 1995 Rotblat earned a Nobel Prize jointly with the Pugwash Conference. An honour he would extend to the town.
The theatre tonight was filled almost to capacity. The audience replied to the documentary with a standing ovation until the director and producer took to the front of the theatre to field questions, and foster a short discussion. I walked to the front to thank them, and congratulate them, along with many others.
So today I am a little more proud to be from Joseph Howe's home town. The first town in history to be touched by a mushroom cloud, and to know such devastation. I am a little more hopeful in the world that Rotblat worked to protect. Buying a copy of the dvd on the way out seemed like money well spent.
Click to view“Joseph Rotblat was a truly visionary leader...who did not succumb to panic or despair, and worked persistently to make people and politicians understand the pernicious futility of the arms race.”
- Mikhail Gorbachev
http://www.reformation.org/joseph-rothblat.html
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1995/rotblat-cv.html
http://www.pugwash.org/about.htm
http://www.isyp.org
http://www.pugwashvillage.com/history.html
Trailer at Youtube
http://www.nfb.ca/strangest-dream