The Pugwash Council is holding its first meeting at the ICTP. Both institutions were founded by Nobel Laureates with the vision of achieving Peace by means of Science.

The mission of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is to bring scientific insight and reason to bear on namely, the catastrophic threat posed to humanity by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.  It was in recognition of its mission to “diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms” that Pugwash and its co-founder, Sir Joseph Rotblat, were awarded the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize.

It draws its inspiration from the Russell-Einstein Manifesto of 1955, which urged leaders of the world to “think in a new way”:  to renounce nuclear weapons, to “remember their humanity” and  to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them.”

Pugwash seeks a world free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Through our long-standing tradition of ‘dialogue across divides’ that also earned us the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995, Pugwash aims to develop and support the use of scientific, evidence-based policymaking, focusing on areas where nuclear and WMD risks are present. By facilitating Track 1.5 and Track 2 dialogues, we foster creative discussions on ways to increase the security of all sides and promote policy development that is cooperative and forward-looking.


Officers of Pugwash:
K. A. HALLBERG, Balseiro Institute and Bariloche Atomic Center, Argentina (Chair of the Pugwash Council)
S. DUARTE, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Brazil (President of Pugwash)
P. COTTA RAMUSINO, Professor of Mathematical Physics, University of Milano, Italy (Pugwash Secretary General)
S. MILLER, Harvard University, USA (Chair of the Pugwash Executive Committee)
G. NEUNECK, IFSH and University of Hamburg, Germany (co-Chair of the meeting)