Cambridge University Student Pugwash Society

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About Pugwash

The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is a world-wide network of scientists that aims to raise awareness of the ethical issues that science must confront. It was set up in the 1950s by some of the most prominent scientists of their day, many of whom were involved in the American Atom Bomb project. They were bound together by the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, but the group is still very active today. In 1995 Joseph Rotblat (Co-founder of Pugwash) and Pugwash received the Nobel Peace Prize in equal parts for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms.

About Student Pugwash

The Student Pugwash Society in Cambridge is one of the many student branches of Pugwash. It was established in June 2000.
Student Pugwash encourages young people to examine the ethical, social and global implications of science and technology, and to make these concerns a guiding focus of their academic and professional endeavours.
At Cambridge we have regular meetings to provide an opportunity for discussion of Pugwash-related topics. Each term guest speakers are also invited to talk on the many complexities surrounding these issues.

Events of Interest

4th UK National Student Pugwash Conference

Registration for the 4th Annual Student Pugwash UK conference, entitled 'Lessons from the Bomb: Can science provide a secure and sustainable world', is now open. Information about the conference and registration procedure is available on the website: http://www.student-pugwash.org/uk/Application%20form.htm.

Student Pugwash UK (SPUK) will host the 4th Annual SPUK Conference from 29 April to 2 May 2005 at Imperial College, London. 2005 is the World Year of Physics, but it is also the 60th commemoration of the explosions of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs, the 50th anniversary of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto and 10 years since Pugwash received the Nobel Peace Prize along with Sir Joseph Rotblat for work in nuclear disarmament. This Conference aims to take stock of the role of science in the quest for sustainability and security, and to trace possible trajectories that current policies hold for the future. We are saluting the work of the past, but rolling up our sleeves as the next generation.

see also future events

Recent Articles and Websites of Interest

Bush, Iran and the Bomb from the 24th February 2005 New York Review of Books contains interesting analyses of the stand-off between the US and Iran over Iran's nuclear programme.

The Observer had a double-bill of articles on nuclear issues on 20th February 2005: 'MoD plans multibillion upgrade of nuclear subs' and 'Flirting with Armageddon: welcome to a new arms race'.

The atom bomb, Einstein and me by Prof. Sir Joeseph Rotblat, the co-founder of the Pugwash Conferences, explains how he and Einstein became involved in peace campaigning. The article was published on 20th January 2005 in The Guardian.

The Coming Wars by Seymour Hersch presents the disturbing prospect that more US Special Forces operations will be run by the Pentagon, free from the legal restrictions imposed on the CIA. He goes on to describe the prospects of military action in Iran. The article has caused quite a stir, prompting a rebuttal from the Pentagon. It was posted on 17th January 2005 in The New Yorker.

Re-Envisioning Asia by Francis Fukuyama, of The End of History fame, puts the case for strengthening multi-national institutions in Asia so that the region is better able to cope with future crises. The article was published in The New York Times on January 6th 2005.

In November 2004 all funding for Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrators (bunker-busters) was cut by Congress in a great victory against the Bush Administration's aggressive nuclear policy. See the 24th November 2004 British American Security Information Council report Congress Stops 2005 Funding for New U.S. Nuclear Weapons for more information.

The WMD Awareness Programme's Come Clean website has lots of good resources for those wishing to find out more about weapons of mass destruction and how to stop their proliferation across the world. The Programme is a collaboration of 14 NGOs, including UK Young Student Pugwash.

see also our links and introductions section



If you would like more information on what CUSPS does, then contact the committee at soc-pugwash-request(at)lists.cam.ac.uk, replacing the (at) with @.