Leo Szilard: The First Pugwash

The Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs turns 30 on July 7. Leo Szilard, the physicist who since 1945 had been proposing just such a meeting of Russian and Western scientists to discuss arms control, was on hand at the first Pugwash gathering, called by Bertrand Russell and financed by Cyrus Eaton. One of the key figures in the Manhattan Project, Szilard had turned his considerable talents and energy to helping the world learn how to "live with the bomb." On August 15, 1957 he drafte

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These informal discussions, in which a man would listen and then respond with a frown or a smile without having to say anything, were—to me—more revealing than the public sessions. The Pugwash meeting was the first international meeting of scientists where it was possible for us to explore in this manner each other's mind.

When I arrived at Pugwash, I was somewhat apprehensive that when we got into the discussion of highly controversial issues—as indeed we must if we wished to come to grips with the real issues—our Russian colleagues might give forth the Russian government's publicly stated views, in which case the American delegates would have almost no choice but to present the views which [the] American government has publicly stated. If that happened the meeting would have lost its usefulness. For this reason it seemed to me that it would be very important to start off on the ...

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