Nobel Peace Prize Centennial Symposium
OSLO, Norway-December 7, 2001 (OTVNewswire)

At the Nobel Peace Prize Centennial Symposium here yesterday celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Nobel prize, 100 Nobel laureates have issued a brief but dire warning of the "profound dangers" facing the world. Their statement predicts that our security depends on immediate environmental and social reform. The following is the text of their statement:

THE STATEMENT

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 Physic, 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

César 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

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