Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Physicist who helped invent nuclear weapons and later campaigned for their abolition, co-founding the Pugwash Conferences and winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
On the island
Eight records
Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53
It reminds me of a very happy event in my life, namely the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. It was placed especially for me. in Oslo during the ceremony of receiving the the prize.
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Because it shows the futility of war. Whole generations in the first world of war died for what? And still we think even now about the bone. This is why I f I feel very greatly moved by the song.
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerris
He describes this very most of the people know about this from the Fant from Film Fantasia. And there we have this scientist who lives in his ivory tower and doesn't care what happens to the result of his activities. He allows these other people to use it for catastrophic results.
is based on an ancient Prayer, a Jewish prayer, um, which is done on the Day of Atonement. It goes back uh to the days of the Inquisition. But in my mind it is associated with the Holocaust, which is the the greatest crime ever perpetrated in cold blood, almost in a in a scientific manner. by a civilized country.
I think this sort of unforgettable renderation by Paul Robson expresses In a way, my philosophy about life, about evolution. of man, it expresses my awe for the majesty of nature, the nature, the laws of nature which we all all obey, which have been guiding our lives since the Big Bang.
Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream
When this was written, I think in nineteen fifty six, A a vote without a war was certainly the strangest dream. But I think by now, m more more people now begin to realize that we need to aim for it. It's much less of a utopian dream now than it was at the time.
A Rill Will Be a Stream and A Stream Will Be a Flood
This record's probably quite unknown to any of your audiences here because it was prepared, written and sung specially for by Swedish doctors. For a conference which was held by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. And it shows the idea that all of us need to do something about preventing a nuclear war.
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 'Choral'Favourite
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ambrosian Singers conducted by André Previn
my last record is from the Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, The Ode to Joy, and it does indeed present the idea which I want to aim to, that we can all live in a world of harmony, a world of peace.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:06How surprised were you that they finally got around [to awarding] you [the Nobel Peace Prize]?
Well, I think if you live long enough, then everything will come to you. In my case, it came late because what I'm working for, namely the elimination of nuclear weapons, we had to wait till the end of the Cold War when this became a reality rather than a fancy. And this I think this is the reason why the Nobel Prize came to me fairly late.
Presenter asks
6:25Do you remember where you were when you heard the news [of the Hiroshima bomb]?
Yes, I was back at the time in Liverpool after coming back from Los Alamos, where I worked for uh most of nineteen forty-four. And to me, it was a really a terrible shock, one of the greatest shocks which I had in my life. Because I had hoped that even if the bomb did work, it would not be used directly against civilian populations. And this was the the terrible shock. But not only shock, it was furthermore it was fear. Fear for the future. of mankind.
Presenter asks
7:56Why did you go and work on the creation of the [atomic bomb] in the first place, if you felt so deeply, so morally about [it]?
Well, strangely enough, I I began to work in order that the bomb should not be used. I had the idea of the bomb quite early, even before I came to England. But being a humanitarian scientist, as I described myself, it never occurred to me that I would do any work on any weapon, not only let alone a weapon of mass destruction. However, I was afraid that other scientists may not have the same moral scruples. In particular, I was afraid that German scientists may develop the bomb, because some of the work began in Germany.
The keepsakes
The book
Encyclopædia Britannica on CD-ROM
I'll like to do the thing which I've been trying to do all along, and this is to learn more.
The luxury
laptop computer and solar batteries
because in order to play it I will need a a computer, a laptop computer and solar batteries.
Presenter asks
12:13What do you remember of family life [in Warsaw during the First World War]?
Well, my early recollections of my being a young child were very happy ones. We lived in the center of a big city, Warsaw, but it was really like living in the country. My father's business was haulage, but in those days transport was not by automobile, but by cart and horse. So he had a big fleet of of horses and were stables there. And I had my own pony, and this was very, really idyllic life.
Presenter asks
14:33How did you get an education [given the family's reduced circumstances]?
Well, I didn't I didn't get a proper what you call a proper education. I always wanted to be a scientist, but I knew this that the road is completely closed to me. ... Because in order to get to a university you have to get a certificate of maturity, it's called a matura in Poland. And for this you have to go to a secondary school where it's a number of years. And of course I couldn't do this.
Presenter asks
29:22What do you mean when you say [scientists have got to be responsible for their work]?
I believe that not only science, everyone, you and I, we are responsible for our deeds, but in particular this applies to science nowadays, because of the dominant role that pl science plays now in every walk of life. It affects us each individually, it d determines the fate of nations. Therefore scientists have got to be responsible. Now how could they do it? What I'm saying is they should often they could foresee well in advance of other groups in society what might be the result of their work.
“I may be the first person to bring in the the concept of the tenant, because I felt that the only way in which we could prevent Hitler from using the bomb against us and thus win the war would be if we also had the bomb and threatened with retaliation. In other words, the purpose of my starting the work was that the bomb should not be used, not even by and against the Germans.”
“General Leslie Groves ... remarks, You realize, of course, that the main purpose of the project is to subdue the Russians. I'll never forget this, the terrible shock which came to me, because here I thought we hear we are at war with Hitler, even with Nazism. And the Russians, however, I dislike their regime, they were our allies, and they are preparing there. Thousands of Russians who were dying every day keep giving us time for the preparation for the invasion of the continent. And here I'm told all the project is against the Russians.”
“My I I've got two objectives in my life, what's the left of it, a short-term objective and a long-term objective. The short term objective is the elimination of nuclear weapons. And the long term objective is the elimination of war.”