Joseph Rotblat

Sir Joseph Rotblat KCMG CBE FRS
Los Alamos badge photograph, 1944
Born	Józef Rotblat (1908-11-04)November 4, 1908 Warsaw, Poland
Died	August 31, 2005(2005-08-31) (aged 96) London, United Kingdom
Nationality	British-Polish
Fields	Physics
Institutions	Scientific Society of Warsaw Free University of Poland University of Liverpool Los Alamos National Laboratory St Bartholomew's Hospital University of London
Alma mater	Free University of Poland University of Warsaw University of Liverpool University of London
Thesis	Determination of a number of neutrons emitted from a source (1950)
Known for	Medical physics Campaigning for nuclear disarmament Manhattan Project Hippocratic Oath for scientists
Notable awards	Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (1998) Nobel Peace Prize (1995) Fellow of the Royal Society (1995) Albert Einstein Peace Prize (1992) Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1965)
Spouse	Tola Gryn
Rotblat's voice from the BBC Radio 4 programme Great Lives broadcast 13 January 2012

Sir Joseph Rotblat KCMG CBE FRS (November 4, 1908 – August 31, 2005) was a Polish physicist, a self-described "Pole with a British passport". Rotblat worked on Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project during World War II, but left the Los Alamos Laboratory after the war with Germany ended. His work on nuclear fallout was a major contribution toward the ratification of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. A signatory of the 1955 Russell–Einstein Manifesto, he was secretary-general of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs from their founding until 1973, and shared, with the Pugwash Conferences, the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize "for efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international affairs and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms."

Józef Rotblat was born on November 4, 1908, to a Polish-Jewish family in Warsaw, in what was then Russian Poland. He was one of seven children, two of whom died in infancy. His father, Zygmunt Rotblat, built up and ran a nationwide horse-drawn carriage business, owned land and bred horses. Józef's early years were spent in what was a prosperous household but circumstances changed at the outbreak of World War I. Borders were closed and horses requisitioned, leading to the failure of the business and poverty for their family. Despite having a religious background, by the age of ten he doubted the existence of God, and later became an agnostic.