Speaker
Description
Canadian physicists have a stake in nuclear threat reduction. Canadian scientists supplied uranium and researched plutonium production for the Manhattan Project. Hundreds of US nuclear weapons were stationed in Canada from 1950 to 1984. Today, Canada remains embedded in the US nuclear alliance through NORAD and NATO, and would suffer severe consequences in a nuclear exchange. At the same time, physicists have a strong record of influencing nuclear policy. Key examples include: The Pugwash Conferences, which have shaped arms control agreements; the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which has informed public debate; and the work of physicists like Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Hans Bethe, and Enrico Fermi.
This talk will suggest policies that might matter to Canadian physicists, such as opposing Canadian participation in the Golden Dome project, engaging with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and resisting any consideration of Canadian nuclear weapons development. In this talk, I will also describe actions that Canadian physicists can take, in cooperation with the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction. These include: Education through colloquia and webinars; joint US-Canadian advocacy (building on the Coalition’s DC engagement, but tailored to the Canadian context); and conducting research through the Coalition’s Next-Generation Fellowship. The Pugwash movement, including Pugwash Canada, provides further opportunities to reduce nuclear threats, with a focus on science diplomacy between countries with tense relations. Canadian scientists played a formative role in Student/Young Pugwash, which remains active today.