The physicist Sir Joseph Rotblat (b. 1908), born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 4, was a member of the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb in the United States. In November 1944, when it became clear that Nazi Germany would not be able to develop a bomb and affect the outcome of World War II, he became the only scientist working on the weapon who resigned prior to its being used against Japan. This principled stand, that the benefits of nuclear power should only be used for peaceful purposes, has been a hallmark of Rotblat's career and was instrumental in his sharing the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize with the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, the organization he helped found in 1957 to work for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.

Joseph Rotblat, b. 1908. Rotblat is a Polish physicist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 in conjunction with...