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90-600: The Russell–Einstein Manifesto was issued in London on 9 July 1955 by Bertrand Russell in the midst of the Cold War . It highlighted the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and called for world leaders to seek peaceful resolutions to international conflict. The signatories included eleven pre-eminent intellectuals and scientists, including Albert Einstein , who signed it shortly before his death on 18 April 1955. Shortly after

180-595: A Scottish Presbyterian family and petitioned the Court of Chancery to set aside a provision in Amberley's will requiring the children to be raised as agnostics. Despite her religious conservatism, she held progressive views in other areas (accepting Darwinism and supporting Irish Home Rule ), and her influence on Bertrand Russell's outlook on social justice and standing up for principle remained with him throughout his life. Her favourite Bible verse, "Thou shalt not follow

270-528: A book by Cambridge University Press with a foreword by C. D. Broad —in which he gave an authoritative account of Russell's 1916 dismissal from Trinity College, explaining that a reconciliation between the college and Russell had later taken place and gave details about Russell's personal life. Hardy writes that Russell's dismissal had created a scandal since the vast majority of the Fellows of the College opposed

360-690: A collection of articles on the CCNY affair in The Bertrand Russell Case . Russell soon joined the Barnes Foundation , lecturing to a varied audience on the history of philosophy; these lectures formed the basis of A History of Western Philosophy . His relationship with the eccentric Albert C. Barnes soon soured, and he returned to the UK in 1944 to rejoin the faculty of Trinity College. Russell participated in many broadcasts over

450-422: A conference for scientists to assess the dangers of weapons of mass destruction (then only considered to be nuclear weapons ). Cyrus Eaton , an industrialist and philanthropist, offered on July 13 to finance and host the conference in the town of his birth, Pugwash, Nova Scotia . This was not taken up at the time because a meeting was planned for India, at the invitation of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru . With

540-496: A foreword to Words and Things by Ernest Gellner , which was highly critical of the later thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein and of ordinary language philosophy . Gilbert Ryle refused to have the book reviewed in the philosophical journal Mind , which caused Russell to respond via The Times . The result was a month-long correspondence in The Times between the supporters and detractors of ordinary language philosophy, which

630-866: A historian and one of the leading figures in the Liberal Democrat party. Russell returned in 1937 to the London School of Economics to lecture on the science of power. During the 1930s, Russell became a friend and collaborator of V. K. Krishna Menon , then President of the India League , the foremost lobby in the United Kingdom for Indian independence. Russell chaired the India League from 1932 to 1939. Russell's political views changed over time, mostly about war. He opposed rearmament against Nazi Germany . In 1937, he wrote in

720-556: A house for 20 years with Russell's old friend Lucy Donnelly . Edith remained with him until his death, and, by all accounts, their marriage was a happy, close, and loving one. Russell's eldest son John suffered from mental illness , which was the source of ongoing disputes between Russell and his former wife Dora. In 1962 Russell played a public role in the Cuban Missile Crisis : in an exchange of telegrams with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev , Khrushchev assured him that

810-464: A manner that would not do if generally adopted". Russell merely smiled, but afterwards claimed that the reply "That's right, just like your brother " immediately came to mind. In 1950, Russell attended the inaugural conference for the Congress for Cultural Freedom , a CIA -funded anti-communist organisation committed to the deployment of culture as a weapon during the Cold War . Russell was one of

900-633: A meeting in Monaco , but this was rejected. Instead, Cyrus Eaton, a Canadian industrialist who had known Russell since 1938, offered to finance the conference in his hometown of Pugwash, Nova Scotia. The Russell–Einstein Manifesto became the Pugwash Conferences ' founding charter. The first of the conferences was held in July 1957 in Pugwash. With the exception of Infeld, all of the signatories of

990-501: A multitude to do evil", became his motto. The atmosphere at Pembroke Lodge was one of frequent prayer, emotional repression and formality; Frank reacted to this with open rebellion, but the young Bertrand learned to hide his feelings. Russell's adolescence was lonely and he contemplated suicide. He remarked in his autobiography that his interests in "nature and books and (later) mathematics saved me from complete despondency;" only his wish to know more mathematics kept him from suicide. He

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1080-577: A necessary "lesser of two evils". In the wake of World War II , he welcomed American global hegemony in preference to either Soviet hegemony or no (or ineffective) world leadership, even if it were to come at the cost of using their nuclear weapons . He would later criticise Stalinist totalitarianism , condemn the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War , and become an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament . In 1950, Russell

1170-542: A number of Labour Members of Parliament (MPs), including Ramsay MacDonald and Philip Snowden , as well as former Liberal MP and anti-conscription campaigner, Professor Arnold Lupton . After the event, Russell told Lady Ottoline Morrell that, "to my surprise, when I got up to speak, I was given the greatest ovation that was possible to give anybody". His conviction in 1916 resulted in Russell being fined £100 (equivalent to £7,100 in 2023), which he refused to pay in

1260-547: A permanent threat to democracy. In 1943, he adopted a stance toward large-scale warfare called "relative political pacifism": "War was always a great evil, but in some particularly extreme circumstances, it may be the lesser of two evils." Before World War II, Russell taught at the University of Chicago , later moving on to Los Angeles to lecture at the UCLA Department of Philosophy . He was appointed professor at

1350-458: A personal letter: "If the Germans succeed in sending an invading army to England we should do best to treat them as visitors, give them quarters and invite the commander and chief to dine with the prime minister." In 1940, he changed his appeasement view that avoiding a full-scale world war was more important than defeating Hitler. He concluded that Adolf Hitler taking over all of Europe would be

1440-470: A work on the foundations of mathematics. It advanced a thesis of logicism , that mathematics and logic are one and the same. At the age of 29, in February 1901, Russell underwent what he called a "sort of mystic illumination", after witnessing Whitehead 's wife's suffering in an angina attack. "I found myself filled with semi-mystical feelings about beauty and with a desire almost as profound as that of

1530-415: Is an essential part of Pugwash activities, that is particularly relevant when and where nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction are deployed or could be used." "The various Pugwash activities (general conferences, workshops, study groups, consultations and special projects) provide a channel of communication between scientists, scholars, and individuals experienced in government, diplomacy, and

1620-593: Is distinctive in their culture". In a speech in 1948, Russell said that if the USSR 's aggression continued, it would be morally worse to go to war after the USSR possessed an atomic bomb than before it possessed one, because if the USSR had no bomb the West's victory would come more swiftly and with fewer casualties than if there were atomic bombs on both sides. At that time, only the United States possessed an atomic bomb, and

1710-810: The BBC , particularly The Brains Trust and for the Third Programme , on various topical and philosophical subjects. By this time Russell was known outside academic circles, frequently the subject or author of magazine and newspaper articles, and was called upon to offer opinions on a variety of subjects, even mundane ones. En route to one of his lectures in Trondheim , Russell was one of 24 survivors (out of 43 passengers) of an aeroplane crash in Hommelvik in October 1948. He said he owed his life to smoking since

1800-470: The British aristocracy . His parents were Viscount and Viscountess Amberley . Lord Amberley consented to his wife's affair with their children's tutor, the biologist Douglas Spalding . Both were early advocates of birth control at a time when this was considered scandalous. Lord Amberley was a deist , and even asked the philosopher John Stuart Mill to act as Russell's secular godfather. Mill died

1890-544: The Buddha to find some philosophy which should make human life endurable", Russell would later recall. "At the end of those five minutes, I had become a completely different person." In 1905, he wrote the essay " On Denoting ", which was published in the philosophical journal Mind . Russell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1908 . The three-volume Principia Mathematica , written with Whitehead,

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1980-468: The Cambridge Apostles . He distinguished himself in mathematics and philosophy, graduating as seventh Wrangler in the former in 1893 and becoming a Fellow in the latter in 1895. Russell began his published work in 1896 with German Social Democracy , a study in politics that was an early indication of his interest in political and social theory. In 1896 he taught German social democracy at

2070-605: The City College of New York (CCNY) in 1940, but after a public outcry the appointment was annulled by a court judgment that pronounced him "morally unfit" to teach at the college because of his opinions, especially those relating to sexual morality , detailed in Marriage and Morals (1929). The matter was taken to the New York Supreme Court by Jean Kay who was afraid that her daughter would be harmed by

2160-765: The London School of Economics . He was a member of the Coefficients dining club of social reformers set up in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb . He now started a study of the foundations of mathematics at Trinity. In 1897, he wrote An Essay on the Foundations of Geometry (submitted at the Fellowship Examination of Trinity College) which discussed the Cayley–Klein metrics used for non-Euclidean geometry . He attended

2250-781: The Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968), the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (1972), the Biological Weapons Convention (1972), and the Chemical Weapons Convention (1993). Former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara has credited a backchannel Pugwash initiative (code named PENNSYLVANIA) with laying the groundwork for the negotiations that ended the Vietnam War. Mikhail Gorbachev admitted

2340-603: The Paris Exhibition of 1889 and climbed the Eiffel Tower soon after it was completed. Russell won a scholarship to read for the Mathematical Tripos at Trinity College, Cambridge , and began his studies there in 1890, taking as coach Robert Rumsey Webb . He became acquainted with the younger George Edward Moore and came under the influence of Alfred North Whitehead , who recommended him to

2430-528: The Volga on a steamship. His experiences destroyed his previous tentative support for the revolution. He subsequently wrote a book, The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism , about his experiences on this trip, taken with a group of 24 others from the UK, all of whom came home thinking well of the Soviet regime, despite Russell's attempts to change their minds. For example, he told them that he had heard shots fired in

2520-598: The peerage with the rise of the Tudor dynasty (see: Duke of Bedford ). They established themselves as one of the leading Whig families and participated in political events from the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536–1540 to the Glorious Revolution in 1688–1689 and the Great Reform Act in 1832. Lady Amberley was the daughter of Lord and Lady Stanley of Alderley . Russell often feared

2610-527: The 3rd Earl Russell . Russell's marriage to Dora grew tenuous, and it reached a breaking point over her having two children with an American journalist, Griffin Barry. They separated in 1932 and finally divorced. On 18 January 1936, Russell married his third wife, an Oxford undergraduate named Patricia ("Peter") Spence , who had been his children's governess since 1930. Russell and Peter had one son, Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell , 5th Earl Russell, who became

2700-473: The Pugwash Conferences. The Pugwash Conference itself does not have formal membership (although national organisations do ). All participants take part in their individual capacities and not as representatives of any organization, institution or government. Anyone who has attended a meeting is considered a "Pugwashite". There are more than 3,500 "Pugwashites" worldwide. As the birthplace of

2790-575: The Pugwash movement, the Thinkers' Lodge was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2008. The Jubilee 62nd Pugwash Conference devoted to nuclear disarmament was held in Astana , the capital of Kazakhstan , in 2017. The conference celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first Pugwash Conference, held in Pugwash, Nova Scotia in 1957. The theme of the conference was "Confronting New Nuclear Dangers." The conference agenda focused on strengthening

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2880-487: The Russell–Einstein Manifesto are Nobel Laureates , although Rotblat was not at the time. Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell , OM , FRS (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual . He had influence on mathematics , logic , set theory , and various areas of analytic philosophy . He

2970-541: The Soviet Union, Mikhail Ilyich Bruk ( Russian : Михаил Ильич Брук ; 1923 Moscow – 2009 Jurmala ) attended as an English-Russian technical translator. Later, Armand Hammer stated, "Mike's KGB ." Pugwash's "main objective is the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical and biological) and of war as a social institution to settle international disputes. To that extent, peaceful resolution of conflicts through dialogue and mutual understanding

3060-744: The Soviet government would not be reckless. Russell sent this telegram to President Kennedy : YOUR ACTION DESPERATE. THREAT TO HUMAN SURVIVAL. NO CONCEIVABLE JUSTIFICATION. CIVILIZED MAN CONDEMNS IT. WE WILL NOT HAVE MASS MURDER. ULTIMATUM MEANS WAR... END THIS MADNESS. Pugwash Conferences Rotblat and the Pugwash Conference jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 for their efforts on nuclear disarmament . International Student/Young Pugwash groups have existed since founder Cyrus Eaton 's death in 1979. The Russell–Einstein Manifesto , released July 9, 1955, called for

3150-685: The US dropped the Little Boy bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima . Three days later, it dropped the Fat Man bomb on Nagasaki . At least 100,000 civilians were killed outright by these two bombings. On 18 August 1945, the Glasgow Forward published "The Bomb and Civilisation," the first known recorded comment by Bertrand Russell on atomic weapons, which he began composing the day Nagasaki

3240-464: The USSR was pursuing an aggressive policy towards the countries in Eastern Europe which were being absorbed into the Soviet Union's sphere of influence . Many understood Russell's comments to mean that Russell approved of a first strike in a war with the USSR, including Nigel Lawson , who was present when Russell spoke of such matters. Others, including Griffin , who obtained a transcript of

3330-552: The United States and the West. In 1980, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence received a report that the Pugwash Conference was used by Soviet delegates to promote Soviet propaganda. Joseph Rotblat said in his 1998 Bertrand Russell Peace Lecture that there were a few participants in the conferences from the Soviet Union "who were obviously sent to push the party line, but the majority were genuine scientists and behaved as such". Following

3420-462: The United States possessed them and before the USSR did. In September 1949, one week after the USSR tested its first A-bomb, but before this became known, Russell wrote that the USSR would be unable to develop nuclear weapons because following Stalin's purges only science based on Marxist principles would be practised in the Soviet Union. After it became known that the USSR had carried out its nuclear bomb tests , Russell declared his position advocating

3510-439: The appointment, though her daughter was not a student at CCNY. Many intellectuals, led by John Dewey , protested at his treatment. Albert Einstein 's oft-quoted aphorism that "great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds" originated in his open letter, dated 19 March 1940, to Morris Raphael Cohen , a professor emeritus at CCNY, supporting Russell's appointment. Dewey and Horace M. Kallen edited

3600-604: The basis for one of Russell's best-received books according to Hardy: The Analysis of Matter , published in 1927. In the preface to the Trinity pamphlet, Hardy wrote: I wish to make it plain that Russell himself is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for the writing of the pamphlet.... I wrote it without his knowledge and, when I sent him the typescript and asked for his permission to print it, I suggested that, unless it contained misstatement of fact, he should make no comment on it. He agreed to this... no word has been changed as

3690-485: The bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima , and forty years after the signing of the Russell–Einstein Manifesto, the Pugwash Conferences and Joseph Rotblat were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly "for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms." The Norwegian Nobel committee hoped that awarding the prize to Rotblat and Pugwash would "encourage world leaders to intensify their efforts to rid

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3780-528: The care of Victorian paternal grandparents, who lived at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park . His grandfather, former Prime Minister Earl Russell , died in 1878, and was remembered by Russell as a kind old man in a wheelchair. His grandmother, the Countess Russell (née Lady Frances Elliot), was the central family figure for the rest of Russell's childhood and youth. The Countess was from

3870-693: The case of Eric Chappelow , a poet jailed and abused as a conscientious objector. Russell played a part in the Leeds Convention in June 1917, a historic event which saw well over a thousand "anti-war socialists" gather; many being delegates from the Independent Labour Party and the Socialist Party, united in their pacifist beliefs and advocating a peace settlement. The international press reported that Russell appeared with

3960-445: The couple visited Japan on their return journey, Dora took on the role of spurning the local press by handing out notices reading "Mr. Bertrand Russell, having died according to the Japanese press, is unable to give interviews to Japanese journalists". Apparently they found this harsh and reacted resentfully. Russell supported his family during this time by writing popular books explaining matters of physics , ethics, and education to

4050-615: The decision. The ensuing pressure from the Fellows induced the Council to reinstate Russell. In January 1920, it was announced that Russell had accepted the reinstatement offer from Trinity and would begin lecturing in October. In July 1920, Russell applied for a one-year leave of absence; this was approved. He spent the year giving lectures in China and Japan. In January 1921, it was announced by Trinity that Russell had resigned and his resignation had been accepted. This resignation, Hardy explains,

4140-487: The development of classical logic and a major attempt to reduce the whole of mathematics to logic (see logicism ). Russell's article " On Denoting " has been considered a "paradigm of philosophy". Russell was a pacifist who championed anti-imperialism and chaired the India League . He went to prison for his pacifism during World War I , and initially supported appeasement against Adolf Hitler 's Nazi Germany , before changing his view in 1943, describing war as

4230-621: The end of the Cold War, the traditional Pugwash focus on decreasing the salience of nuclear weapons and promoting a world free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction addresses the following issue areas: The Pugwash movement has also been concerned with environmental issues and as a result of its 1988 meeting in Dagomys it issued the Dagomys Declaration on Environmental Degradation ( ). In 1995, fifty years after

4320-611: The end of the conflict. During World War I , Russell was one of the few people to engage in active pacifist activities . In 1916, because of his lack of a fellowship, he was dismissed from Trinity College following his conviction under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 . He later described this, in Free Thought and Official Propaganda , as an illegitimate means the state used to violate freedom of expression. Russell championed

4410-656: The first International Congress of Philosophy in Paris in 1900 where he met Giuseppe Peano and Alessandro Padoa . The Italians had responded to Georg Cantor , making a science of set theory ; they gave Russell their literature including the Formulario mathematico . Russell was impressed by the precision of Peano's arguments at the Congress, read the literature upon returning to England, and came upon Russell's paradox . In 1903 he published The Principles of Mathematics ,

4500-604: The hope that he would be sent to prison, but his books were sold at auction to raise the money. The books were bought by friends; he later treasured his copy of the King James Bible that was stamped "Confiscated by Cambridge Police". A later conviction for publicly lecturing against inviting the United States to enter the war on the United Kingdom's side resulted in six months' imprisonment in Brixton Prison (see Bertrand Russell's political views ) in 1918 (he

4590-538: The influence of the organisation on him when he was leader of the Soviet Union . In addition, Pugwash has been credited with being a groundbreaking and innovative "transnational" organization and a leading example of the effectiveness of Track II diplomacy . During the Cold War , it was claimed that the Pugwash Conference became a front conference for the Soviet Union, whose agents often managed to weaken Pugwash critique of USSR and instead concentrate on blaming

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4680-596: The international Pugwash group. Pugwash's first fifteen years coincided with the Berlin Crisis , the Cuban Missile Crisis , the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia , and the Vietnam War . Pugwash played a useful role in opening communication channels during a time of otherwise-strained official and unofficial relations. It provided background work to the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963),

4770-537: The known patrons of the Congress until he resigned in 1956. In 1952, Russell was divorced by Spence, with whom he had been very unhappy. Conrad, Russell's son by Spence, did not see his father between the time of the divorce and 1968 (at which time his decision to meet his father caused a permanent breach with his mother). Russell married his fourth wife, Edith Finch , soon after the divorce, on 15 December 1952. They had known each other since 1925, and Edith had taught English at Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, sharing

4860-506: The layman. From 1922 to 1927 the Russells divided their time between London and Cornwall , spending summers in Porthcurno . In the 1922 and 1923 general elections Russell stood as a Labour Party candidate in the Chelsea constituency , but only on the basis that he knew he was unlikely to be elected in such a safe Conservative seat, and he was unsuccessful on both occasions. After the birth of his two children, he became interested in education, especially early childhood education . He

4950-426: The meeting, describes it as follows: It was thought that only a few of the Press would turn up and a small room was booked in Caxton Hall for the Press Conference. But it soon became clear that interest was increasing and the next larger room was booked. In the end the largest room was taken and on the day of the Conference this was packed to capacity with representatives of the press, radio and television from all over

5040-458: The metaphysics of both Hegel and Marx plain nonsense—Marx's claim to be 'science' is no more justified than Mary Baker Eddy 's. This does not mean that I am opposed to socialism." In 1943, Russell expressed support for Zionism : "I have come gradually to see that, in a dangerous and largely hostile world, it is essential to Jews to have some country which is theirs, some region where they are not suspected aliens, some state which embodies what

5130-445: The middle of the night and was sure that these were clandestine executions, but the others maintained that it was only cars backfiring. Russell's lover Dora Black , a British author, feminist and socialist campaigner, visited Soviet Russia independently at the same time; in contrast to his reaction, she was enthusiastic about the Bolshevik revolution . The following year, Russell, accompanied by Dora, visited Peking (as Beijing

5220-461: The military for in-depth discussion and analysis of the problems and opportunities at the intersection of science and world affairs. To ensure a free and frank exchange of views, conducive to the emergence of original ideas and an effective communication between different or antagonistic governments, countries and groups, Pugwash meetings as a rule are held in private. This is the main modus operandi of Pugwash. In addition to influencing governments by

5310-461: The only scientist to leave the Manhattan Project on moral grounds, remarked that he "became worried about the whole future of mankind." Over the years that followed, Russell and Rotblat worked on efforts to curb nuclear proliferation, collaborating with Albert Einstein and other scientists to compose what became known as the Russell–Einstein Manifesto. The manifesto was released during a press conference at Caxton Hall , London. Rotblat, who chaired

5400-577: The outbreak of the Suez Crisis the Indian conference was postponed. Aristotle Onassis offered to finance a meeting in Monaco instead, but this was rejected. Eaton's former invitation was taken up. The first conference was held at what became known as Thinkers' Lodge in July 1957 in Pugwash, Nova Scotia . Twenty-two scientists attended the first conference: Cyrus Eaton, Eric Burhop , Ruth Adams, Anne Kinder Jones, and Vladimir Pavlichenko also were present. Many others were unable to attend, including co-founder Bertrand Russell , for health reasons. From

5490-475: The people who drowned were in the non-smoking part of the plane. A History of Western Philosophy (1945) became a best-seller and provided Russell with a steady income for the remainder of his life. In 1942, Russell argued in favour of a moderate socialism , capable of overcoming its metaphysical principles. In an inquiry on dialectical materialism , launched by the Austrian artist and philosopher Wolfgang Paalen in his journal DYN , Russell said: "I think

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5580-432: The potential to snowball into another controversy. Although Russell did the right thing, in Hardy's opinion, the reputation of the College suffered with Russell's resignation since the 'world of learning' knew about Russell's altercation with Trinity but not that the rift had healed. In 1925, Russell was asked by the Council of Trinity College to give the Tarner Lectures on the Philosophy of the Sciences; these would later be

5670-439: The question of nuclear weapons to all people and governments. One particular phrase is quoted often, including by Rotblat upon receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. The manifesto called for an international conference, and was originally planned by Jawaharlal Nehru to be held in India . This was delayed by the outbreak of the Suez Crisis . Aristotle Onassis offered to finance

5760-399: The release, philanthropist Cyrus S. Eaton offered to sponsor a conference—called for in the manifesto—in Pugwash, Nova Scotia , Eaton's birthplace. The conference, held in July 1957, became the first of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs . The first detonation of an atomic weapon took place on 16 July 1945 in the desert north of Alamogordo, New Mexico . On 6 August 1945,

5850-417: The rest of the population, though they were on the whole slightly below the usual level of intelligence as was shown by their having been caught. While he was reading Strachey 's Eminent Victorians chapter about Gordon he laughed out loud in his cell prompting the warder to intervene and reminding him that "prison was a place of punishment". Russell was reinstated to Trinity in 1919, resigned in 1920,

5940-556: The result of any suggestion from him. In August 1920, Russell travelled to Soviet Russia as part of an official delegation sent by the British government to investigate the effects of the Russian Revolution . He wrote a four-part series of articles, titled "Soviet Russia—1920", for the magazine The Nation . He met Vladimir Lenin and had an hour-long conversation with him. In his autobiography, he mentions that he found Lenin disappointing, sensing an "impish cruelty" in him and comparing him to "an opinionated professor". He cruised down

6030-407: The ridicule of his maternal grandmother, one of the campaigners for education of women . Russell had two siblings: brother Frank (seven years older), and sister Rachel (four years older). In June 1874, Russell's mother died of diphtheria , followed shortly by Rachel's death. In January 1876, his father died of bronchitis after a long period of depression . Frank and Bertrand were placed in

6120-457: The school in 1932, Dora continued it until 1943. In 1927 Russell met Barry Fox (later Barry Stevens) , who became a known Gestalt therapist and writer in later years. They developed an intense relationship, and in Fox's words: "...   for three years we were very close." Fox sent her daughter Judith to Beacon Hill School. From 1927 to 1932 Russell wrote 34 letters to Fox. Upon the death of his elder brother Frank, in 1931, Russell became

6210-608: The secretary-general. Jayantha Dhanapala is the current president. Paolo Cotta-Ramusino is the current Secretary General. The four Pugwash offices, in Rome (international secretariat), London , Geneva , and Washington D.C. , provide support for Pugwash activities and serve as liaisons to the United Nations and other international organizations. There are approximately fifty national Pugwash groups, organized as independent entities and often supported or administered by national academies of science. The International Student/Young Pugwash groups works with, but are independent from,

6300-423: The speech, have argued that he was explaining the usefulness of America's atomic arsenal in deterring the USSR from continuing its domination of Eastern Europe. Just after the atomic bombs exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Russell wrote letters, and published articles in newspapers from 1945 to 1948, stating clearly that it was morally justified and better to go to war against the USSR using atomic bombs while

6390-473: The total abolition of atomic weapons. In 1948, Russell was invited by the BBC to deliver the inaugural Reith Lectures —what was to become an annual series of lectures, still broadcast by the BBC. His series of six broadcasts, titled Authority and the Individual , explored themes such as the role of individual initiative in the development of a community and the role of state control in a progressive society. Russell continued to write about philosophy. He wrote

6480-491: The transmission of the results of these discussions and meetings, Pugwash also may seek to make an impact on the scientific community and on public opinion through the holding of special types of meetings and through its publications." Officers include the president and secretary-general. Formal governance is provided by the Pugwash Council, which serves for five years. There is also an executive committee that assists

6570-459: The validity of Christian religious dogma , which he found unconvincing. At this age, he came to the conclusion that there is no free will and, two years later, that there is no life after death. Finally, at the age of 18, after reading Mill's Autobiography , he abandoned the " First Cause " argument and became an atheist . He travelled to the continent in 1890 with an American friend, Edward FitzGerald , and with FitzGerald's family he visited

6660-399: The warning pronounced by the signatories to the notice of all the powerful Governments of the world in the earnest hope that they may agree to allow their citizens to survive. The manifesto called for a conference where scientists would assess the dangers posed to the survival of humanity by weapons of mass destruction . Emphasis was placed on the meeting being politically neutral. It extended

6750-725: The world of nuclear weapons." In his acceptance speech, Rotblat quoted a key phrase from the Manifesto: "Remember your humanity." From the 1965 Pugwash conference came a recommendation to establish the International Foundation for Science "in order to address the stultifying conditions under which younger faculty members in the universities of developing countries were attempting to do research". The organization gives grants to early-career scientists in low-income countries for work on local water resources and biology. As of 2019, 13 individuals have served as Presidents of

6840-486: The world. After reading the Manifesto, Russell answered a barrage of questions from members of the press, some of whom were initially openly hostile to the ideas contained in the Manifesto. Gradually, however, they became convinced by the forcefulness of his arguments, as was evident in the excellent reporting in the Press, which in many cases gave front page coverage. Russell had begun the conference by stating: I am bringing

6930-517: The year after Russell's birth, but his writings later influenced Russell's life. His paternal grandfather, Lord John Russell, later 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878), had twice been prime minister in the 1840s and 1860s. A member of Parliament since the early 1810s, he met with Napoleon Bonaparte in Elba . The Russells had been prominent in England for several centuries before this, coming to power and

7020-502: Was Tarner Lecturer in 1926 and became a Fellow again in 1944 until 1949. In 1924, Russell again gained press attention when attending a "banquet" in the House of Commons with well-known campaigners, including Arnold Lupton , who had been an MP and had also endured imprisonment for "passive resistance to military or naval service". In 1941, G. H. Hardy wrote a 61-page pamphlet titled Bertrand Russell and Trinity – published later as

7110-530: Was a drain on Russell's energy, but Russell continued to be fascinated by him and encouraged his academic development, including the publication of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in 1922. Russell delivered his lectures on logical atomism , his version of these ideas, in 1918, before the end of World War I . Wittgenstein was, at that time, serving in the Austrian Army and subsequently spent nine months in an Italian prisoner of war camp at

7200-713: Was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought ". He was also the recipient of the De Morgan Medal (1932), Sylvester Medal (1934), Kalinga Prize (1957), and Jerusalem Prize (1963). Bertrand Arthur William Russell was born at Ravenscroft , a country house in Trellech , Monmouthshire , on 18 May 1872, into an influential and liberal family of

7290-480: Was bombed. It contained threads that would later appear in the manifesto: The prospect for the human race is sombre beyond all precedent. Mankind are faced with a clear-cut alternative: either we shall all perish, or we shall have to acquire some slight degree of common sense. A great deal of new political thinking will be necessary if utter disaster is to be averted. After learning of the bombing of Hiroshima and seeing an impending nuclear arms race , Joseph Rotblat ,

7380-548: Was considered for a fellowship, which would give him a vote in the college government and protect him from being fired for his opinions, but was passed over because he was "anti-clerical", because he was agnostic. He was approached by the Austrian engineering student Ludwig Wittgenstein , who became his PhD student. Russell viewed Wittgenstein as a successor who would continue his work on logic. He spent hours dealing with Wittgenstein's various phobias and his bouts of despair. This

7470-734: Was educated at home by a series of tutors. When Russell was eleven years old, his brother Frank introduced him to the work of Euclid , which he described in his autobiography as "one of the great events of my life, as dazzling as first love". During these formative years, he also discovered the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley . Russell wrote: "I spent all my spare time reading him, and learning him by heart, knowing no one to whom I could speak of what I thought or felt, I used to reflect how wonderful it would have been to know Shelley, and to wonder whether I should meet any live human being with whom I should feel so much sympathy." Russell claimed that beginning at age 15, he spent considerable time thinking about

7560-607: Was ended when the paper published an editorial critical of both sides but agreeing with the opponents of ordinary language philosophy. In the King's Birthday Honours of 9 June 1949, Russell was awarded the Order of Merit , and the following year he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature . When he was given the Order of Merit, George VI was affable but embarrassed at decorating a former jailbird, saying, "You have sometimes behaved in

7650-656: Was not satisfied with the old traditional education and thought that progressive education also had some flaws; as a result, together with Dora, Russell founded the experimental Beacon Hill School in 1927. The school was run from a succession of different locations, including its original premises at the Russells' residence, Telegraph House, near Harting , West Sussex. During this time, he published On Education, Especially in Early Childhood . On 8 July 1930, Dora gave birth to her third child Harriet Ruth. After he left

7740-461: Was one of the early 20th century's prominent logicians and a founder of analytic philosophy , along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege , his friend and colleague G. E. Moore , and his student and protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein . Russell with Moore led the British "revolt against idealism ". Together with his former teacher A. N. Whitehead , Russell wrote Principia Mathematica , a milestone in

7830-461: Was prosecuted under the Defence of the Realm Act ) He later said of his imprisonment: I found prison in many ways quite agreeable. I had no engagements, no difficult decisions to make, no fear of callers, no interruptions to my work. I read enormously; I wrote a book, "Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy"... and began the work for "The Analysis of Mind". I was rather interested in my fellow-prisoners, who seemed to me in no way morally inferior to

7920-542: Was published between 1910 and 1913. This, along with the earlier The Principles of Mathematics , soon made Russell world-famous in his field. Russell's first political activity was as the Independent Liberal candidate in the 1907 by-election for the Wimbledon constituency , where he was not elected. In 1910, he became a lecturer at the University of Cambridge , Trinity College, where he had studied. He

8010-495: Was then known outside of China) to lecture on philosophy for a year. He went with optimism and hope, seeing China as then being on a new path. Other scholars present in China at the time included John Dewey and Rabindranath Tagore , the Indian Nobel-laureate poet. Before leaving China, Russell became gravely ill with pneumonia , and incorrect reports of his death were published in the Japanese press. When

8100-401: Was voluntary and was not the result of another altercation. The reason for the resignation, according to Hardy, was that Russell was going through a tumultuous time in his personal life with a divorce and subsequent remarriage. Russell contemplated asking Trinity for another one-year leave of absence but decided against it since this would have been an "unusual application" and the situation had

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