Committee on Human Rights of Scientists
Encyclopedia
The Committee on Human Rights of Scientists "of the New York Academy of Sciences
was formed in 1978 to pursue the advancement of the basic Human Rights of scientists throughout the world. The Committee intervenes in cases where scientists, engineers, health professionals and educators are detained, imprisoned, exiled, murdered, "disappeared," or deprived of the rights to pursue science, communicate their findings with their peers and the general public, and travel freely in accordance with established policies of The International Council for Science." http://www.nyas.org/programs/human.asp
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New York Academy of Sciences
The New York Academy of Sciences is the third oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, non-profit organization with more than members in 140 countries, the Academy’s mission is to advance understanding of science and technology...
was formed in 1978 to pursue the advancement of the basic Human Rights of scientists throughout the world. The Committee intervenes in cases where scientists, engineers, health professionals and educators are detained, imprisoned, exiled, murdered, "disappeared," or deprived of the rights to pursue science, communicate their findings with their peers and the general public, and travel freely in accordance with established policies of The International Council for Science." http://www.nyas.org/programs/human.asp
- "Throughout its history, the committee has intervened in numerous cases to ameliorate the restricted conditions of individual scientists and to secure for them the protections of the rule of law. Russian physicist Andrei SakharovAndrei SakharovAndrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
and Chinese dissident Fang LizhiFang LizhiFang Lizhi is a professor of astrophysics and former vice-president of the University of Science and Technology of China whose liberal ideas inspired the pro-democracy student movement of 1986-87 and, finally, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989...
made their first U.S. appearances at the Academy and credited the committee for coordinating the international pressure that led to their releases. The committee marshaled the scientific community on behalf of Wen Ho LeeWen Ho LeeDr. Wen Ho Lee is a Taiwan-born Taiwanese American scientist who worked for the University of California at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He created simulations of nuclear explosions for the purposes of scientific inquiry, as well as for improving the safety and reliability of the US nuclear...
, the Chinese-American scientist accused of mishandling classified information, and Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, a Cuban economist jailed for her human rights activities. Other countries where the committee has recently taken action are Belorussia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Kenya, Palestinian Authority, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Vietnam." http://www.nyas.org/programs/about.asp
The Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award
"This award is given to scientists in recognition of the contributions they made to safeguard or advance the human rights of scientists throughout the world. It was retitled in 1986." http://www.nyas.org/programs/award.asp- 2006: Mesfin WoldemariamMesfin WoldemariamMesfin Woldemariam is an Ethiopian peace activist and philosopher, who has been actively engaged in a peaceful movement to bring justice, equality and peace for all the people in his country...
, Ethiopian geographer and prominent human rights defender, and Joseph Birman, distinguished professor of Physics at City College of The City University of New York. - 2005: Zafra Lerman, distinguished professor of Science and Public Policy and head of the Institute for Science Education and Science Communication at Columbia College Chicago, and Herman Winick, assistant director and professor emeritus of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory at Stanford University
- 2004: Nguyen Dan QueNguyen Dan QueNguyen Dan Que, M.D. , also known as Nguyen Chau , is a Vietnamese endocrinologist and pro-democracy campaigner. He is one of the leading dissidents against the communist government in Vietnam....
, Medical Doctor, Former Director of Cho-Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh, Former Director of Medical Department at Saigon Medical School - 2003: Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies and sociology professor at the American University in Cairo
- 2002: Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, economist and one of the founders of Internal Dissidents Working Group for Analysis of the Cuban Socio-Economic Situation, and Mohammad Hadi Hadizadeh Yazdi, Professor of nuclear physics, Physics Department School of Science, Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, Iran
- 2001: Alexander NikitinAlexander NikitinAleksander Nikitin, a Russian former submarine officer and nuclear safety inspector turned environmentalist, started to co-operate with Norwegian environmental Bellona Foundation in 1994. He was arrested in February 1996 by Russian FSB and charged with treason through espionage for his...
(Russian Nuclear Engineer, Representative of Bellona Foundation in St. Petersburg) and Betty Tsang (Nuclear Physicist, National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University) - 2000: Sidney D. Drell, Professor Emeritus, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, and Lin Hai, Software Engineer, freelance web consultant, webmaster of freechina.com
- 1999: Israel HalperinIsrael HalperinIsrael Halperin, was a Canadian mathematician and social activist.Born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Russian immigrants Solomon Halperin and Fanny Lundy, Halperin attended Malvern Collegiate Institute, Victoria University in the University of Toronto, graduated from the University of Toronto in...
(Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of Toronto, Canada) - 1998: Boris AltshulerBoris AltshulerBoris Altshuler is a professor of physics at Columbia University. His specialty is theoretical condensed matter physics....
, Physicist, Lebedev Institute; Director, Moscow Research Center for Human RightsMoscow Research Center for Human RightsThe Moscow Research Center for Human Rights is "a union of independent non-governmental organizations whose work covers a wide range of human rights issues, provides central coordination for and development of the human rights movement in Russia."...
, Moscow, Russia, and Morris Pripstein, Physicist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California - 1997: Prof. Laurent SchwartzLaurent SchwartzLaurent-Moïse Schwartz was a French mathematician. He pioneered the theory of distributions, which gives a well-defined meaning to objects such as the Dirac delta function. He was awarded the Fields medal in 1950 for his work...
(Mathematician Emeritus, Universite de Paris and Ecole Polytechnique, Paris and Palaiseaux, France) and Prof. Zuhal Amato (Public Health and Medical Ethics, Dokuz Eyul University, Izmir, Turkey) - 1996: Prof. Joel LebowitzJoel LebowitzJoel L. Lebowitz is a mathematical physicist widely acknowledged for his outstanding contributions to statistical physics, statistical mechanics and many other fields of Mathematics and Physics...
, Director, Center for Math Sciences Research, Rutgers University, and Dr. Sergei KovalevSergei KovalevSergei Kovalev is a Russian human rights activist and politician and a former Soviet dissident and political prisoner.- Early career and arrest :...
, Biologist, Deputy of the State Duma, Moscow, Russia - 1995: Prof. Xu LiangyingXu LiangyingXu Liangying , b 1920, is a Chinese physicist, translator and a famous historian and philosopher of natural science in China.-Biography:...
, Physicist and Translator of Albert Einstein's collected works, and Prof. Ding ZilinDing ZilinProfessor Ding Zilin is currently the leader of the political pressure group Tiananmen Mothers.-Biography:...
, Philosopher at Beijing's Chinese People's University - 1994: Dr. Vil Mirzayanov, Russian Chemist
- 1993: Dr. Abdumannob Pulatov (Physicist, Chairman of the Uzbek Human Rights Committee)
- 1992: Mr. A. M. RosenthalA. M. RosenthalAbraham Michael "A.M." Rosenthal , born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, was a New York Times executive editor and columnist and New York Daily News columnist . He joined the New York Times in 1943 and worked for the Times for 56 years - from 1943 to 1999...
(Columnist and former Chief Editor of The New York Times) - 1990: Prof. Inga Fisher-Hjalmars (Chemist and Physicist, former Vice President of the Swedish Academy of Sciences)
- 1989: Prof. Henri CartanHenri CartanHenri Paul Cartan was a French mathematician with substantial contributions in algebraic topology. He was the son of the French mathematician Élie Cartan.-Life:...
, Mathematician, Professor at ENS, Paris, France - 1988: Prof. Fang Li-Zhi (prominent Chinese Physicist and Human Rights Advocate)
- 1987: Mrs. Dorothy Hirsch (Executive Director of the Committee for Concerned Scientists)
- 1986: Dr. Lipman BersLipman BersLipman Bers was an American mathematician born in Riga who created the theory of pseudoanalytic functions and worked on Riemann surfaces and Kleinian groups.-Biography:...
, Mathematician, Professor at Columbia University - 1979: Prof. Andrei SakharovAndrei SakharovAndrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
, Physicist- presidential Award for his scientific and human rights work
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