Committee of Concerned Scientists

An international non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.

An independent non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.
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CCS Board Member Svetlana Stone Wachtell Honored with Human Rights Prize from the New York Academy of Sciences

November 3, 2010

“Keeping silent is not an option,” CCS Board Member Svetlana Stone Wachtell says at New York Academy of Science ceremony on September 30, where she received the 2010 Human Rights of Scientists Heinz R. Pagels Award, in recognition of her 30 years of service with the NYAS Human Rights Committee. She expressed worry about the Academy’s continued commitment to the human rights of scientists.

See below for the full text of her remarks.

“I am very humbled and honored to receive this Award, and I want to thank the NYAS Committee and its past and present chairmen, Professor Joel Lebowitz, Drs. Joseph Birman, Eugene Chudnovsky, and  Henry Greenberg for their leadership. My acceptance of this award is somewhat bittersweet, in that I worry that, in today’s political, cultural and economic climate, it is at times difficult for the Academy to allow the Committee to take the stands that it has historically taken — and must take — in this arena.

“For over 30 years, the NYAS Human Rights Committee has been one of the major movers in the fight for the human rights of scientists.  It has stood tall against the suppression of such rights all over the world and has not been afraid to take stands against powerful foes in such places as the former Soviet Union, Russia, China, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, San Salvador, Vietnam, Burma, Ethiopia, and the United States itself.

“The Academy has the moral authority and the obligation to take positions against violations of the basic human rights of scientists — wherever they occur. It must not hesitate to apply pressure in support of those rights. Keeping silent is not an option.

“It is my hope that the Committee, as an arm of the Academy, and as a representative of the scientists who are its members, will continue its efforts wherever it believes they are most needed.

“I dedicate this Award to all those who are endangering their careers and their lives in their belief in the freedom of thought and expression.

“Thank you again for this honor.”
— Svetlana Stone Wachtell.

Filed Under: CCS Cases

Who We Are

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Paul H. Plotz, M.D., Washington, DC

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Astronomy – Arno Penzias, New Enterprises Associates*

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University

Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Medical Sciences – J. Joseph Blum, Duke University

Honorary Board Members

Nancy Andrews, Duke University

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deceased), Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser, Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy, University of Pittsburg

David Gross, (2004 Nobel Prize in Physics), Kavil Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara*

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Louis Nirenberg, New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Honorary Board Members

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, (1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine), New England Biolabs*

Myriam Sarachick, City College of New York

Harold Scheraga, Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Steven Weinberg, University of Texas, Austin*

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate

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FURTHER DIRECTIONS

Committee of Concerned Scientists
Public Affairs and Administrative Office
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Carol Valoris, Executive Director
(202) 812-8074
carolvaloris@concernedscientists.org

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