Physicist Toshihide Maskawa : Misuse of science and overconfidence behind nuclear accident
Mar. 20, 2015
by Uzaemonnaotsuka Tokai, Editorial Writer
The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi (No. 1) nuclear power plant, now marking its fourth year, has posed grave questions about the nature of science and technology. Have the lessons learned been heeded? Toshihide Maskawa, 75, a Nobel Prize laureate and resident of Kyoto, sat down for an interview with the Chugoku Shimbun in connection with March 11, the day the Great East Japan Earthquake struck Japan in 2011.
This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings. Dr. Maskawa believes that both the atomic bombings and the accident at the nuclear power plant were the results of insufficient technology spiraling out of control and that “the misuse and overconfidence of science, as well as political developments, have brought about these tragic events.” He stresses the importance of social responsibility and ethics among scientists.
Dr. Maskawa received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008. He has continued to pursue efforts to advance the abolition of nuclear weapons by, for instance, playing a central role in the Pugwash Conferences to be held in Nagasaki in November.
(Originally published on March 11, 2015)
The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi (No. 1) nuclear power plant, now marking its fourth year, has posed grave questions about the nature of science and technology. Have the lessons learned been heeded? Toshihide Maskawa, 75, a Nobel Prize laureate and resident of Kyoto, sat down for an interview with the Chugoku Shimbun in connection with March 11, the day the Great East Japan Earthquake struck Japan in 2011.
This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings. Dr. Maskawa believes that both the atomic bombings and the accident at the nuclear power plant were the results of insufficient technology spiraling out of control and that “the misuse and overconfidence of science, as well as political developments, have brought about these tragic events.” He stresses the importance of social responsibility and ethics among scientists.
Dr. Maskawa received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008. He has continued to pursue efforts to advance the abolition of nuclear weapons by, for instance, playing a central role in the Pugwash Conferences to be held in Nagasaki in November.
(Originally published on March 11, 2015)
