Delhi:
The Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.
The organization is a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, which aims to “achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and demonstrate through witness testimony that nuclear weapons should never be used again.”
In announcing this year's Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee honored the atomic bomb survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for cultivating the hope of peace through “their precious experience.” “They help us describe the indescribable, think the unthinkable and somehow grasp the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons,” the commission said on X.
The committee also emphasized that no nuclear weapon has been used in war in almost 80 years. The Nobel Committee acknowledges Nihon Hidankyo's efforts to establish a nuclear taboo and also states that the same is under pressure.
By drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their own experiences and issuing urgent warnings against the spread and use of nuclear weapons, the organization has helped consolidate opposition to nuclear weapons, a Nobel Committee press release said.
“Nuclear powers are modernizing and improving their arsenals, new countries appear to be preparing to acquire nuclear weapons, and threats are being made to use nuclear weapons in ongoing warfare. At this moment in human history, it is worth reminding ourselves of what nuclear weapons are: the most destructive weapons the world has ever seen,” a press release said.
Meanwhile, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to scientists David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, while the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNA and its role in gene regulation.
South Korean writer Han Kang received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical trauma and exposes the fragility of human life.”
American John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton have won the Nobel Prize in Physics for groundbreaking work in the development of artificial intelligence. Shortly after announcing the award, Hinton expressed concerns about the technology he developed.
The prize includes a gold medal, a diploma and prize money of 1 million dollars (913,000 euros).
