At the recent Nobel Peace Prize Centennial Symposium, 100 Nobel laureates issued a brief but dire warning.The following is the text of that statement:

THE STATEMENT

The most profound danger to world peace in the coming years will stem not from the irrational acts of states or individuals but from the legitimate demands of the world's dispossessed. Of these poor and disenfranchised, the majority live a marginal existence in equatorial climates. Global warming, not of their making but originating with the wealthy few, will affect their fragile ecologies most. Their situation will be desperate and manifestly unjust. It cannot be expected, therefore, that in all cases they will be content to await the beneficence of the rich. If then we permit the devastating power of modern weaponry to spread through this combustible human landscape, we invite a conflagration that can engulf both rich and poor.

The only hope for the future lies in co-operative international action, legitimized by democracy. It is time to turn our backs on the unilateral search for security, in which we seek to shelter behind walls. Instead, we must persist in the quest for united action to counter both global warming and a weaponized world. These twin goals will constitute vital components of stability as we move toward the wider degree of social justice that alone gives hope of peace. Some of the needed legal instruments are already at hand, such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Convention on Climate Change, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. As concerned citizens, we urge all governments to commit to these goals that constitute steps on the way to replacement of war by law. To survive in the world we have transformed, we must learn to think in a new way. As never before, the future of each depends on the good of all.

John C. Polanyi Chemistry, 1986 Ilya Prigogine Chemistry, 1977 Burton Richter Physics, 1976 Heinrich Rohrer Physics, 1987 Zhohres I. Alferov Physics, 2000 Sidney Altman Chemistry, 1989 Philip W. Anderson Physics, 1977 Oscar Arias Sanchez Peace, 1987 J. Georg Bednorz Physics, 1987 Bishop Carlos F.X. Belo Peace, 1996 Baruj Benacerraf Medicine, 1980 Hans A. Bethe Physics, 1967 James W. Black Medicine, 1988 Guenter Blobel Medicine, 1999 Nicolaas Bloembergen Physics, 1981 Norman E. Boriaug Peace, 1970 Paul D. Boyer Chemistry, 1997 Bertram N. Brockhouse Physics, 1994 Herbert C. Brown Chemistry, 1979 James Carter Peace 2002 Georges Charpak Physics, 1992 Claude Cohen-Tannoudji Physics, 1997 John W. Cornforth Chemistry, 1975 Francis H. Crick Medicine, 1962 James W. Cronin Physics, 1980 Paul J. Crutzen Chemistry, 1995 Robert F. Curl Chemistry, 1996 His Holiness The Dalai Lama Peace, 1989 Johann Deisenhofer Chemistry, 1988 Peter C. Doherty Medicine, 1996 Manfred Eigen Chemistry, 1967 Richard R. Ernst Chemistry, 1991 Leo Esaki Physics, 1973 Edmond H. Fischer Medicine, 1992 Val L. Fitch Physics, 1980 Dario Fo Literature, 1997 Robert F. Furchgott Medicine, 1998 Walter Gilbert Chemistry, 1980 Sheldon L. Glashow Physics, 1979 Mikhail S. Gorbachev Peace, 1990 Nadine Gordimer Literature, 1991 Paul Greengard Medicine, 2000 Roger Guillemin Medicine, 1977 Herbert A. Hauptman Chemistry, 1985 Dudley R. Herschbach Chemistry, 1986 Antony Hewish Physics, 1974 Roald Hoffman Chemistry, 1981 Gerardus 't Hooft Physics, 1999 David H. Hubel Medicine, 1981 Robert Huber Chemistry, 1988 Francois Jacob Medicine, 1975 Brian D. Josephson Physics, 1973 Jerome Karle Chemistry, 1985 Wolfgang Ketterle Physics, 2001 H. Gobind Khorana Medicine, 1968 Lawrence R. Klein Economics, 1980 Klaus von Klitzing Physics, 1985 Aaron Klug Chemistry, 1982 Walter Kohn Chemistry, 1998 Herbert Kroemer Physics, 2000 Harold Kroto Chemistry, 1996 Willis E. Lamb Physics, 1955 Leon M. Lederman Physics, 1988 Yuan T. Lee Chemistry, 1986 Jean-Marie Lehn Chemistry, 1987 Rita Levi-Montalcini Medicine, 1986 William N. Lipscomb Chemistry, 1976 Alan G. MacDiarmid Chemistry, 2000 Daniel L. McFadden Economics, 2000 Cisar Milstein Medicine, 1984 Franco Modigliani Economics, 1985 Rudolf L. Moessbauer Physics, 1961 Mario J. Molina Chemistry, 1995 Ben R. Mottelson Physics, 1975 Ferid Murad Medicine, 1998 Erwin Neher Medicine, 1991 Marshall W. Nirenberg Medicine, 1968 Joseph E. Murray Medicine, 1990 Paul M. Nurse Medicine, 2001 Max F. Perutz Chemistry, 1962 William D. Phillips Physics, 1997 Joseph Rotblat Peace, 1995 Carlo Rubbia Physics, 1984 Bert Sakmann Medicine, 1991 Frederick Sanger Chemistry, 1958; 1980 Josi Saramago Literature, 1998 J. Robert Schrieffer Physics, 1972 Melvin Schwartz Physics, 1988 K. Barry Sharpless Chemistry, 2001 Richard E. Smalley Chemistry, 1996 Jack Steinberger Physics, 1988 Joseph E. Stiglitz Economics, 2001 Horst L. Stormer Physics, 1998 Henry Taube Chemistry, 1983 Joseph H. Taylor Jr. Physics, 1993 Susumu Tonegawa Medicine, 1997 Charles H. Townes Physics, 1964 Daniel T. Tsui Physics, 1998 Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu Peace, 1984 John Vane Medicine, 1982 John E. Walker Chemistry, 1997 Eric F. Wieschaus Medicine, 1982 Jody Williams Peace, 1997 Robert W. Wilson Physics, 1978 Ahmed H. Zewail Chemistry, 1999