Winick Receives Academy Award

By Nina Adelman Stolar

The Board of Governors of the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) has jointly awarded Herman Winick (SSRL) and Professor Zafra Lerman (Columbia College Chicago) the 2005 Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights Award. The Committee on Human Rights of Scientists letter of recommendation recognizes Winick’s effective and tireless work on behalf of dissident scientists throughout the world, particularly in Iran. Previous recipients include SLAC’s Sid Drell and Andrei Sakharov.

Herman Winick (SSRL)
(Photo by Diana Rogers)

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 our colleagues throughout the world. The Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award is given to scientists in recognition of the contributions they made to safeguard or advance the human rights of scientists throughout the world. The award will be presented at the Academy annual meeting in New York City on September 29.

For more information, see: http://www.nyas.org/programs/award.asp

Statement on Receiving Pagels Award

For the past 40 years, through the American Physical Society, Amnesty International and other organizations, I have been active in supporting dissident scientists in the Soviet Union, China and other countries.

This award by the NYAS recognizes in particular my efforts on behalf of an Iranian physicist who was imprisoned for belonging to a political party that was critical of the government of Iran. I had worked with him for several years on the SESAME Project (www.sesame.org.jo) which is constructing a synchrotron radiation research laboratory in the Middle East. Members of this project include Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Iran, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Pakistan and Turkey.

This was the first time that someone I knew personally was punished for political views, so I began a personal campaign to have him released and brought to the U.S. where he now has a temporary research position. I am continuing these efforts to find him a permanent position and reunite him with his family since his wife and a daughter are still in Iran.