On the initiative of Nobel Laureate in Physics Ferenc Krausz (Germany) and Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams (USA), 107 Nobel Laureates have joined forces to publicly condemn Russia's devastating attack on the Okhmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital in Kiev.

We, Nobel laureates of all disciplines, condemn Russia’s July 8 attacks on Kyiv, including its direct hit on Okhmatdyt National Children’s Specialized Hospital, the most important children’s hospital in Ukraine and in the region. Two people died in that attack and seven more when a Russian bomb hit a maternity and fertility clinic in the city. Russia also targeted four other cities across Ukraine, killing an estimated 42 people and injuring another 300.

Attacks against medical facilities and civilians are war crimes and these latest bombings are added to the list of crimes committed by Russia and Russian forces since Putin’s decision to launch its full–scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The UN has reported that healthcare facilities and medical workers have faced nearly 1,900 attacks during the course of this war of choice.

We do not accept Russia’s claims that it does not target civilians or civilian infrastructure. The videos of the attack on the children’s hospital and subsequent photos of the seriously damaged building clearly demonstrate that the hospital was a target in the Russian attack. Residential buildings were also struck in the attacks. According to the U.N., more than 11,000 civilians across Ukraine have been killed and 22,000 injured since Russia’s invasion.

An emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, under the presidency of Russia, was held after the attacks on July 9. We condemn the fact that Russia was permitted to chair the meeting about attacks against Ukraine that Russia itself perpetrated. This travesty of justice underscores the overdue need of reform of the United Nations.

The perpetrators of these crimes must be held accountable. Impunity only fuels violence.

July-August 2024

Signatures:

Peace

  • Arias Sanchez, Oscar (1987)
  • Belo, Carlos Filipe Ximenes (1996)
  • Ebadi, Shirin (2003)
  • Gbowee, Leymah Roberta (2011)
  • Karman, Tawakkol (2011)
  • Mukwege, Denis (2018)
  • Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson (2011)
  • Williams, Jody (1997)

Economics

  • Engle III, Robert F. (2003)
  • Hart, Sir Oliver (2016)
  • Kydland, Finn E. (2004)
  • Maskin, Eric S. (2007)
  • Merton, Robert C. (1997)
  • Shiller, Robert J. (2013)
  • Smith, Vernon L. (2002)
  • Stiglitz, Joseph E. (2001)

Chemistry

  • Bawendi, Moungi G. (2023)
  • Cech, Thomas R. (1989)
  • Chalfie, Martin (2008)
  • Charpentier, Emmanuelle (2020)
  • Ciechanover, Aaron (2004)
  • Corey, Elias James (1990)
  • Deisenhofer, Johann (1988)
  • Ertl, Gerhard (2007)
  • Frank, Joachim (2017)
  • Fraser Stoddart, Sir James (2016)
  • Heeger, Alan (2000)
  • Henderson, Richard (2017)
  • Hershko, Avram (2004)
  • Hoffmann, Roald (1981)
  • Huber, Robert (1988)
  • Karplus, Martin (2013)
  • Kobilka, Brian K. (2012)
  • Kornberg, Roger D. (2006)
  • Lee, Yuan T. (1986)
  • Lefkowitz, Robert J. (2012)
  • List, Benjamin (2021)
  • MacMillan, David W. C. (2021)
  • Meldal, Morten (2022)
  • Modrich, Paul L. (2015)
  • Moerner, William E. (2014)
  • Noyori, Ryoji (2001)
  • Sauvage, Jean–Pierre (2016)
  • Schrock, Richard R. (2005)
  • Sharpless, Barry (2022)
  • Warshel, Arieh (2013)

Literature

  • Coetzee, J. M. (2003)
  • Ishiguro, Sir Kazuo (2017)
  • Jelinek, Elfriede (2004)
  • Modiano, Patrick (2014)
  • Muller, Herta (2009)
  • Soyinka, Wole (1986)

Physiology and Medicine

  • Alter, Harvey J. (2020)
  • Baltimore, David (1975)
  • Barre–Sinoussi, Francoise (2008)
  • Bishop, J. Michael (1989)
  • Buck, Linda B. (2004)
  • Capecchi, Mario R. (2007)
  • Hall, Jeffrey Connor (2017)
  • Hartwell, Leland H. (2001)
  • Houghton, Sir Michael (2020)
  • Hunt, Tim (2001)
  • Ignarro, Louis J. (1998)
  • Kandel, Eric R. (2000)
  • Marshall, Barry J. (2005)
  • Mello, Craig C. (2006)
  • Neher, Erwin (1991)
  • Nurse, Sir Paul M. (2001)
  • Nüsslein-Volhard, Christiane (1995)
  • Omura, Satoshi (2015)
  • Ratcliffe, Sir Peter J. (2019)
  • Rice, Charles M. (2020)
  • Roberts, Sir Richard J. (1993)
  • Rosbash, Michael (2017)
  • Semenza, Gregg L. (2019)
  • Sharp, Phillip A. (1993)
  • Szostak, Jack W. (2009)
  • Varmus, Harold E. (1989)
  • Wieschaus, Eric F. (1995)
  • Young, Michael W. (2017)

Physics

  • Agostini, Pierre (2023)
  • Amano, Hiroshi (2014)
  • Aspect, Alain (2022)
  • Barish, Barry Clark (2017)
  • Bednorz, J. Georg (1987)
  • Chu, Steven (1997)
  • Friedman, Jerome I. (1990)
  • Genzel, Reinhard (2020)
  • Glashow, Sheldon (1979)
  • Gross, David J. (2004)
  • Haroche, Serge (2012)
  • Hooft, Gerardus ’t (1999)
  • Josephson, Brian D. (1973)
  • Kajita, Takaaki (2015)
  • Ketterle, Wolfgang (2001)
  • Krausz, Ferenc (2023)
  • Mather, John C. (2006)
  • Mayor, Michel (2019)
  • Mourou, Gérard A. (2018)
  • Penrose, Roger (2020)
  • Phillips, William D. (1997)
  • Politzer, H. David (2004)
  • Tsui, Daniel C. (1998)
  • von Klitzing, Klaus (1985)
  • Weiss, Rainer (2017)
  • Wilson, Robert Woodrow (1978)
  • Wineland, David J. (2012)

Contact Prof. Krausz: ferenc.krausz@science4people.org

Picture: Evgeniy Maloletka / picture alliance