How We Began
For over forty years, Science for Peace has been a leader in conducting research and popular education to address vital issues affecting human security, such as nuclear weapons, climate change, and militarism.
When the American Association for the Advancement of Science decided to hold their first Canadian conference in Toronto in 1981, it was the first time that one of their major themes was to direct science towards peace. In the midst of the Cold War, it was at this conference that the organization was conceived. The core group of distinguished and concerned professors at the University of Toronto that founded the organization included Anatol Rapoport, a mathematical biologist and systems theorist who served as the first professor of peace studies at the university, Eric Fawcett, a physicist who gave the organization international reach, Derek Paul, a nuclear physicist, Chemistry Nobel Laureate John Polanyi, and Terry Gardner, a mathematician who helped establish the first Peace Studies Chair. As these concerned scientists quickly established peace research conferences across Canadian universities, the organization attracted influential personalties the likes of George Ignatieff, a former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations and Chancellor of the university.
Since its launch, Science for Peace expanded across Canada to students, members of the general public, and specialists in the humanities and social sciences, as well as industry. Through working groups, articles, research papers, teaching, petitions, workshops, student mentorship, and expert witnesses guiding the House of Commons in Canada, the organization's peace education activities serve a crucial function at the University of Toronto and the larger public.
Our Mission
To provide high quality peace education services to the University of Toronto and the larger community community
Our Vision
To increase global human security by eliminating nuclear weapons, tackling the climate emergency, and ending militarism through peace education