A photo exhibit, “From the Atomic Bomb to the Nobel Peace Prize,” on display through Oct. 8 in Harvard Law School’s Wasserstein Hall south lobby, examines the impact of nuclear weapons and progress toward their elimination. Bonnie Docherty, associate director of Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection and a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, offers an introduction to the exhibit:
The use of two atomic bombs at the end of World War II transformed the nature of warfare in frightening ways. The new weapons leveled cities in a single stroke and caused hundreds of thousands of casualties. During the Cold War, a small group of countries developed ever bigger bombs that dwarfed the power of the original ones. Testing displaced local, often indigenous, people and produced widespread and long-lasting radioactive contamination that continues to affect humans and the environment today. While states adopted treaties that limited testing and proliferation and created regional nuclear-weapon-free zones, their response was incomplete. Around the turn of the twenty-first century, progress slowed dramatically.
![Koko Kondo stands in front of the atomic bomb memorial in Hiroshima](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/3-Koko-Kondo.jpg)
In 2010, opponents of nuclear weapons began to reframe the debate as a humanitarian, rather than primarily a national security issue. By transcending national borders, this approach motivated non-nuclear armed states to act collectively to advance nuclear disarmament. In December 2016, the UN General Assembly mandated negotiation of a new treaty. On July 7, 2017, states voted 122 to 1, with one abstention, to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
![Old photo of the fireball from the Trinity Test, the world’s first nuclear explosion.](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Trinity_Test_Fireball_16ms.jpg)
![Ruins of a building with a river and bridge behind it.](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2-Hiroshima-A-Bomb-dome.jpg)
![An older woman posing in front of an illuminated building.](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3-Koko-Kondo.jpg)
![Black and white photo of the mushroom cloud](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/4-Nagasaki-mushroom-cloud.jpg)
![Group of people walking towards a boat](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/5-Leaving-bikini.jpg)
![Red sky in the aftermath of the 1954 Castle Bravo test](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/6-Castle_Bravo_Blast.jpg)
![the Runit Dome covering radioactive soil on the Marshall Islands](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/7-Runit_Dome_001.jpg)
![Woman sits in front of microphone](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/8-Abacca.jpg)
![Campaigners outside the United Nations during negotiations of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, New York, March 31, 2017](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/9-Ban-the-Bomb-Conboy.jpg)
![Bonnie Docherty of the HLS International Human Rights Clinic addressing states during the TPNW negotiations, United Nations, New York, March 2017](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/10-Docherty-intervention-Beser.jpg)
![Adoption of the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by 122 countries at the United Nations, New York, July 7, 2017](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/11-Adoption-of-the-TPNW.jpg)
![Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, United Nations, New York, 2018](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/12-TPNW.jpg)
![Torchlight parade during the Nobel Peace Prize celebrations, Oslo, December 10, 2017](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/13-Torchlight-parade-Beser.jpg)
![Setsuko Thurlow, who survived the bombing of Hiroshima, speaking at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, Oslo, December 10, 2017](https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/14-Setsuko-at-Nobel.jpg)
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a global civil society coalition, served as a driving force in spotlighting the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and pushing states toward a ban. During the negotiations, the HLS International Human Rights Clinic provided legal and advocacy support to ICAN, successfully arguing for provisions to both prevent and remediate human and environmental harm. In recognition of its leadership, ICAN received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
This exhibition reflects on the past while heralding the prospect of a brighter future. It traces the history of nuclear weapons from the devastation of early use and testing to the global effort to eliminate these horrific weapons of mass destruction. At a time when tensions among nuclear powers dominate the media, it showcases an alternative, humanitarian path to achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world.
The exhibit is co-sponsored by the Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative, Hibakusha Stories/Youth Arts New York, and HLS Advocates for Human Rights.