March 17, 2025
Frank von Hippel, who co-founded the Program on Science and Global Security (SGS) in 1974, and is now a professor emeritus at Princeton University, was awarded the Göttinger Friedenspreis (Göttingen Peace Prize) for “outstanding contributions to scientific peace research and his significant peace-building activities in the field of nuclear arms control and disarmament and non-proliferation” and for his “exceptional service and tireless commitment to peace and security “.
Established in 1999, the Göttingen Peace Prize honors individuals and initiatives worldwide that are working toward a more just and peaceful world. Awarded annually by the Dr. Roland Röhl Foundation, the prize recognizes individuals or groups who have demonstrated a particularly strong commitment to peace, either academically or practically. The award ceremony was held on 15 March 2025 in Göttingen, Germany, with an audience that included German Foreign Office's Minister of State Katja Keul, the mayor of Göttingen Petra Broistedt, Dagmar Freudenberg and other members of the Foundation’s board, and federal and state parliamentarians. The mayor of Göttingen serves as one of the trustees of the foundation which awards the Prize.
The foundation's jury, chaired by Michael Brzoska, cited Frank von Hippel's “physics-based studies, collaborative initiatives, and timely interventions, which have made significant contributions to the control and elimination of fissile material, the safety of facilities in the nuclear fuel cycle, and the verifiability of nuclear weapons disarmament”. They also highlighted his decades of leadership in “diverse practical efforts toward nuclear arms control and disarmament” and underscored his “tireless work for peace”.
The award recognized Frank von Hippel’s contribution as “co-founder and co-director of the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University, New Jersey, a world-renowned institution for peace science research and education on technical and political aspects of nuclear arms control and disarmament.” It observed that his work makes him “a role model for tireless scientific peace research in Germany and worldwide.”
For Frank von Hippel’s Göttingen Peace Prize lecture, see the slides here.