How Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs led to Nobel Peace Prize award

80 years on from the devastating bombing, we reflect on the Japanese non-governmental organization Nihon Hidankyo being announced as the winner of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

What does Nihon Hidankyo do?

A confederation of organizations for atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Nihon Hidankyo was awarded the accolade for its “efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again”, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a press release.

Nihon Hidankyo has “contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo”

“In response to the atomic bomb attacks of August 1945,” the Nobel Committee said, “a global movement arose whose members have worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of using nuclear weapons. Gradually, a powerful international norm developed, stigmatising the use of nuclear weapons as morally unacceptable. This norm has become known as ‘the nuclear taboo’.

“The testimony of the Hibakusha - the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - is unique in this larger context.”

The prize committee added: “The extraordinary efforts of Nihon Hidankyo and other representatives of the Hibakusha have contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo. It is therefore alarming that today this taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure.

“The nuclear powers are modernising and upgrading their arsenals; new countries appear to be preparing to acquire nuclear weapons; and threats are being made to use nuclear weapons in ongoing warfare. At this moment in human history, it is worth reminding ourselves what nuclear weapons are: the most destructive weapons the world has ever seen.”

How many Nobel Prizes are there and what is the prize money?

The Peace Prize is one of six Nobel Prizes awarded each year, together with accolades recognizing achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and economics.

Before this one, the recipients of four Nobel awards had already been announced for 2024: the Nobel Prize in Physics went to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks”; the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was given to David Baker “for computational protein design”, and to Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper “for protein structure prediction”; the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun “for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation”; and the Nobel Prize in Literature was handed to Han Kang “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”.

The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”

In 2024, a Nobel Prize came with a check for 11 million Swedish krona ($1 million). Winners also received a gold medal and a diploma.

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