Caldicott, Helen (1938–)

Helen Caldicott is a pediatrician and social activist born August 7, 1938, in Melbourne, Australia. She has developed an international career by arguing persuasively against the use of nuclear energy, the buildup of nuclear waste, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. She first became involved in social activism when she wrote a letter to a newspaper exposing radioactivity in Adelaide's water supply. In the early 1970s, she headed the Australian citizen revolt against France's detonation of nuclear weapons in the South Pacific, and she successfully lobbied against the exportation of uranium from Australia.

In 1978, after a year teaching at Harvard Medical School, Caldicott became president of Physicians for Social Responsibility. During her 5 years as president, she built the international membership to more than 30,000, and she contributed to a worldwide anti-nuclear movement that helped end the nuclear arms race. Because many members of Physicians for Social Responsibility saw her as a “radical,” she left this post. She cofounded the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, an organization that received the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. Caldicott herself was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2003, she received the Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize.

Caldicott was a founding president of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute, established to educate the public on the medical, environmental, political, and moral consequences of the use of nuclear weapons, power, and waste. Other public advocacy groups she cofounded or led include Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament; Nuclear Freeze Voter Initiative Campaign; Standing for Truth About Radiation; Green Labor, an interest group in the Australian Labor Party; and Parents Protecting Our Children Against Radiation. In 2000, she established a new political party in Australia called Our Common Future Party.

Politically, Caldicott was very influential. She met privately with Canadian prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, and U.S. president Ronald Reagan. In order to appeal directly to their emotions, she insisted on meeting these leaders without their advisors present. She often speaks to unions and working people to counter what she views as misinformation emanating from nuclear proponents and the media. One of her current campaigns is exposing how the nuclear industry contributes to global warming.

During lectures and presentations, Caldicott graphically describes the effects of radioactivity on people and then offers renewable energy alternatives. From 1995 to 1998, she hosted a weekly one-hour radio program—“Fair Dinkum” in New York—on which she clearly articulated her moral, political, and humanist beliefs. She has been awarded a total of 19 honorary degrees from European, Canadian, Australian, and American universities, and she is prominently featured in the 1982 Academy Award–Winning documentary [Page 288]If You Love This Planet. She has written six books focusing on the perils of nuclear energy and weaponry and an autobiography. The Smithsonian Institute has named Caldicott one of the most influential women of the 20th century.

Caldicott's personal convictions have driven her life work and enabled her to speak with passion to people throughout the world. She demonstrates that it is possible to prompt those held in high esteem in our society to adopt socially and morally responsible positions.

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