Science for peace and development at UNESCO: an anthology by Nobel laureates

UNESCO has been crucial in advancing scientific knowledge, promoting sustainable development, and fostering international cooperation. It has significantly contributed to global peace and development through various initiatives, including basic sciences and engineering, water security, biodiversity, biosphere reserves and geoparks, climate change, research and innovation policies, indigenous knowledge systems, science diplomacy, promoting women in science and engineering, and disaster risk reduction. For more than 80 years, UNESCO has collaborated with thousands of scientists, including over 100 Nobel laureates, whose vision has steered the course of global science. This landmark volume chronicles those pivotal achievements, featuring exclusive insights from 46 Nobel laureates' essays alongside perspectives from world leaders and former UNESCO Directors-General. Across 12 dynamic sections, it delves into Einstein's enduring legacy, the quest for peace through science, global collaboration, the transformative power of creativity, open science, crafting policies, sustainability, human rights, social responsibility of scientists, trailblazing women in twenty-first-century science, and bold visions for the future. Spanning different eras, these essays illuminate the evolving social contract between science and society, revealing shifting values, priorities, and visions that have defined each generation.