History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

The nuclear physicist and peace activist, Joseph Rotblat, lived in West Hampstead for over 50 years. Joseph Rotblat was born in November 1908 in Warsaw the eldest of five children. His father Zygmunt Rotblat owned a large haulage company specialising in delivering newsprint paper. His earliest years were spent in comfort, but the First World War brought ruin to his father’s firm. The business slumped and the horses were requisitioned for the Army, and the family slipped into poverty. Rotblat recalled that at one point they were reduced to eating frozen potatoes and distilling and selling illegal vodka. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to an electrician. But after a few months he set up his own electrical repair business. He became interested in science and attended evening classes at the Free University of Poland to take a degree in physics. After graduating with a master’s degree in 1932 Rotblat obtained a post as research assistant with Prof. Ludwik Wertenstein at the Radiol...