RICHARD L. GARWIN (1928-2025)

BY JULIA PHILLIPS¹

Richard L. Garwin, whose contributions profoundly shaped science and technology despite limited public recognition, was best known for designing the first working hydrogen bomb. Over a career spanning more than seven decades, Dick left an indelible mark on science, technology, and public policy through pathbreaking contributions that shaped both national security and civilian life. He died May 13, 2025, at his home in Scarsdale, New York, at the age of 97.

Born April 19, 1928, in Cleveland, Ohio, Dick was the older of two sons of Robert and Leona (Schwartz). His father taught electronics at a technical high school by day and worked nights as a movie projectionist; his mother was a legal secretary. From an early age, he showed remarkable intelligence and mechanical aptitude, repairing household appliances by age five and helping his father maintain theater projectors and build audio amplifiers.

He graduated from Cleveland Heights High School in 1944 at age 16 and earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from what is now Case Western Reserve University in 1947, commuting from home while working nights. That year, he married Lois Levy, who would remain his devoted partner throughout a long and loving life together. Accepting a Standard Oil fellowship, he entered the University of Chicago’s physics department, then led by Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi. Dick earned his master’s degree in 1948 and his doctorate in 1949 at age 21, achieving the highest marks ever recorded on the university’s doctoral exams. Drawn to experimental work, he joined Fermi’s lab, developing ultra-fast coincidence circuits and improved scintillation counters for beta decay research. His close collaboration with Fermi shaped his practical, problem-solving approach.

Facing a nine-month academic salary, Dick accepted Enrico Fermi’s suggestion to consult at Los Alamos during the summer. There, in 1951, he played a pivotal role in translating Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam’s conceptual design for a two-stage hydrogen bomb into a practical and testable device. Within a few weeks, he had a concise, four-page engineering plan — with a schematic — that became the blueprint for the 80-ton, 11-megaton “Mike” device, which was detonated on November 1, 1952. The explosion vaporized Elugelab Island in the Pacific and produced a mushroom cloud nearly 100 miles wide. Even decades later, after his contribution was publicly acknowledged, Garwin remained little known outside defense and scientific circles.

In 1952, Dick joined IBM’s new research division in a unique arrangement that allowed him to hold a Columbia University physics post while pursuing wide-ranging projects. He moved to Yorktown Heights when the new headquarters opened in 1961.

At IBM, Garwin’s work spanned computing, defense, and commercial technologies. He contributed foundational research on spin-echo magnetic resonance that helped pave the way for MRI; advanced superconducting computing and early silicon integrated-circuit technologies; and played a role in the development of laser printers, touchscreens, eye-tracking input devices, and components essential to GPS navigation. Over 41 years, he earned 47 patents and authored more than 500 scientific publications. He also championed the publication of the Cooley-Tukey Fast Fourier Transform algorithm, which became a cornerstone of digital signal processing.

Dick thrived in an unconventional role — pursuing projects at his own pace, focusing on problems he believed truly mattered, and often working at the intersection of government and industrial research. He had a clear sense of where he could make a difference and followed that intuition with unwavering independence. Nicholas Donofrio (NAE 1995), a longtime IBM executive who worked with Dick for nearly 25 years, recalled, “Dick worked on what he felt mattered and where he felt he could make a difference.”

The best way to work with Dick, Donofrio noted, was to engage when needed and then give him the space to operate on his terms. “My role was often simply to enable that success,” he said. He recalled one day when Dick called as he was preparing to “graduate from IBM.” Dick wanted to donate much of his work — his writings and documents — to the Library of Congress but felt frustrated that internal processes were slowing him down with too many reviews. That was not Dick’s way. Understanding both the significance of his contributions and the importance of honoring his intent, Donofrio quickly arranged for the right people to work directly with him. “The matter was resolved swiftly and quietly, just as he preferred, and I never heard from him about it again,” Donofrio said.

It was a small episode, but for those who worked closely with Dick, it captured his essential qualities: his independence, his clarity of purpose, and the deep respect he earned through a lifetime of impactful work.

After Dick became an IBM Fellow Emeritus upon his retirement in 1993, one of their occasional chats turned to his groundbreaking work for the U.S. government. He spoke with pride about each achievement, describing from memory why they were important. When asked if he had ever attended a launch or test of any of the massive systems he had designed, Dick smiled and replied, “Now, Nick, why would I ever waste my time doing that? I knew they were all going to work.” That quiet confidence epitomized his genius: a visionary scientist, an inventive engineer, and an exceptional human being.

Over the decades, Richard Garwin’s work spanned an extraordinary breadth of science, engineering, and public service. Early in his career, he contributed to advances in nuclear and low-temperature physics, computing, and defense technologies — including key innovations that enabled early U.S. reconnaissance satellites. He played a supporting role in the experimental discovery of parity violation in the weak nuclear force, a foundational result that helped establish the Standard Model of particle physics.

Garwin also contributed to gravitational wave detection efforts, advising and advocating for large-scale interferometer projects. The 2015 detection of gravitational waves — confirming a century-old prediction by Einstein — marked a milestone in astrophysics, and Garwin’s early support helped lay the groundwork for that success. His research extended into astronomy, cryogenics, and the design of early computing systems.

Although Dick later said the development of the hydrogen bomb — central to his early career — was inevitable, its creation fueled his lifelong commitment to arms control. Inspired in part by Enrico Fermi’s example of applying scientific expertise to public policy, he dedicated more than half a century to reducing nuclear risks. He engaged directly with scientists and officials in Russia, China, India, and beyond, advocating concrete arms control measures. An early participant in the Nobel Prize – winning Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, he helped launch the National Academies’ Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC) in 1980 and remained an active member for 43 years — including virtual meetings with Russian counterparts in the final weeks of his life.

Dick advised every U.S. president from Eisenhower to Trump, serving twice on the President’s Science Advisory Committee. For President Kennedy, he assessed the dangers of high-altitude nuclear tests, helping avert a planned detonation and paving the way for the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty. Under Nixon, he helped design electro-optical reconnaissance satellites that transformed arms-control verification and eased Cold War tensions. For President Carter he evaluated possible South African nuclear tests. As chair of the State Department’s Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisory Board under President Clinton, he helped resolve a key technical impasse in negotiations over the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Later, he advised the Obama administration on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

He was also a longtime member of the elite government advisory group known as JASON, which convenes independent scientists to review some of the nation’s most sensitive defense and security programs. His colleague Alton D. Romig Jr. (NAE, 2003) recalled first meeting Dick in the 1990s, working on nuclear stockpile stewardship. The two initially clashed over Dick’s insistence on rebuilding a “new old” version of a weapon’s nonnuclear components — an idea Romig argued was impossible given obsolete chips, banned adhesives, and other practical constraints. In time, Dick conceded the point, and the disagreement sparked a lasting friendship. The two kept in touch regularly by phone or email, meeting in person at National Academies gatherings in Washington and, just a month before his death, about an educational project Dick wanted the National Academy of Engineering to undertake. “We did, indeed, lose a giant,” Romig reflected, summing up the respect and affection Dick inspired among those who worked alongside him.

His brilliance and service earned him the National Medal of Science (2002), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016), and the Vannevar Bush Award (2023), along with honors from the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and numerous professional societies. His papers and talks are preserved in the Garwin Archive at the Federation of American Scientists.

Dick was deeply engaged with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, lending his expertise to a remarkable array of studies on nuclear security, arms control, energy, space, and emerging threats. He was one of the few individuals elected to all three U.S. National Academies: the National Academy of Sciences (1966), the National Academy of Medicine (1975), and the National Academy of Engineering (1978).

Over the years, he served on more than 30 National Academies committees, panels, and working groups, tackling subjects as varied as conventional prompt global strike capabilities, nuclear stockpile stewardship, cybersecurity, greenhouse gas mitigation, counterterrorism, and the safe disposal of weapons plutonium. He also contributed through service on the Space Studies Board, the Council of the National Academy of Sciences, and several international cooperation committees — including joint U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Chinese initiatives on nuclear security and cybersecurity. Dick’s work with the Academies reflected both the depth of his scientific mastery and his unwavering dedication to applying it in the service of global stability.

Amid this lifetime of extraordinary achievement, Dick remained deeply devoted to his family. His marriage to his beloved wife, Lois, lasted more than 70 years, until her death in 2018. Together they raised three children — Jeff, Tom, and Laura — who were by his side in later years, especially after a stroke in 2023. He is also survived by five grandchildren and one great-grandchild, whose companionship he cherished as much as any professional accolade.

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¹We thank Heather Kreidler for her assistance in compiling a full picture of Dr. Garwin’s life story.