Garwin, Richard L.
Oral history interview with Richard Garwin, 2012 December 20.
Autobiographical profile of the experimental and theoretical physicist, Richard L. Garwin, focusing first on his contributions to thermonuclear weapons (1950-1952), supplemented by observations on various of his Los Alamos colleagues at the time, and extending to related and unrelated work during his later career at IBM. Subjects covered include: Werner Heisenberg, Edward Teller, Teller-Ulam report, Stan Ulam, Enrico Fermi, Hans Bethe, John von Neumann, radiation, Marshall Rosenbluth, SEAC, Cornelius Everett, Frederic de Hoffmann, Leo Szilard, Robert Richtmyer, Conrad Longmire, John Wheeler, Carson Mark, Norris Bradbury, Marshall Holloway, Rod Spence, George Cowan, transition to IBM, work on computer memory, gravity wave detection, Andre Landesman and John Tukey.
Physicist; received Ph.D. in 1949, University of Chicago under Enrico Fermi. On Fermi's invitation, Garwin went to Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1950. At this time appointed faculty position at University of Chicago. According to Edward Teller, was instrumental in creating the first hydrogen bomb. In 1952 Garwin joined IBM's Watson Laboratory at Columbia University in a research capacity (until 1970), while consulting at Los Alamos and for the U.S. government on issues of military technology and arms control. Also an adjunct professor in physics at Columbia University, and a professor of public policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Bethe, Hans A. (Hans Albrecht), 1906-2005
Bradbury, Norris, 1909-1997.
De Hoffmann, Frederic
Fermi, Enrico, 1901-1954
Garwin, Richard L.
Heisenberg, Werner, 1901-1976
Holloway, Marshall G.
Longmire, Conrad L.
Mark, Carson
Richtmyer, Robert D.
Rosenbluth, M. N.
Szilard, Leo
Teller, Edward, 1908-2003
Tukey, John Wilder, 1915-
Ulam, Stanislaw M.
Von Neumann, John, 1903-1957
Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911-2008.
International Business Machines Corporation
Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Computers.
Gravity waves.
Nuclear weapons
Radiation.
Science and industry
Interviews. aat
Oral histories. aat
Transcripts. aat
Ford, Kenneth William, 1926-, interviewer.
AIP-ICOS
American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA