Missile Defense Expert To Speak At Texas A&M April 11
COLLEGE STATION —
Richard L. Garwin, one of the world’s foremost experts on advanced weapons systems and a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, will deliver a lecture titled “National Missile Defense: Why, How and Whether?” at 4 p.m. Thursday (April 11) at Texas A&M University.
Garwin’s talk, to be held in Room 100 of the Chemistry Building, will address concerns regarding the deployment of the United States’ mid-course hit-to-kill intercept system for national missile defense as well as other threats and needs regarding ballistic missile security. The lecture is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception in the foyer of Room 100.
A native of Cleveland, Garwin is the Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow for Science and Technology at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. In addition, he is IBM fellow emeritus at the IBM Research Division and also adjunct professor of physics at Columbia University. He received his doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago and has worked in particle physics, with liquid and solid helium and superconductors, and extensively in technology.
Garwin has spent roughly half his life serving as a consultant to the U.S. government on matters of military technology and security in fields ranging from the technology of nuclear weapons to arms control, satellite reconnaissance and the global-positioning system (GPS). His work for the government has included studies on anti-submarine warfare, new technologies in health care, sensor systems, military and civil aircraft, and satellite and strategic systems.
“We’re honored to have a man who is both a world-class physicist and an outstanding public servant visit us,” said H. Joseph Newton, interim dean of the College of Science.
A two-time member of the President of the United States’ Science Advisory Committee, Garwin is a past member of the Defense Science Board as well as the Scientific Advisory Group to the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff. He also served as a commissioner on the nine-person “Rumsfeld Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States” in 1998.
From 1993 to 2001, Garwin chaired the U.S. State Department’s Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisory Board. In 2000, in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the founding of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), he was recognized as one of the 10 Founders of National Reconnaissance.
In addition to publishing more than 500 papers and being granted 44 U.S. patents, Garwin has testified to many Congressional committees on matters involving national security, transportation, and energy policy and technology. During the past 20 years, he has been coauthor of many books, including his latest in October 2001, “Megawatts and Megatons: A Turning Point in the Nuclear Age?” with 1992 Nobel Laureate in Physics Georges Charpak.
A fellow of both the American Physical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Garwin is a member of the Institute of Medicine, the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Philosophical Society. His numerous recognitions include the 1983 Wright Prize for interdisciplinary scientific achievement; the 1988 AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award; the 1991 Erice “Science for Peace” Prize; the U.S. Government’s 1996 R.V. Jones Foreign Intelligence Award and the 1996 Enrico Fermi Award.
Garwin’s lecture is sponsored by the Texas A&M Department of Physics. For more information, contact College of Science Communications at (979) 862-1237.
Contact: Shana K. Hutchins, (979) 862-1237, via e-mail shutchins@tamu.edu, or George Kattawar, (979) 845-1180, via e-mail kattawar@tamu.edu.
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