The Leo Szilard Lectureship Award (originally called the Leo Szilard Award) is given annually by the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

(APS) for "outstanding accomplishments by physicists in promoting the use of physics for the benefit of society". It is given internationally in commemoration of physicist

Leo Szilard Leo Szilard (; hu, Szilárd Leó, pronounced ; born Leó Spitz; February 11, 1898 – May 30, 1964) was a Hungarian-German-American physicist and inventor. He conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear ...

. It is often awarded to physicists early in their careers who are active in areas such as

environmental issues Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

arms control Arms control is a term for international restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation and usage of small arms, conventional weapons, and weapons of mass destruction. Arms control is typically exercised through the u ...

, or

science policy Science policy is concerned with the allocation of resources for the conduct of science towards the goal of best serving the public interest. Topics include the funding of science, the careers of scientists, and the translation of scientific disc ...

. the recipient is given $3,000 plus $2,000 travel expenses and is expected to lecture at an APS meeting and at educational or research laboratories, to promote awareness of their activities.

Recipients

The award is given yearly and was first presented in 1974. * 1974 David R. Inglis * 1975 Bernard T. Feld * 1976

Richard Garwin Richard Lawrence Garwin (born April 19, 1928) is an American physicist, best known as the author of the first hydrogen bomb design. In 1978, Garwin was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributing to the application ...

* 1977 not awarded * 1978

Matthew Meselson Matthew Stanley Meselson (born May 24, 1930) is a geneticist and molecular biologist currently at Harvard University, known for his demonstration, with Franklin Stahl, of semi-conservative DNA replication. After completing his Ph.D. under Linus ...

* 1979 Sherwood Rowland * 1980

Sidney Drell Sidney David Drell (September 13, 1926 – December 21, 2016) was an American theoretical physicist and arms control expert. At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and senior fel ...

* 1981

Henry Way Kendall Henry Way Kendall (December 9, 1926 – February 15, 1999) was an American particle physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1990 jointly with Jerome Isaac Friedman and Richard E. Taylor "for their pioneering investigations concerning dee ...

Hans Bethe Hans Albrecht Bethe (; July 2, 1906 – March 6, 2005) was a German-American theoretical physicist who made major contributions to nuclear physics, astrophysics, quantum electrodynamics, and solid-state physics, and who won the 1967 Nobel Prize ...

* 1982 Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky * 1983

Andrei Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ( rus, Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ˈdmʲitrʲɪjevʲɪtɕ ˈsaxərəf; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, nobel laureate and activist for nu ...

* 1984

Kosta Tsipis Kosta may refer to: * Kosta, Estonia, a village in Vihula Parish, Lääne-Viru County, Estonia * Kosta, Greece a community in Greece * Kosta, Sweden, a village in Sweden * Coastal Andhra, region in India * Kosta Glasbruk, a glassworks in Sweden ...

* 1985

James B. Pollack James Barney Pollack (July 9, 1938 – June 13, 1994) was an American astrophysicist who worked for NASA's Ames Research Center. Pollack was born on July 9, 1938 in New York City, and was brought up in Woodmere, Long Island by a Jewish family ...

, O. Brian Toon,

Thomas P. Ackerman Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, Richard P. Turco,

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

, John W. Birks, Paul J. Crutzen * 1986

Arthur Rosenfeld Arthur Hinton Rosenfeld (June 22, 1926 – January 27, 2017) was a UC Berkeley physicist and California energy commissioner, dubbed the "Godfather of Energy Efficiency", for developing new standards which helped improve energy efficiency in Cali ...

* 1987

Thomas B. Cochran Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

* 1988 Robert H. Williams * 1989 Anthony Nero * 1990

Theodore Postol Theodore A. Postol (born 1946) is a professor emeritus of Science, Technology, and International Security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to his work at MIT, he worked at Argonne National Laboratory, the Pentagon, and Stanford ...

* 1991 John H. Gibbons * 1992

Kurt Gottfried Kurt Gottfried (May 17, 1929 – August 25, 2022) was an Austrian-born American physicist who was professor emeritus of physics at Cornell University. He was known for his work in the areas of quantum mechanics and particle physics and was also ...

* 1993

Ray Kidder Ray E. Kidder () was an American physicist and nuclear weapons designer. He is best known for his outspoken views on nuclear weapons policy issues, including nuclear testing, stockpile management, and arms control. Kidder was a weapons physic ...

, Roy Woodruff * 1994

Herbert York Herbert Frank York (24 November 1921 – 19 May 2009) was an American nuclear physicist of Mohawk origin.http://www.edge.org/conversation/nsa-the-decision-problem. The Decision Problem He held numerous research and administrative positions a ...

* 1995

Evgeny Velikhov Evgeny Pavlovich Velikhov (born on February 2, 1935; in Russian: ''Евгений Павлович Велихов'') is a physicist and scientific leader in the Russia, Russian Federation. His scientific interests include Plasma (physics), plasma ...

Roald Sagdeev Roald Zinnurovich Sagdeev (russian: Роальд Зиннурович Сагдеев, tt-Cyrl, Роальд Зиннур улы Сәгъдиев; born 26 December 1932) is a Russian expert in plasma physics and a former director of the Space Res ...

* 1996

David Hafemeister David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

* 1997 Thomas L. Neff * 1998 David Baird Goldstein, Howard Geller * 1999

John Alexander Simpson John Alexander Simpson (November 3, 1916 – August 31, 2000) was an American physicist and science educator. He was deeply committed to educating the public and political leaders about science and its implications, most notably as a principal fou ...

* 2000 Jeremiah David Sullivan * 2001 John Harte * 2002 Henry C. Kelly * 2003

Robert H. Socolow Robert Harry Socolow (born December 27, 1937) is an American theoretical physicist and professor emeritus of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. Education Robert Socolow has stated his parents and teachers imbued him wi ...

* 2004

Marc Ross Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...

* 2005

David K. Barton David Knox Barton (September 21, 1927 – February 11, 2023) was an American radar systems engineer who made significant contributions to air defense, missile guidance, monopulse radar, low-altitude tracking, air traffic control, and early warni ...

Roger Falcone Roger Wirth Falcone (born 27 June 1952) is an American physicist at University of California, Berkeley where he is a professor of physics. He is an Elected Fellow at The Optical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he currently ...

Daniel Kleppner Daniel Kleppner, born 1932, is the Lester Wolfe Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT and co-director of the MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms. His areas of science include Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, and his research interest ...

, Frederick K. Lamb, Ming K. Lau, Harvey L. Lynch,

David Moncton David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

David Montague David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

David E. Mosher David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

William Priedhorsky William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...

Maury Tigner Maury Tigner (born 22 April 1937) is an American physicist working on particle accelerators and experimental particle physics. Tigner studied physics at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute until 1958 and received a PhD degree from Cornell Univer ...

David R. Vaughan David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

* 2006

Paul G. Richards Paul G. Richards (born March 1943) is an English-born, American seismologist who has made fundamental contributions to the theory of seismic wave propagation and in methods to understand how the recorded shapes of seismic waves are affected by pro ...

* 2007

James E. Hansen James Edward Hansen (born March 29, 1942) is an American adjunct professor directing the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions of the The Earth Institute, Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is best known for his research ...

* 2008 Anatoli Diyakov,

Pavel Podvig Pavel ( Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and Macedonian: Павел, Czech, Slovene, Romanian: Pavel, Polish: Paweł, Ukrainian: Павло, Pavlo) is a male given name. It is a Slavic cognate of the name Paul (derived from the Greek Pavlos). P ...

* 2009

Raymond Jeanloz Raymond Jeanloz is a professor of earth and planetary science and of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. Educated at the California Institute of Technology, Amherst College and at Deep Springs College, he has contributed researc ...

* 2010

Frank von Hippel Frank N. von Hippel (born 1937) is an American physicist. He is Professor and Co-Director of Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University and the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. He is Arthur von Hippel's s ...

* 2011

John F. Ahearne John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

* 2012

Siegfried Hecker Siegfried S. Hecker (born October 2, 1943) is an American metallurgist and nuclear scientist. He served as Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1986 to 1997 and is now affiliated with Stanford University, where he is research pro ...

* 2013

Geoffrey West Geoffrey Brian West (born 15 December 1940) is a British theoretical physicist and former president and distinguished professor of the Santa Fe Institute. He is one of the leading scientists working on a scientific model of cities. Among other ...

* 2014 M. V. Ramana,

Ramamurti Rajaraman Ramamurti Rajaraman (born 11 March 1939) is an Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics at the School of Physical Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was also the co-Chairman of the International Panel on Fissile Materials and a membe ...

* 2015

Ashok Gadgil Ashok Gadgil (born November 15, 1950 in Mumbai, India) Is the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation Distinguished Chair and Professor of Safe Water and Sanitation at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Faculty Senior Scientist and ...

* 2016

Joel Primack Joel R. Primack (born July 14, 1945) is a professor of physics and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and is a member of the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics. Primack received his A.B. from Princeton University in ...

* 2017 James Timbie2016 Leo Szilard Lectureship Award Recipient
/ref> * 2018 Edwin Stuart Lyman * 2019

Zia Mian Zia Mian (Urdu: ضياء میاں ) is a Pakistani-American physicist, Nuclear engineering, nuclear expert, nuclear policy maker and research scientist at Princeton University. Currently, he is the director of the Project on Peace and Securit ...

* 2020

France A. Córdova France Anne-Dominic Córdova (born August 5, 1947) is an American astrophysicist and administrator who was the fourteenth director of the National Science Foundation. Previously, she was the eleventh President of Purdue University from 2007 to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szilard Lectureship Award Awards of the American Physical Society Science in society

Recipients

See also

References