Herbert Frank York (24 November 1921 – 19 May 2009) was an American nuclear

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

origin.http://www.edge.org/conversation/nsa-the-decision-problem. The Decision Problem He held numerous research and administrative positions at various United States government and educational institutes.

Biography

York was born in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

where he received his B.S. and M.S. from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

in 1943, and went on to obtain his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1949. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he was a physicist at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory and at

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...

as part of the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

. He was the first director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1952 to 1958. After leaving the laboratory in 1958, he held numerous positions in both government and academia, including the first Chief Scientist of the

Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adv ...

, and the first

Director of Defense Research and Engineering The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, abbreviated USD (R&E), is a senior official of the United States Department of Defense. The USD (R&E) is charged with the development and oversight of technology strategy for the DoD. T ...

. York was a professor of physics at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He was the founding Chancellor of the

University of California San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is th ...

(1961–1964, 1970–1972). He later served as U.S. ambassador to the Comprehensive Test Ban negotiations in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, Switzerland (1979–1981). York was Director Emeritus of the

Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

at UC San Diego and served as chairman of the university's Scientific and Academic Advisory Committee, which oversees activities at both Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories. He also served on the board of the

Council for a Livable World Council for a Livable World is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to eliminating the U.S. arsenal of nuclear weapons. Its stated aim is for "progressive national security policies and helping elect congressional c ...

, a nonpartisan arms control organization in Washington, D.C. York occasionally guest lectured for UC San Diego and other institutions. Herbert York died 19 May 2009 in San Diego at age 87.

Publications

*Race to Oblivion (Simon & Schuster, 1970) *Arms Control (Readings from Scientific American (W.H. Freeman, 1973) *''The Advisors: Oppenheimer, Teller and the Superbomb'' (W.H. Freeman, 1976), a book that

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 ...

regarded as containing a highly accurate treatment of the "Russian H-bomb" test of 1953.Comments on The History of the H-Bomb LA-UR-82-5215
/ref> * *Making Weapons, Talking Peace: A Physicist's Journey from Hiroshima to Geneva (Harper & Row, 1987) *A Shield in Space? Technology, Politics and the Strategic Defense Initiative (U.C. Press, 1988, with Sanford Lakoff) *Arms and the Physicist (American Physical Society, 1994)

References

External links

Annotated Bibliography for Herbert York from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear IssuesInterview: ''Conversations with History: Reminiscences from a Career in Science, National Security, and the University, with Herbert F. York''
MSS 107
Special Collections & Archives
UC San Diego Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:York, Herbert 1921 births 2009 deaths American nuclear physicists Chancellors of the University of California, San Diego Enrico Fermi Award recipients Manhattan Project people Oak Ridge National Laboratory people Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory staff United States Department of Defense officials University of Rochester alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty People from Rochester, New York Vannevar Bush Award recipients Scientists from New York (state)