Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
Richard Garwin, Physicist and Nuclear Arms Control Advocate, Dies at 97
By Rebecca Slayton, PACS Director
Richard Garwin, an innovative physicist who made major contributions to nuclear weapons development while also advocating for nuclear arms control, died on May 13, 2025, at the age of 97.
Described by his biographer as the “most influential scientist you’ve never heard of,” Garwin played a crucial role in the design of the first nuclear fusion weapon, which was detonated in the Marshall Islands in November 1952. Garwin went on to advise several presidents and spent much of his career at IBM Research, working first out of Columbia University and then Yorktown Heights.
Garwin also had a special relationship to Cornell University, collaborating with physics professor and Nobel laureate Hans Bethe on arms control efforts for several decades, and becoming an A.D. White Professor in the mid-1980s. While at Cornell, Garwin played an important role in the intellectual life of the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.
Herb Lin, who was then a postdoctoral researcher at the Reppy Institute, recalls first meeting Garwin at Cornell: “I was quite excited to be able to learn from him and to engage him as a colleague, so I was taken down a few pegs when our first interaction was him asking me to get him coffee.”
Lin, who subsequently pursued a distinguished career at the National Academy of Sciences and then Stanford University, notes that over the next 40 years, “our relationship evolved to be more peer-like, but truth be told, I’ve never met anyone who was really a true peer of Garwin’s.”
For more on Garwin’s life and legacy, see this collection of essays published in the May 2025 issue of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
Photo credit: Richard Garwin, Kurt Gottfried and Hans Bethe at a press conference on missile defense, March 22, 1984. Source: James J. MacKenzie, flickr.com.
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Sabrina Karim, PACS Associate Director, Wins Berlin Prize
Sabrina Karim, PACS
The highly competitive Berlin Prize is awarded annually to U.S.-based scholars, writers, composers and artists from the United States who represent the highest standards of excellence in their fields.
Karim will join the Berlin Class of Spring 2026. Her project, “Pockets of Restraint in Violent Security Forces, will look globally for pockets of restraint that emerge among different security forces around the world based on research from her NSF CAREER award (that was recently terminated).
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David Cortright, PACS Visiting Scholar, Publishes New Book
David Cortright, PACS
David Cortright, PACS Visiting Scholar, has published a new book titled Protest and Policy in the Iraq, Nuclear Freeze and Vietnam Peace Movements (Cambridge University Press, 2025).
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This Is Why Trump Is Always Talking About Corruption
Sarah Kreps, PACS
“Corruption is deeper than whether someone is making backroom deals. Instead, it’s a sense that the game itself is rigged in favor of a select few,” says Sarah Kreps, director of the Tech Policy Institute.
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The Best Evidence Yet That Roman Gladiators Fought Lions: A Bite Mark
Barry Strauss, PACS
Barry Strauss, professor of history, says “The rules they followed in Rome were not necessarily applied in godforsaken Eboracum. So, although the man was probably not a gladiator, he may indeed have been one. Burial in the gladiator cemetery is certainly an argument in favor of that theory.”
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Information Session: Undergraduate Global Scholars
September 4, 2025
5:00 pm
Uris Hall, G08
Undergraduate Global Scholars are student leaders in the campus community. This competitive fellowship program is open to students from all colleges and majors with a passion for big global questions and speaking across differences. The Global Scholars program provides a toolkit of resources for weighing challenging questions and builds your practical skills in public debates. For the 2025-26 school year, scholars will bring their skills as writers, scholars, activists and artists, poets, hands-on practitioners, and more to study and promote the impacts of international aid. By the end of the program, you'll be an active global citizen and champion for social impact.
Applications are due Sunday, September 14.
Can’t attend? Contact programs@einaudi.cornell.edu.
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The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosts info sessions for graduate and for undergraduate students to learn more about funding opportunities, international travel, research, and internships. View the full calendar of fall semester sessions.
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Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
Migrations Program
Southwest Asia and North Africa Program
Canada Can No Longer Afford to Remain a Victim
Karim-Aly S. Kassam, PACS/SAP
Karim-Aly S. Kassam writes about the role of Canada after remarks from President Trump about taking it over.
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Protecting National Defense from Cyberattacks
Research at Risk
A DoD stop-work order put on hold a team’s plans to map and stress-test semiconductor supply chains. The research is led by Sarah Kreps (PACS).
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International Research Matters for the U.S.
How Cornell Research Makes People's Lives Better
This digital magazine features research led by numerous Einaudi faculty. Their groundbreaking international work turns bold ideas into solutions and improves lives at home and abroad.
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Topic
- World in Focus
Program
An Attack on America’s Universities Is an Attack on American Power
How Academia Bolsters National Security
Sarah Kreps (PACS) writes that loss of government support for academic research will cause the U.S. to “sacrifice its advantage in innovation.”