Experts and former colleagues share their appreciations of Dick Garwin, H-bomb designer and government advisor

Richard “Dick” Garwin, the designer of the hydrogen bomb and an advisor to a dozen US presidents, passed away on May 13, 2025, at age 97.

At 21, Garwin obtained his doctorate from the University of Chicago under Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi, who would call his former student “the only true genius” he had ever met. Then, in the summer of 1951, at only 23, Garwin joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory and designed the first working hydrogen bomb based on a “staged implosion” approach that mathematician Stanislaw Ulam and physicist Edward Teller had developed. The Teller-Ulam configuration consisted of using a fission reaction to compress and ignite a thermonuclear secondary, thereby triggering a fusion reaction. Garwin’s device—dubbed Mike and weighing 52 tons—was successfully detonated during Operation Ivy, on November 1, 1952, in the Pacific, achieving a thermonuclear explosion about 500 times more powerful than the fission bomb detonated over Nagasaki.

After the success of the H-bomb, Garwin joined the International Business Machines Corporation—now IBM—where he stayed until his retirement. This led to Garwin’s countless contributions to military and technological advances in computers, communications, and medicine. While at IBM, Garwin kept advising national governments and presidents and became a relentless advocate for nuclear arms control and ultimately nuclear disarmament.

“I never felt that building the hydrogen bomb was the most important thing in the world or even in my life at the time,” he recalled in 1984. “I think it would be a better world if the hydrogen bomb had never existed. But I knew the bombs would be used for deterrence.”

Dick Garwin’s achievements are probably bigger than life in many ways. To help make sense of Garwin’s significance and influence in science, technology, and policy, the Bulletin invited scientists, engineers, and nuclear policy experts to share their appreciations.

Raymond Jeanloz

Working with Richard Garwin, his rigor and generosity

Raymond Jeanloz, a Berkeley professor and member of the JASON government advisory group, describes how Garwin's experience in many domains of defense science and engineering would result in astonishing connections and ideas he would often generously let others get credit for.

John Holdren

Advising national governments: A reminiscence about Dick Garwin

John Holdren, a Harvard research professor and former President Obama's science advisor, recalls Garwin's amazing combination of unequalled competence in science and technology and tireless devotion to applying that talent to public service.

Rose Gottemoeller

Dick Garwin: A fine human being at the forefront of international nuclear arms control negotiations

Rose Gottemoeller, the former top US diplomat on arms control and NATO deputy secretary general, appreciates how Garwin could be equally comfortable talking to key figures in the Chinese nuclear and missile establishments as fixing a broken lamp.

Frank von Hippel

Richard Garwin, the socially responsible public and government advisor

Frank von Hippel, a professor emeritus at Princeton University, explains how Garwin maintained his independence, integrity, and social responsibility while advising national governments on technological and security issues for decades.

Eryn MacDonald

Richard Garwin also championed science diplomacy with China

Besides his outstanding achievements, Garwin had an equally impressive, lifelong engagement with Chinese scientists on nuclear arms control, explains Eryn MacDonald of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Matt Bunn

H-bomb creator Richard Garwin was a giant in science, technology, and policy

Matt Bunn, a Harvard nuclear security expert, recalls how he got to know Garwin as a tireless and effective participant in dialogues with scientists and officials in Russia, China, India, and elsewhere, to limit nuclear weapons and reduce their dangers.

Mike Murphy

Remembering Dick Garwin, renowned engineer and advisor

Garwin's four decades at IBM led to technologies that continue to impact all our daily lives. But he remained humble about his achievements, writes Mike Murphy, head of content and editor in chief at IBM Research.