Herbert F. York

John Von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrance, and Much More

The cheapest way to make the world richer A silver spoon in Budapest, 1903-14 At the Lutheran Gymnasium, 1914-21 An undergraduate with lions claws, 1921-26 Rigor becomes more relaxed, 500 B. C.-A. D. 1931 The quantum leap, 1926-32 Sturm und Drang, marriage, emigration, 1927-31 Depression at Princeton, 1931-37 The calculating exploder, 1937-43 Los Alamos to Trinity, 1943-45 In the domain of economics The computers at Philadelphia, 1944-46 The computers from Princeton, 1946-52 And then the H-bomb With astonishing influence, 1950-56 Acknowledgments Permissions acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index Macrae on Macrae.

Deterrence by Means of Mass Destruction

“If we recognize that deterrence can fail, and if we admit to ourselves the consequences of such a failure, then we see that greatly reducing the current degree of overkill is both possible and essential.” Dr. York proposes here some specific recommendations on how we might go about reducing the great overkill inherent in the present Soviet and U.S. forces.Herbert York, former director of Defense Research and Engineering of U.S. Department of Defense, former member of the General Advisory Committee of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and former Science Advisor to Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, is now professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego. This paper was presented to Pacem in Terris III, a colloquium sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in October 1973, and is reprinted here in full with the permission of the Center and the author.

Arms‐limitation strategies

In 1934, when the Nazi terror was just beginning, and artificial radioactivity and the neutron had just been discovered, Leo Szilard invented the idea of a neutron chain reaction He believed there must be some atomic nucleus that would, upon absorbing one neutron, emit two neutrons and energy, and that these two neutrons would lead to four, and so on He did not know what nuclear process would be involved or what element would support that process. Nevertheless, he quickly went on to sketch two distinct devices based on such a neutron chain reaction.

The Ultimate Absurdity

If you were to ask the leaders of the nuclear powers why they feel it necessary to possess nuclear weapons, they would answer ’to ensure our national security’. They might also add that nuclear weapons help to stabilize international relations and prevent the outbreak of another general war. And if we review the details of the history of the nuclear arms race, we find that each nuclear power originally initiated its nuclear development programme for what they considered to be essential national security reasons. The United States began its programme in 1941 because it feared the possibility that the Germans might do so first. The Russians

Sakharov and the nuclear test ban

‘I feel that questions of war and peace and disarmament are so crucial that they must be given absolute priority even in the most difficult circumstances.’—Andrei Sakharov, 1980

The nuclear ‘balance of terror’ in Europe

Behind the continents peaceful facade is a stockpile of 10,000 atomic warheads—and they are there to be used; the exercising of the ‘deterrent’ would mean the death of millions

The Arms Race and the Fallacy of the Last Move

Does the ABM really work? Will its deployment stimulate the arms race? These were key questions in the ABM debate before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in March. One of the chief witnesses was Professor York of the University of California, San Diego, former head scientist of the Department of Defenses Advanced Research Projects Agency, former director of Defense Research and Engineering and a member of the General Advisory Committee of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. This statement is excerpted from Professor Yorks testimony before the Subcommittee on International Organizations and Disarmament Affairs, March 11, 1969.

The Origins of MIRV

The complex relationship between war and technological innovation is at the core of this chapter’s analysis. It recounts the complex history of the development of multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles for missiles and its relationship to anti-ballistic missile systems. The chapter shows that several independent military requirements led to several different lines of technological developments; as time went on, ideas and personnel were interchanged among the various programmes, resulting in a very complex web of technological developments and inventions.

The Advisors: Oppenheimer, Teller and the Superbomb

Contents Chapter ONE Chapter TWO Chapter THREE Chapter FOUR Chapter FIVE Chapter SIX Chapter SEVEN Appendix I Appendix II

Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Weapons: Are They Inevitably Linked?

For forty years politically active nuclear scientists have been trying to invent and to promote policies and schemes which would on the one hand make the benefits of nuclear energy available to all mankind, and on the other hand inhibit or prevent the manufacture and use of nuclear weapons. So far, the record of these attempts is poor; it now threatens to get worse fast.