Siegfried S. Hecker

Siegfried S. Hecker
Siegfried Hecker in 2011
Born	October 2, 1943 Tomaszew, Poland
Nationality	Austrian-Polish-American
Fields	Metallurgical Engineering
Institutions	Los Alamos National Laboratory Center for International Security and Cooperation Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Stanford University
Alma mater	Case Western Reserve University (B.Sc.), (M.Sc.), (Ph.D.)
Known for	Nuclear weapons, Nuclear proliferation, Nuclear strategy
Notable awards	Enrico Fermi Award, Seaborg Medal USDOE Distinguished Associate Award, Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award

Siegfried S. Hecker (born October 2, 1943) is an American metallurgist and nuclear scientist. He served as the Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1986 till 1997 and is now affiliated with Stanford University, where he holds the position of research professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering and of Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Biography

Early life

Hecker's parents came from Sarajevo, Bosnia and were moved during World War II to Tomasow, where Hecker was born.^[1] When his father had not returned from the war at the Eastern Front, his mother remarried and settled in Rottenmann, Austria.^[1] The family emigrated from Styria to the US in 1956.

Education

Hecker completed his Bachelor of Science in Metallurgy in 1965, his Master of Science in Metallurgy in 1967, and his Doctor of Philosophy in Metallurgical Engineering in 1968, all from Case Western Reserve University. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral appointee at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Professional career

Hecker began his professional career as a senior research metallurgist with the General Motors Research Laboratories in 1970.

Los Alamos

Hecker while director of Los Alamos National Laboratory

Hecker served as the Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1986 till 1997 and was a Los Alamos Senior Fellow until 2005.

Stanford University

He first came to Stanford University as a visiting professor in 2005. In 2007 he became co-director of the Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and held this post until 2012.^[2][3]

Other activities

Nuclear Threat Initiative

Hecker also acts as advisor to the Nuclear Threat Initiative board of directors and belongs to the advisory council of CRDF Global, an independent nonprofit organization that promotes international scientific and technical collaboration.

Visits to North Korea

Hecker visiting the disabled Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, North Korea, in 2008

He has visited North Korea frequently in an unofficial capacity to assess the plutonium program at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center (once every year since 2004).^[4][5] In November 2010, Hecker visited the Yongbyon nuclear facility and reported on its advanced state.^[6]

Awards

His achievements have been recognized with the American Nuclear Society's Seaborg Medal and many other awards including the Navy League of the U.S.'s TR & FD Roosevelt Gold Medal for Science Award in 1996.

The Secretary of Energy named Hecker, co-recipient of the 2009 Enrico Fermi Award. This Presidential Award is one of the oldest and most prestigious given by the U.S. Government and carries an honorarium of $375,000. He shares the honor with John Bannister Goodenough, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

References

1. LA National Laboratory (August–September 1997). "Reflections (Issue about S. Hecker)" (PDF). p. 16. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
2. Mahncy Mehrotra (February 16, 2007). "Hecker will co-direct CISAC". The Stanford Daily. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
3. Beth Duff-Brown (27 February 2013). "Hecker steps down as co-director, but not away from CISAC". FSI Stanford News. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
4. Siegfried S. Hecker (21 January 2004). "Visit to the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in North Korea" (PDF). LA-UR-04-0340. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
5. Siegfried S. Hecker (May–June 2008). "Denuclearizing North Korea" (PDF). Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 64 (2): 44. doi:10.2968/064002011. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
6. Siegfried Hecker (November 20, 2010). "North Korea's Yongbyon Nuclear Complex, a Report by Siegfried Hecker". Retrieved November 23, 2010.

Publications

• Hecker, S. S. "The Role of the DOE Weapons Laboratories in a Changing National Security Environment: CNSS Papers No. 8, April 1988", Los Alamos National Laboratory, Center for National Security Studies United States Department of Energy, (April 1988).
• Hecker, S. S. "The Cold War is Over. What Now?", Los Alamos National Laboratory, United States Department of Energy, (April 1995).
• Fluss, M.; Tobin, J.; Schwartz, A.; Petrovtsev, A. V.; Nadykto, B. A.; Timofeeva, L. F. Hecker, S. S. & V. E. Arkhipov. "6th US-Russian Pu Science Workshop Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory University of California, Livermore, California, July 14 and 15, 2006", Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, United States Department of Energy, (June 20, 2006).
• Hecker, Siegfried; Lee, Sean; Braun, Chaim. "North Korea's Choice: Bombs Over Electricity", National Academy of Engineering, (Summer 2010).

External links

• 2001 Audio Interview with Siegried Hecker by Richard Rhodes Voices of the Manhattan Project
• Siegfried S. Hecker, Plutonium and Nuclear Nonproliferation , from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, United States Department of Energy
• Siegfried S. Hecker, Management Science and Engineering Department, Stanford University
• The Hecker Years 1985-1997, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Siegfried S. Hecker, U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation
• Siegfried Hecker at WN
• Siegfried S. Hecker, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University
• Siegfried S. Hecker, Enrico Fermi Award citation and biography