Richard Garwin never saw a nuclear explosion in person, but his fingerprints are on one of the most pivotal blasts in history—and on inventions that quietly shaped everyday life. Garwin, one of the scientists behind America's first hydrogen bomb, died Tuesday at his home in Scarsdale, New York, at age 97, leaving a legacy that spans presidents, patents, and a few unsung gadgets, reports the New York Times. Described by his mentor Enrico Fermi as "the only true genius I have ever met," the physicist was just 23 when he built the world's first fusion bomb in the early 1950s, though credit for the theoretical design went to Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam.
Garwin's work at Los Alamos led to the device tested as "Ivy Mike" in 1952, which demonstrated the feasibility of fusion weapons with a blast many times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. His role in this achievement was little known outside government circles for decades. He spent most of his career at IBM, where his research contributed to developments such as MRI, laser printers, and touch screens. Garwin held 47 patents and authored or co-authored hundreds of scientific papers and multiple books, while also holding faculty positions at Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell.
Garwin remained influential in national defense and policy, advising administrations from Eisenhower to Obama, per the Washington Post. Garwin advocated for nuclear arms control but argued throughout the Cold War that deterrence based on mutual threat was the best path for survival. He later supported calls for changes to presidential authority over nuclear launches and reductions in nuclear arsenals. President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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