American metallurgist and nuclear scientist
Siegfried S. Hecker (born October 2, 1943) is an American metallurgist and nuclear scientist. He served as Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1986 to 1997 and is now affiliated with Stanford University, where he is research professor emeritus in the Department of Management Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering, and senior fellow emeritus at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. During this time, he was also elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (1988) for outstanding research on plutonium and the forming of materials, and for leadership in developing energy and weapons systems.
Biography.
Early life.
Hecker's parents came from Sarajevo, Bosnia and were moved during World War II to Tomaszew, Poland, where Hecker was born. When his father had not returned from the war at the Eastern Front, his mother remarried and settled in Rottenmann, Austria. 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.
After Hecker's return to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, he led the laboratory's Materials Science and Technology Division and Center for Materials Science. He then served as the fifth 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.
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.
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). In November 2010, Hecker visited the Yongbyon nuclear facility and reported on its advanced state. In February 2019 Hecker along with Robert L. Carlin and Elliot A. Serbin published an update to North Koreas nuclear history study saying that in 2018 North Korea "took significant steps to halt and roll back key parts of its nuclear program" and Kim Jong Un "took the extraordinary step of ending nuclear tests and missile tests, not just declaring a moratorium." in the study it also suggests the North Korea, South Korea, and the US explore cooperative efforts to demilitarize North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and convert them to civilian nuclear and space programs.
Memberships in organizations.
In addition to his National Academy of Engineering (NAE) membership, Dr. Hecker is a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and India Institute of Metals; fellow of the Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials Society (TMS), American Society for Metals, American Physical Society (APS), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and honorary member of the American Ceramics Society.
Awards.
His achievements have been recognized with the American Nuclear Society's Seaborg Medal and many other awards including the 2018 National Engineering Award from the American Association of Engineering Societies, the 2017 American Nuclear Society Eisenhower Medal, the Navy League of the U.S.'s TR &amp; FD Roosevelt Gold Medal for Science Award in 1996, the AAAS Award for Science Diplomacy, the Leo Szilard Lectureship (APS), the Department of Energy's E.O. Lawrence Award, the LANL Medal, and the Case Western Reserve University Alumni Association Gold Medal and Undergraduate Distinguished Alumni Award.
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.
In 2022, Hecker was an honoree by the Carnegie Corporation of New York's Great Immigrant Award.
References.
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