Media Contacts:                                                                                                       Ronald Bee, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (858) 534-6429; Anne Middleton, IR/PS, (858) 534-2777; or Kim McDonald (858) 534-7572

Herbert F. York, the founding chancellor of the University of California, San Diego who also founded and directed the University of California’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, will receive this year’s prestigious Vannevar Bush Award for his leadership in the arms control movement and his work in nuclear energy.

A nuclear physicist and emeritus director of the institute, which he founded in 1983 and is headquartered at UCSD, York will receive the coveted award at a dinner at the State Department on May 3 from the National Science Board, the policymaking arm of the National Science Foundation.

The science board, which selects the recipients of its award for their lifetime of achievement in science and public service, for the first time in the award’s 20-year history named two renowned scientists this year as recipients of the award. The other recipient of this year’s Vannevar Bush Award is Norman E. Borlaug, an agronomist at Texas A&M University who won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for leading the agricultural movement to increase food production in developing countries.

In selecting York for the Vannevar Bush Award, the science board said "York’s contributions were marked by the merging of scientific advancements with public policy that emphasizes social responsibility."

It added that "York’s leadership in designing sophisticated nuclear weapons, then becoming a leading voice in arms control and disarmament, moved the U.S. from responding to a ‘missile gap’ to leading the discussions toward disarmament as a next logical stage in national security."

"Herb has been an icon for the last half century in the responsible stewardship of nuclear weapons in the United States," said Robert C. Dynes, chancellor of UCSD. "And he has been a reasoned voice of balance in both recognizing the political importance and social responsibilities that the United States has in its management of nuclear weapons."

"Herb York spoke truth to those with power when he served in government," said Peter F. Cowhey, director of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) and a professor of international relations at UCSD. "When he created IGCC, he insisted that scholars speak truth to the public about nuclear policy and our accountability to future generations. His career reminds all of us that the search for truth is essential for solving great public problems and maintaining democratic government."

Like Vannevar Bush, an advisor to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman who oversaw the Manhattan Project and proposed the creation of the science foundation, York has a long list of accomplishments as a scientist, Presidential advisor, and a leader in national security issues. He was the first director of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, from 1952 to 1958; co-founder and first chief scientist of the Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1958; member of the first President’s Science Advisory Committee, from 1958 to 1961; first chancellor of UCSD, from 1961 to 1964; member of the First Advisory Committee on Arms Control, from 1962 to 1969; and the Ambassador and Chief Negotiator for the Comprehensive Test Ban Negotiations, from 1979 to 1981, under President Jimmy Carter.

"There are a number of parallels between the lives of Dr. Bush and Dr. York which bear repeating," said Susan L. Shirk, former director of IGCC. "Like Vannevar Bush, Herb York has been a science advisor to several Presidents. Both men were intimately involved in the Manhattan Project, one of the most important scientific enterprises of this century, and both recognized the longer-term implications and responsibilities for public policy and international relations that nuclear weapons brought with them."

"One of York’s largest contributions to the welfare of the nation has been his commitment to nuclear arms control and to the reduction of tensions between the superpowers," she added. "As a political insider, this commitment was not always appreciated, especially during the height of the Cold War, but has proven right now that we look back at that same period with a profound sense of relief. As a nuclear physicist, York understands the technical requirements for nuclear arms control, an invaluable asset that he used in many roles, including as President Carter’s Chief Negotiator for the Comprehensive Test Ban Negotiations. As an Ambassador, York understood the value of meeting quietly with potential adversaries to find ways to work with one another on issues that are ultimately in both parties’ best interest. In his writings and his actions, he has articulately argued that nuclear war is in no one’s best interests."

For those efforts, York received the American Physical Society’s Leo Szilard Award in 1994 and the Federation of American Scientists’ Public Service Award in 1993. He was also a recipient of the Atomic Energy Commission’s Ernest O. Lawrence Memorial Award in 1962.

He is the author of six books: Arms Control (Readings from Scientific American, W.H. Freeman, 1973); The Advisors: Oppenheimer, Teller and the Superbomb (W. H. Freeman, 1976); Race to Oblivion: A Participant’s View of the Arms Race (Simon and Schuster, 1978); Making Weapons, Talking Peace: A Physicist’s Journey from Hiroshima to Geneva (Harper & Row, 1987); A Shield in Space? Technology, Politics and the Strategic Defense Initiative (U. of Calif. Press, 1988, with Sanford Lakoff); and Arms and the Physicist, (American Physical Society, 1994).