Garwin: Witness to History

April 28, 2015 - 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Directed by Richard Breyer

Peace Action of Central New York is pleased to announce the screening of the award winning documentary “GARWIN”, a  film about scientist Richard Garwin who helped shape history as designer of the first successful hydrogen bomb, by local filmmaker and SU professor, Richard Breyer. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Richard Breyer.

GARWIN” covers more than six decades of the scientist’s career from his work at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (now the Los Alamos National Laboratory) where he authored the final design used for the hydrogen bomb at age 23 to his work at IBM’s research laboratory at Columbia University, while also serving as top science advisor to every president from Eisenhower to Obama on nuclear policy and national reconnaissance.

A Washington Post article recently compared Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to Garwin: “[Carter] is a throwback to Richard Garwin and an earlier generation of physicists who have influenced security policy”. In recent years Garwin was part of an elite group of scientists asked to help in crises from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and find solutions to contain the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.In 2002, Garwin received the National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest honor in the fields of science and engineering.

While exploring Garwin’s life and work, the film offers a rare look into the world of science and policy, notably the role of scientists like Garwin who regularly advise our leaders on solutions to the most critical issues of our time, from nuclear proliferation and disarmament, to climate change and energy.

Free to the Public