Many scientific powerhouses will speak to Dick Garwin’s contributions to nuclear physics and the myriad other fields he was involved in during his long, productive career. I’m no scientist, so I would like to speak instead to Dick’s humanity. I first met him in the mid-1990s, when I joined the National Academies of Sciences’ Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC).[1] I was a young expert in the nuclear policy arena, so I supposed I was invited as a policy wonk—not, by any means, as a scientist. The group at that time included several well-known figures much older than I, and I was a bit overwhelmed by the company I was keeping.

Dick Garwin never failed to listen to what I had to say and give me wise comments in return. He always seemed to be glad of my company, including on a trip to China in February 1996, my first. We were there in a small group to talk to the Chinese about nuclear arms control and nonproliferation and other topics of the day—I remember missile defense was front and center, as it always is.

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