| Siegfried S. Hecker | |
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Siegfried S. Hecker while director of Los Alamos National Laboratory
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| Born | October 2, 1943 Tomaszew, Poland |
| Nationality | Austrian-Polish-American |
| Fields | Metallurgical Engineering |
| Institutions | Los Alamos National Laboratory Center for International Security and Cooperation Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Stanford University |
| Alma mater | Case Western Reserve University (B.Sc.), (M.Sc.), (Ph.D.) |
| Known for | Plutonium science, Nuclear proliferation, Nuclear strategy |
| Notable awards | Enrico Fermi Award, Seaborg Medal USDOE Distinguished Associate Award, Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award |
Dr. Siegfried S. Hecker, PhD, is an Austrian-Polish-American nuclear scientist and metallurgist who served as the Emeritus Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1986 till 1997. A nuclear weapons specialist, Dr. Hecker was the Professor in Research in the Department of Management Science and Engineering of the School of Engineering, Co-Director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation and a Senior Fellow of the at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies of Stanford University.[1]
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Hecker's parents came from Sarajevo, Bosnia and were moved during World War II to Tomaszew, where Hecker was born.[2] When his father had not returned from the war at the Eastern Front, his mother remarried and settled in Rottenmann, Austria.[2] The family emigrated to the US in 1956. 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. Hecker began his professional career as a senior research metallurgist with the General Motors Research Laboratories in 1970 after two years as a postdoctoral appointee at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Since 1988 Hecker has been a visiting Professor in Materials Engineering at Stanford University. 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. He 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.
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).[3][4] In November 2010 Hecker visited the Yongbyon nuclear facility and reported on its advanced state.[5]
His achievements have been recognized with the American Nuclear Society's Seaborg Medal and many other awards including the Navy League of the U.S.'s TR & FD Roosevelt Gold Medal for Science Award in 1996. The Secretary of Energy named Dr. Siegfried S. Hecker, Lab director from 1986–1997 and a Los Alamos senior fellow until 2000, 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.