American Physical Society honors CISAC's Pavel Podvig

The American Physical Society awarded CISAC research associate Pavel Podvig and Anatoli Diyakov, at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), its 2008 Leo Szilard Lectureship, a recognition of "outstanding accomplishments by physicists in promoting the use of physics for the benefit of society."

The APS specifically cited the two "for establishing a center for scientific study of arms control, for landmark analyses, and for courage in supporting open discussion of international security in Russia."

Diyakov and Princeton colleague Frank von Hippel in 1991 founded the Center for Arms Control, Energy, and Environment Studies at MIPT, with substantial help from Podvig, a 1988 graduate of the institute with a degree in physics. The center was Russia's first independent research organization dedicated to technical analysis of arms control issues.

Podvig's research at the center addressed issues concerning missile defense; early-warning, command, and control systems for nuclear weapons; and U.S.-Russian arms control. He led a major research project and edited the resulting book, Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces, consulted internationally as a definitive work on the subject.