Hugh Edgar DeWitt

Hugh DeWitt died on March 28, 2014 in Berkeley, California at the age of 83. He retired from Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in 1996 after working there for over 39 years. Hugh maintained a Visiting Scientist position and active research program at Livermore until only recently. He is survived by his wife, Susanne (Sanne), of 59 years, two sons, and three grandchildren. A daughter predeceased him.

Hugh was a theoretical physicist whose primary research interests were in the properties of charged particle systems, especially strongly coupled plasmas. His Monte Carlo simulations of the onecomponent plasma were especially influential. He was one of the founders of the Strongly Coupled Plasmas (now Strongly Coupled Coulomb Systems) conference series. His recent numerical simulations had important applications to white dwarf star interiors and neutron star crusts and were of interest to his many collaborators, especially those in the United States, Germany, and Russia. He was a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Physical Society, Division of Plasma Physics. His honors included membership in Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, and the Federation of American Scientists Public Service Award in 1988.

Hugh DeWitt was born in 1930 in Memphis, Tennessee. After graduating from Stanford University with Great Distinction in 1951, Hugh received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1957, based on his work on low energy nuclear physics with Phillip Morrison. In 1956 he held a Fulbright Fellowship for nuclear physics at Heidelberg University. During 1963–64 he was a Fulbright Professor at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Madras, and in 1970–71 he was a Visiting Professor of Physics at the University of Iowa. During the mid-1960s he mentored graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley, and directed the Ph.D. research of six graduate students during that time. A symposium in celebration of his 80th birthday was held at the University of California, Berkeley Faculty Club in May 2010.

Hugh also made important contributions to public policy issues, including his support of a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty, his defense of free speech rights, and his work on behalf of human rights for scientists throughout the world. He was chair of the APS Committee on International Freedom of Scientists in 2000.

In February 1979 the Department of Energy learned of The Progressive magazine’s intention to publish an article about how the hydrogen bomb worked. At the behest of the government a Federal District Court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting publication. Sam Day, the Managing Editor of The Progressive, obtained supportive affidavits from Hugh and Ray Kidder, who had extensive nuclear weapons design responsibilities. These affidavits played an important role in the case, which ended when the government withdrew its prior restraint case against The Progressive. As has been often said, no good deed goes unpunished. Hugh paid a heavy price at Livermore for his participation it this and other public policy issues.

One of Hugh’s most important contributions involved the Star Wars program begun by President Reagan in 1983. It is unlikely that this program would have come into existence without the excessive claims made for the nuclear-bomb-pumped x-ray laser, which was central to the program. Yet, it was already known in April 1984 that the sensors that had been used to confirm the lasing were not functioning properly and there was no clear evidence of lasing. Although the failure was confirmed by a test at Livermore in August 1984, wildly optimistic claims continued to be made as late as 1987. During the intervening years, Hugh played an important role in ensuring that government officials were aware of the deceptive claims coming out of Livermore.

Hugh was both an outstanding scientist and a courageous person of the highest integrity and honesty who leaves a lasting legacy. He will be sorely missed by his family and many friends and colleagues.

Harvey Gould, Clark University (Ret.)
Gabor Kalman, Boston College
Wolf-Dietrich Kraeft, University of Rostock
Martin Lampe, Naval Research Laboratory (Ret.)
Gerald E. Marsh, Argonne National Laboratory (Ret.)