Photograph taken in Minsk, Jan. 1992.  Click on picture to enlarge and for story

   Richard Wilson, born in London, England in 1926, has been at Harvard University since 1955 where he is now Mallinckrodt Research Professor of Physics.  Richard Wilson is an affiliate of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies  and of the Program on Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government.  His CV shows that he is the author or coauthor of 867  published articles and papers. There is also a mini Autobiography.   See also charts of ancestors and descendants .  Richard and Andree Desiree Wilson live in Newton Centre where Andree tends her fine garden.  In particular look at the web site of Elaine Wilson,  a fine landscape painter.    Richard Wilson is a common nme.  There 8,679 Richard Wilsons living in the USA alone.    It is also a famous name and a selection of  "Richard Wilson's" activities shows that he was, and is, an extraordinarily busy man.  Last year Richard Wilson, the sculptor, was elected to the Royal Academy in UK.   Other distinctions are listed in Wilkipedia.  Richard Wilson, the physicist, may be found most days in Jefferson Laboratory of Physics room 257 at Harvard University.

  The most recent study is of  cancer at old age he is also studying the problem of chronic arsenic exposure and how to help the millions who are overexposed.  When opportunity arises, which it does all too often, he engages in various Human Rights activities; he is till involved in experiments on parity violation in electron proton scattering at CEBAF and on an asymmetry in neutron decay.  He also has a major interest in analyzing and trying to understand, risks; how to reduce them, how important individual risks may be. Ten times as many people were killed on the roads last year as were killed on September 11th 2001.   The international drug trade may be far more destructive society than Al Qaeda.  Keeping perspective was a major theme of the book "Risk Benefit Analysis" by Richard Wilson and Edmund A. Crouch, available from Harvard University Press and on the bookstands; As a sample, see the Table of Contents the first pages of the book and some  comments on the book . As a frequent visitor to Arab countries he was fortunate to make many friends, including the Iraqi statesman Muhummed Fadhel Jamali who signed the UN charter in  1945.   On a visit to Harvard he left  a copy of his memoirs - so far unpublished.  The pages are posted on this site in html .   We expect to make a pdf. version available shortly after the inevitable coorections have been made.  He was a trustee of the  Global Foundation till its demise on the death of its President (Professor Behram Kursunuglu) in 2003.  He is now President of the ARSENIC FOUNDATION which is dedicated to helping to avoid arsenic poisoning through water supplies in SE Asia.

   Richard Wilson was awarded the degree of D. Phil. at  Oxford University in 1949 for a thesis on the photo disintegration of the  deuteron.  He travelled to the USA in June 1950 for a position in Rochester NY.  With Clark and Roberts he used the principle of detailed balance to measure the spin of the pi zero meson at Rochester in March 1951. (see a story about this in his notes about Marshak) He then studied  nucleon-nucleon scattering at AERE Harwell, and the Harvard Cyclotron laboratory   for many years.  The Harvard Cyclotron had its first beam on June 3rd 1949  and celebrated its 50th anniversary    in 1999 with a conference.  Richard Wilson, together with Karl  Strauch and Andreas Koehler led an  upgrade of the cyclotron in 1955 and led a program in uses of polarized protons  to study the nucleon nucleon interaction.   The story can be found in a history of the Harvard cyclotrons; In addition to this web based history,  a small hard copy book has been  published by the Harvard university Physics Department and is on sale at Harvard University Press.

    Then Richard Wilson moved to a study of nucleon  structure by electron-proton scattering at the Cambridge Electron Accelerator  from 1963 to 1970,  and muon proton scattering at Fermilab in the E98  and E665 collaborations.  Richard Wilson was an early proponent of electron-electron  and electron positron colliding beams with a tentative proposal in 1956, and  a definitive proposal in 1962. Richard Wilson was a participant in the CEA "bypass"  program which demonstrated an unusually large cross-section  for producing  hadrons (see published papers 150,152,155,158).  He has worked at a number of research reactors, cyclotrons, synchrotrons,  linear accelerators and colliding beam facilities.    He  worked  in the CLEO collaboration   using the electron-positron colliding  beam facility at Cornell University,   until November 2001 when the Harvard group formally  left the collaboration.   He is still participating in scattering  of polarized electrons from protons   at CEBAF which provides information on the strange quark form factor in the nucleon.     He also is participating in an experiment on "little a" in decay of polarized neutrons.  

   Richard Wilson has used radiation and ionizing particles    all of his professional life.  Most of the time he has carried  out  research into the structure of nuclei and of elementary particles.   But he is very interested in beneficial uses of nuclear technology.  In addition to the work with the Harvard Cyclotron noted above, he Is also  interested in  wise and appropriate uses of nuclear energy for electricity  production.  One of his interests and specialties is understanding the risks  of misuse   of radiation and technologies involving   radiation.    This is exemplified by a recent Resource  Letter   on health effects of radiation that he has written  for the American Physical   Society.  For these and other reasons he was  asked (by the Chairman  of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus) to help found the International Sakharov  College of Radioecology,  in Minsk, Belarus  and be the Chairman  of its International Advisory Committee (which position he held until 2001). This has now become the   ( International  Sakharov Environmental University) (mirror site) on the tenth anniversary of the opening  (in May  2002) of this  university, Dr. Frantisek Janouch, from the Czech Republic and Sweden, gave an admonition to students (in Russian   and in English ) to think carefully whether they deserved to use the Sakharov name.    At the ninth anniversary (Sakharov's 80th birthday),   Richard Wilson told  the students his memories about Sakharov.   Richard Wilson has followed closely the Russian and Ukrainian  radiation accidents at Chernobyl in the Ukraine, and the accidents at the  Techa River    and the Mayak production complex in  the Ural mountains. This interest also  led him to become editor of the English Translation of the Russian Journal  Radiation  and Risk  which is published by the Russian  Medical Research Laboratory in Obninsk  and is mainly about effects of  Chernobyl. In  1987 he visited Chernobyl  with a Chicago  TV crew and the resulting  film ( Back to Chernobyl)  was on public television in late 1988.  He was among the first in the  USA to emphasize the importance of the Russian  radiation accidents in the  1950 - 60 period.  In that period,  for example,  2 million Curies of radioactive material were  dumped  into  the upper reaches of the Techa river.  The effects  have been  studied  for  40 yearsby a dedicated  group of  physicians  and scientists  in the Urals Center for  Radiation Medicine (URCRM ) in Chelyabinsk. See also public comment on EPA proposals to regulate DOE facilities , and tighten standards for uranium  in drinking water .   Richard Wilson is also spokesman  for  a group  "Scientists  for Secure Waste Storage" who are supporting the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians     who would  like to store nuclear waste  (temporarily) on their reservation.   Although after 7 years the  the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is ready to grant a license,  the politicians  in Utah,  both the Governor and the Senators, have vowed to oppose it.   They are tring to prevent access to the facility by asking the US Bureau of Land Management to deny use of land to transfer casks from rail to road.  SSWS sent in a brief supporting the Goshutes.

   Since it is undesirable and unethical to carry out experiments upon people, mankind has carried out experiments on animals, usually  rodents, to  understand which substances are carcinogens.  The way in which the risk of cancer in people is derived from the risk of cancer in animals becomes of great importance and is discussed .  Starting in 1979, Richard Wilson and co-workers have written a series of papers on  chemical carcinogens ,  on interspecies  comparisons in particular and research is continuing on cancer at old age.   It appears that above age 80 age specific cancer incidence falls for all tumor sites, vanishing between ages 100 and 105.    This fall off is too sharp to be explained by a variation in sensitivity.    This drop off also appears in mice when they are allowed to live beyond 750 days to a "natural" death up to 1000 days.  No cancers are seen at the highest age group. 

   Richard Wilson is concerned with many environmental  issues.  In particular he is interested in risks of much greater magnitude   than those of nuclear radiation.  He publiahed with others a book "Health Effects of Fossil Fuel Buirning" in 1982 which was updated in an edited volume in  1986: "Particles in Our Air : Concentrations  and Health Effects" distributed by Harvard University Press .  In this he and his coauthors argued that fine particles in air pollution pose a considerable hazard, (some tens of thousand deaths yearly in the USA) and there is probably a linear relationship between dose of these particles and the effect on health.  Although this was widely disputed in 1982, the further work has led more and more experts to agree with this basic conclusion.

Arsenic

    The research into  chemical carcinogens naturally leads to a desire   to understand the carcinogens that pose the largest risks to life.   He has therefore been active in emphasizing the chronic health effects of  prolonged doses of arsenic. He was one of the first to realize the importance of the studies by CJ Chen in Tawian which were published in the USA in 1986 and ignored by the US EPA for many years.   In Inner Mongolia  in 1994 and more recently  in Bangladesh  he has emphasized the magnitude of the catastrophe.  He  started the the Arsenic  web site Project  at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, School  of Public Health, and Parsons laboratory at MIT.  This project  aims to cover arsenic problems world  wide   but in view of the magnitude  of the catastrophe has Bangladesh  as a  main focus.  Indeed Richard Wilson has stated on the BBC and on National Public Radio that the Bangladesh Catastrophe makes Chernobyl look like a Sunday School picnic.  In that he has never been contradicted or questioned.    As a particular project, he is helping the scientists and physicians at Dhaka Community Hospital in Dhaka to build sanitary "dugwells" in several villages to replace the older insanitary wells and the arsenic laden tube wells.   He emphasises the importance of reliable and frequent measurement so that the results may be convincing even to a politician or banker.    He has started the  ARSENIC FOUNDATION Inc.  as a charitable organization to which every viewer of this page is invited to contribute.  This foundation not only continues the work but is now the official owner of the arsenic website.   Any gift thereto is exempt from US and UK taxes.    Here is a  link to pictures from a  visit in 2004.

   Richard Wilson is serves on the Board of Directors of the  Andrey Sakharov Foundation of New York    which endeavors to continue the work of Andrey  Dmitreyvich Sakharov in  human Rights and human progress.  He joined  a fact finding group from  this conference,  led by Baroness Cox,  President of Christian Solidarity worldwide, that visited the  Armenian-Azerbaijan border in May 1991 and reported  thereon to the Sakharov  conference on physics two days later.    Professor Wilson attended,   (and talked at)  a conference on self-determination of peoples  in Moscow on June  27th to July 1st 1999.   He helped Dr Stanislaw Suskevich, then Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, and de facto head of state,  set up the Sakharov College of Radioecology in 1991.  He was the first Chairman of the International Advisory Committee.    This is now the  International  Sakharov Environmental University (mirror site). Professor and Mrs. (Andree) Wilson are both concerned that   there are a number of festering trouble  spots around the world, Kashmir,   Sri Lanka,  Ireland, Pakistan tribal areas, Israel and Palestine, where hatred and  anger  which have built up over 50 years  have replaced thought  on both sides.  Each party to a conflict has a duty to ensure the human rights  of each and every individual on the other  side, yet these human rights frequently  get ignored.  Unless these 50 year old quarrels are faced by the whole world, the whole world  will be plunged into conflict.   There is an unfortunate similarity between these trouble spots.  India, Russia and Israel, each the stronger party in their respective conflicts,  Kashmir, Chechnya and the Holy Land, has taken President Bush's "war on terrorism" to imply US approval to subdue the other party using extreme terror attacks of their own.  

World attempts to avert problems.

    World War I was hailed by the "Allies"  England, France and later USA, as a "war to end all wars".   Alas, that was too optimistic and the League of Nations that was founded at the peace treaty collapsed in the 1930s because of a failure of the leading countries to follow through.  In May 1945 there was a new start in the "United Nations."   The UN deliberately set itself restrictions to avoid being swamped.   In 2003 the USA intervened in Iraq,  contrary to the desires of the UN and without (overt) support of any neighboring country.   The effects of this are profound, both on the US economy, and perhaps most important on the view of the world's population about the policies of the United States.  
 
    It is notable that in the original proposals for the UN,  the UN countries would try to prevent attacks by one country on another, but not intervene in local squables.   This seems to have broken down in the later 1980s in Yugoslavia.  This was country created by the Treaty of Versailles originally as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and by 1945 as a Federation.   It must not be forgotten that Russia supported the Serbs in July 1914 when Austria (including Croatia and Slovenia at the time) attacked bringing on WWI.  In WWII the refusal of the young King Peter to allow Hitler free passage of troops through Yugoslavia led to occupation and a valiant resistance.   This delayed the Nazi attack on USSR by 6 weeks,  which was, perhaps crucial in allowing the USSR to survive that terrible summer.   A segment of Croations formed the Ustashe which allied itself with Hitler and slaghtered between 200,000 and 500,000 Serbs.  After the death of President Tito,  who had kept the Federation together for nearly 40 years, Serbs were trying to assert themselves after many years of what many of them  considered to be Croatian (Tito) rule.   Some countries, members of the UN,  started to be active in what has been construed by others as an encouragement for the federation to break apart.  Of course the atrocities committed by ethnic Serbs, in Bosnia in particular, set much of the developed world against Serbia and the federation did break apart completely.   But starting in the 1990s, a more serious trend began.  Much of the world turned against Serbia itself as the Serbs struggled with dissension in a part of Serbia proper - Kosovo.   This resulted in a bombing of Belgrade - the 3rd time Belgrade was bombed in half a century.  (1941 by the Nazis, 1944 by the Americans and again in 1990s by NATO).  Now in February 2008, a unilateral Declaration of Independence has been declared in Kosovo,   without support of the UN security council.    Worse still it was immediately recognized by many European countries and the USA who are, at least technically, flouting the UN.  This has set back the idea of peaceful world approach to disagreements.   It is instructive to list the nations which have not recognized Kosovo.  They include Russia, Spain, India which have seccesionist movements of their own.   It is too early to see how this will play out.    The opinion of one Harvard physics department staff member is eloquently expressed on his website.     The Balkans, in the turmoil as the Ottoman empire disintegrated,  have been the site of far too many excellent novels and plays - such as Bernard Shaw's "Arms and the Man" (about the 1885 war) for anyone to feel comfortable about the future.    King Alexander, in spite of intensive struggle in the 1920s, was unable to get the people in his expanded country to agree and he was assasinated  in 1934 by a Macedonian activist, allegedly acting with Croat separatists.

  The Serbs in 1941+ and more recently after 1985 have paid very heavily for King Alexander's failure.

    You may download a number of letters sent by Andree and/or Richard Wilson to politicians, including President Bush and newspapers

Terrorism

   After the terrible event of September 11th 2001, there was symptahy all over the world.  The picture shows a Palestinian boy in Jerusalem reminding us that "terror is our common enemy".  This message is very important.  Terror, whether it be the killing of innocent civilans by a suicide bomber, or the extra judicial targetted assaninations by a country that professes the rule of law, cannot be condoned or excused.     But while emphasizing this on all possible occasions, it is important to search for reasons why a person or state engages in such evil acts and to adjust individual and societal life to reduce these reasons.  In lectures at international    conferences in London (Global Foundation in December 2001),  in Florida (Global Foundation in December 2001), at the  PSAM6 conference  in Puerto Rico (June 2002), and at the International Seminar on Planetary Emergencies in  Erice, Sicily (August 2002), Dr Wilson addresses various complications   that arise when considering terrorism. In a slightly different form he presented a paper at a conference on bioterrorism in Alberquerque in March 2003.   He discussed three facets of combating terrorism.  the first and most important is preventing a person becoming a terrorist.  What is the root cause of a terrorist action?  How do you   find the planner?   and what is   a terrorist?  hen is a man a terrorist  and when is he  a freedom  fighter?       Is a  terrorist a coward     if he blows himself up?    He notes that calling someone "coward"   is a reactive approach rather than a positive   approach of making society  somewhat safer.   The whole issue of   terrorism is closely connected  with one of human rights, because often  the denial of human rights leads  an individual to despair,  and then can lead the individual to tolerate terrorism or even to become a terrorist.   Secondly is a task to keep weapons out of the hands of terrorists.  This is, of course, not possible for "ordinary weapons, icluding assault weapons, but it is important for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons (in that order).  Thirdly is the task that the Bush administration of the USA  has emphasized of keeping a terrorist away from civilized society, and its corollary of keeping weapons of ever more destructive  power out of the hands of terrorists.   Fourth;y is mitigating the conseqeuences of a terrirst attack.    It is the third task that inevitably brings governments into a conflict with desires for human freedom, and liberty of expression and action.  Such conflicts must be continuously discussed and  resolved.   We are deeply concerned that the present desire of the of the US administration to allow its decisions to be unfettered by the courts is very dangerous.   The processes in the USA in the 4 1/2 years since 9/11 have far too much similarity to the processes in Central Europe in the years following the Reichtag fire in 1933 for comfort.   Fourthly, to make society less vulnerable.    Most, if not all, terrorist events are similar to other events that have occurred in our society.   In this it is  pointed out that analytical tools are already in existence to address these -  the "event tree analyses" conducted primarily for nuclear power points and for few other facilities.  Society must pay more attention to the "low probability - high consequence accident". Terrorists will look for such possible accidents and increase the probability.     It is freely freely admitted that these distinctions are often fine ones.  But making them may be essential for the peace, and even future existence, of the world.    Moreover it is in this 4th step that ordinary people in society can alter their every day behavior to make a terrorist action less dangeous and less likely.     However.  too many Americans, nor brought up in dangerous situations like world war II Europe, mistakenly expect the "government" to do everything.     The fear of terrorism has brought many people, including the President of the USA to accept an old evil:  the attempt to get information by torture.     We believe that is unaccaptable and we support the "physicians for Human Rights" in their campaign against torture.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

    On August 8th 2005 the world changed.  Mankind learned how to destroy itself.- as pointed out in this paper presented at a seminar on planetary emergencies in May 2003.   While there were several occasions in the cold war between USSR and USA where the nuclar holocaust seemd onl;y days away,  and many in the armed forces of both the USA and the USSR wer unduly bellicose,  wiser heads prevailed in all the major confrontations.   In facing this issue which will be with us till the end of the human race, short term considerations have no place.  While secrecy has its importance for short term issues, only open governments can help us.  Truth and understanding are essential.   World understanding and agreement on these issues is vital and the split between the USA/UK and the UN over Iraq is tragic, and may have set serious control of nuclear weapons back 50 years.    That it was based in part on an assessment, by governments and newspapers (see next section)  alike, of Iraqi posession of weapons of mass destruction which more knowledgeable people knew did not exist is tragic.  The US refusal to ratify the nuclear test ban treaty, in spite of unequivaocal recommendation by a study by its highest scientific advisory panel shows a disregard for truth and sends awful signals to the world.    After a foreward looking and generous approach to other countries desire to particpate in the many fruits of peaceful nuclear technology,  codified in the Non Proliferation Treaty, The US continual violations of the spirit, if not he letter, of Articles IV and VI is troubling.  

    Although we regret that India decided to make nuclear weapons, their policy of a "minimal nuclear deterrent" is far better than the policy of the USA which has 9,000 bombs at the present moment and can inflict unacceptable damage on any adversary with less than 100.  Even 50 is enough to scare us.   I attach here introductory comments at a session on non proliferation in summer 2006.  The present (2003) approach to US foreign policy is addressed, much better than I can,  in a speech,  shamelessly copied here ,  in Vermont about September 2002 by a retired US diplomat:  Ambassador Ron Speirs. 

    Iraq had some fine politicians before 1958 when it was destabilized by the cold war.  We are putting on the site memoirs of Fadhel Jamali who was one of the original signers of the UN Charter.

    Since 1979 Richard Wilson has often traveled to Arab countries, and to Iraq in December 1982.   Like most others, he was appalled by Saddam Hussein, and his use of poison gas against the Iranians.  During of his visits to Kuwait he could see the gunfire as the Iranians took the town of Faw on the Gulf and realized at once that this was a rare occasion when poison gas would be (and was) effective in warfare.   The knowledge of Saddam Hussein's inhumanities to the Iraqi people has long been known.    But he was  deeply troubled that the USA decided to  attack Iraq when all neighbors were overtly opposing such an action, and the UN security council was opposed to it.  Iraq has often been called the cradl;e of civilization and, indeed, it was the birthplace of Abraham.   But the USA and the UK did take over Iraq, and he is working to help the people of Iraq to find a lasting peace that they have only known for brief periods since the revolution of July 14th 1958.  In particular to help Baghdad University and other universities, regain intellectual contact with the rest of the world.   In June 2005 he  was  the host to a group of academics  from Iraq led by  Dr. Beriwan Khailany,  Deputy Minister of Science in Iraq  and  Prof. Mosa Almosawi, President,  University of Baghdad  and including a couple of Deans,  Prof. Abd Taleb, Dean of Science, University of Baghdad and Dr. Nabeel Kadim, Dean, College of Engineering, University of Baghdad who in a party of 11 academics visited Harvard University and other institutions in the Boston/Cambridge area.  Some younger scholars who have not known any science or other life before Saddam viisted in 2006.   Unfortunately since August 2006 it is dangerous for them even in the University.  

    In 1978 Richard Wilson was worried about a possible "Islamic Bomb" as a counter to the Israeli posession of nuclear weapons.  He was concerned about Iraqi ambitions.  But on careful examination, he like experts in IAEA, congressional tesimony, and others were convinced in 1981 that the activities at the time (including the OSIRAK reactor) were peaceful, and could be monitored.   He constantly reminds people of the tragedy of the Israeli bombing of that reactor in June 1981.    Although Saddam Hussein would clearly have liked a nuclear bomb if he could have had one, it was only after the bombing that the bomb program really started.   The world should learn that a stupid, unwarranted, action can have consequences that were not intended.  Technical people who have studied the matter agree that the Iraqi nuclear program before 1981 was peaceful, and the OSIRAK reactor was not only unsuited to making bombs but was under intensive safeguards.  It is troubling that when Nicholas Kristof incorrectly argued in 2002 that the 1981 bombing of this reactor delayed Iraq's nuclear bomb program (when it probably started it), the New York Times declined to publish a correction.     If reputable newspapers are not interested in the technical and scientific truth, who is? In the international discussions with Iran and North Korea, this must be borne in mind.    The matter resuraced in 2007 when the attack was described as a successful example of preemption when the opposite is the case.  Bombing a peaceful program rather than controlling it, is very dangerous.   But,  alas,  this is not the lesson that many people, who have not studied the technical evidence, have  gained. 

    The present US policy with respect to Iran is, in our view, crazy and counterproductive.  Our goal should be to encourage openness in Iranian society.  It is vital to have person to person contacts at all levels, including of course nuclear scientists.  Yet it is just these contacts that are now officially inhibited.    I fear that we will make the same mistake with respect in Iran that Israel made in Iraq and by our bellicose actions we may start a military program raher than stop one.