The Program on Science and Global Security (SGS) organized the inaugural Bruce Blair Memorial Lecture on Friday November 17, 2023, in Washington DC. The Memorial Lecture was established to honor the life and work of Bruce Blair (1947-2020), a distinguished scholar and leader of the global nuclear disarmament movement who joined SGS in 2013.
For over four decades, Blair explored and explained the risks of accidental nuclear war. His work clarified how these much-greater-than-expected risks were not an accident, but an inevitable outcome of prevailing nuclear postures and policies, and systems of nuclear command and control.
The Memorial Lecture was the first of an annual or biennial series that will include lectures and other public activities honoring Bruce Blair. It aims to advance understanding of the risks of nuclear weapons and to foster policies to reduce these risks and to eliminate nuclear weapons.
The inaugural lecture took the form of an intergenerational conversation between Frank von Hippel and Jessica Sleight . They shared their experiences and appreciation of working with Bruce Blair, the current crises of nuclear arms control, and the lessons from Bruce Blair's work for reducing nuclear weapon risks today.
Frank von Hippel is senior research physicist and professor of public and international affairs emeritus at the SGS, which he co-founded in 1974. He knew and worked with Bruce Blair for more than 30 years. Read Frank von Hippel’s remarks here.
Jessica Sleight spent ten years working with Bruce Blair on policy and strategy at Global Zero, an international movement for nuclear abolition co-founded by Bruce Blair and launched in 2008. Read Jessica Sleight's remarks here.
The conversation was introduced by SGS co-chair Zia Mian. Sally Blair made brief remarks on behalf of the Blair family and friends.
The Lecture series is made possible by generous support from Sally Blair and the Blair family, Robert and Ellie Meyers, and John and Jessica Fullerton.
SGS is developing a Bruce G. Blair Archive as a resource for scholars, students, activists, and policy makers. It will bring together key writings by Blair, including his 1984 Yale University PhD thesis “Headless Horseman of the Apocalypse: Command and Control of US Strategic Forces.”
The Bruce Blair Memorial Fund at Princeton University supports work at SGS on nuclear arms control, non-proliferation, and disarmament.