- Peter Zimmerman
Peter D. Zimmerman is an American nuclear
physicist , arms control expert, and former Chief Scientist of theSenate Foreign Relations Committee . He is currently Emeritus Professor of Science and Security atKing's College London . He retired from the college in August 2008 and was named Professor Emeritus on 1 September of the same year.cite web|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/ws/staff/pz.html|title=Prof Peter Zimmerman: Staff profiles|publisher=King's College London |accessdate=2007-10-14]Biography
Peter D. Zimmerman was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on 15 June 1941. He graduated from
Stanford University in1963 with aBachelor of Science degree. He earned a Filosofie Licentiat degree atLund University in1967 and a Ph.D. atStanford University in1969 . All degrees are in experimental nuclear and elementary particle physics.cite web|url=http://cstsp.aaas.org/content.html?contentid=31|title=Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy|publisher=AAAS|accessdate=2007-10-14]Zimmerman was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1988.
Zimmerman was Chief Scientist of the
Arms Control and Disarmament Agency until the agency was folded intoU.S. Department of State .He then became Science Adviser for Arms Control in theU.S. Department of State .After the election of George W. Bush as president Zimmerman left the State Department and then served as the Chief Scientist of theSenate Foreign Relations Committee from August 2001 until January 2003 and as Democratic Chief Scientist until March2004 .In
2004 , Zimmerman became Professor of Science and Security in the Department of War Studies atKing's College London .Awards and honors
*2004 Joseph A. Burton Forum Award Recipientcite web|url=http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?name=Peter%20Zimmerman&year=2004|title=2004 Joseph A. Burton Forum Award Recipient|publisher=APS - American Physical Society|accessdate=2007-10-14]
Controversies
He was one of only a half-dozen people (including Senator
Bob Graham ) to critically read the controversialNational Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction in a secure room in the Capitol October 2, 2002. After noticing the striking dissenting opinions from theEnergy Department and the State Department stated in the annex, he remembers thinking "If anybody takes the time to actually read this, they can't believe there actually are major WMD programs." He encouraged his colleagues with security clearance to take the time to read the NIE, to no avail.References
*cite web|url=http://cstsp.aaas.org/content.html?contentid=31|title=Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy|publisher=
American Association for the Advancement of Science |accessdate=2007-10-14
*Book: Hubris, Isikoff (Michael) and Corn (David), 2006, pp. 133-134; Crown PublishersExternal links
* [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/ws/staff/pz.html Bio: Kings College Website, currently dysfunctional]
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