Victor H. Reis

Last updated

Victor H. Reis
Victor H. Reis, DARPA Director, 1990-1992.jpeg
Dr. Victor H. Reis in April 1990
Born
Victor Herbert Reis

(1935-02-11) February 11, 1935 (age 88)
NationalityAmerican
Education Brooklyn Technical High School
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (BS)
Yale University (MS)
Princeton University (PhD)
Occupations
  • Technologist
  • former U.S. government official
Political party Republican

Victor Herbert Reis [1] (born February 11, 1935) [2] is a technologist and former U.S. government official, best known as the architect and original sponsor of the U.S. nuclear Stockpile Stewardship Program and its associated Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI), which resulted in the creation of several new generations of government-sponsored supercomputers.

Contents

Early life and education

Born in New York City and raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, Reis attended Brooklyn Technical High School and graduated in 1953. [2] [3] He participated in Army ROTC at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and received a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 1957. Reis earned an M.S. degree in mechanical engineering at Yale University in 1958 and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Princeton University in 1962. [3] [4] [5] His doctoral thesis was entitled Free expansion of pure and mixed gases from small sonic nozzles. [1]

Career

Reis was called to active duty in the Army after completing his doctorate and assigned to the NASA Ames Research Center as a research scientist supporting the Apollo program until 1965. [3] [5] After completing his active duty commitment, he worked at the General Motors Defense Research Laboratories and the Avco-Everett Research Laboratory. [3] [5] From 1973 to 1981, Reis was a technical staff member at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.

Reis was Assistant Director for National Security and Space in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, 1981–1983. Leaving government, he became senior vice president for strategic planning at the Science Applications International Corp., 1983–1989. He returned briefly to Lincoln Laboratory in 1989 as special assistant to the director, then returned to government as, first, Deputy Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 1989–1990; then that agency's Director, 1990–1991; and subsequently Director of Defense Research and Engineering at the U.S. Department of Defense, where he succeeded Charles M. Herzfeld and served until 1993, when he was succeeded by Anita K. Jones.

Reis served as Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs in the U.S. Department of Energy from 1993 to 1999, where he led the development of the DOE's Stockpile Stewardship Program, which was formally established by the 1994 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 103-160). After the U.S. moratorium on nuclear testing in 1992, Reis was among the first to recognize the need for a new, formal program in maintaining the U.S. nuclear stockpile, replacing data formerly obtained by testing with data from supercomputer simulation and small-scale non-nuclear experiments. The Stockpile Stewardship Program, and its associated initiatives in supercomputing, modeling, and simulation, led to the creation of several new generations of supercomputers.

From 1999 to 2005, Reis was senior vice president of Hicks & Associates, Inc. In 2005, he became senior advisor in the Office of the Secretary, Department of Energy. Reis was also a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of the U.S. Strategic Command. He retired in March 2017. [5]

In 2020, Reis, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him." [6]

Reis' awards include two Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medals.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Alamos National Laboratory</span> Laboratory near Santa Fe, New Mexico

Los Alamos National Laboratory is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the American southwest. Best known for its central role in helping develop the first atomic bomb, LANL is one of the world's largest and most advanced scientific institutions.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federally funded research and development center in Livermore, California, United States. Originally established in 1952, the laboratory now is sponsored by the United States Department of Energy and administered privately by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Department of Energy</span> U.S. government department regulating energy production and nuclear material handling

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, as well as manages the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy-related research, and energy conservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ASCI White</span> Former supercomputer in the United States

ASCI White was a supercomputer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which was briefly the fastest supercomputer in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-performance computing</span> Computing with supercomputers and clusters

High-performance computing (HPC) uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stockpile stewardship</span>

Stockpile stewardship refers to the United States program of reliability testing and maintenance of its nuclear weapons without the use of nuclear testing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ASCI Blue Mountain</span>

ASCI Blue Mountain is a supercomputer installed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It was designed to run simulations for the United States National Nuclear Security Administration's Advanced Simulation and Computing program. The computer was a collaboration between Silicon Graphics Corporation and Los Alamos National Laboratory. It was installed in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Advanced Simulation and Computing Program</span>

The Advanced Simulation and Computing Program is a super-computing program run by the National Nuclear Security Administration, in order to simulate, test, and maintain the United States nuclear stockpile. The program was created in 1995 in order to support the Stockpile Stewardship Program. The goal of the initiative is to extend the lifetime of the current aging stockpile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear weapons of the United States</span>

The United States was the first country to manufacture nuclear weapons and is the only country to have used them in combat, with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. Before and during the Cold War, it conducted 1,054 nuclear tests, and tested many long-range nuclear weapons delivery systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael R. Anastasio</span>

Michael Anastasio led two national science laboratories during a time of transition. He was the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and president of the Los Alamos National Security LLC, the company that operates the laboratory. He is the former director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The University of California Board of Regents appointed Michael R. Anastasio the director of LLNL on June 4, 2002. He started on July 1, 2002. In 2005 he became the president of the Los Alamos National Security LLC, and became the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory on June 1, 2006. During his directorship at Lawrence Livermore, the laboratory won 25 R&D 100 Awards and maintained its world-class leadership position in high-performance computing and its application to global climate modeling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. Bruce Tarter</span> American theoretical physicist

Curtis Bruce Tarter is an American theoretical physicist. He was the director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1994-2002. As director emeritus he recently published the first comprehensive history of the laboratory.

Ray E. Kidder was an American physicist and nuclear weapons designer. He is best known for his outspoken views on nuclear weapons policy issues, including nuclear testing, stockpile management, and arms control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John C. Browne</span> American physicist

John C. Browne is an American physicist.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is a United States federal agency responsible for safeguarding national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile; works to reduce the global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the United States Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Alamos Neutron Science Center</span> One of the worlds most powerful linear accelerators

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), formerly known as the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF), is one of the world's most powerful linear accelerators. It is located in Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in Technical Area 53. It was the most powerful linear accelerator in the world when it was opened in June 1972. The technology used in the accelerator was developed under the direction of nuclear physicist Louis Rosen. The facility is capable of accelerating protons up to 800 MeV. Multiple beamlines allow for a variety of experiments to be run at once, and the facility is used for many types of research in materials testing and neutron science. It is also used for medical radioisotope production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office of Nuclear Energy</span> US government agency

The Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) is an agency of the United States Department of Energy which promotes nuclear power as a resource capable of meeting the energy, environmental, and national security needs of the United States by resolving technical and regulatory barriers through research, development, and demonstration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parney Albright</span>

Penrose "Parney" C. Albright is an American physicist known for his work with the U.S. Government, think tanks and National Laboratories, and government contractors. Since November 1, 2014, he has been the president and CEO of HRL Laboratories, a research firm jointly owned by Boeing and General Motors. Until December 2013 he served as the director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and, in 2014, he served as a senior advisor in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Palmer Smith Jr.</span>

Harold Palmer Smith Jr. is an American professor, consultant, and expert on defense policy. He was Assistant to the Secretary of Defense from June 1993 to March 1996, when the name of the position changed to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical & Biological Defense Programs, and remained in the position until January 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jill Hruby</span> American civil servant

Jill M. Hruby is an American mechanical engineer and government official. Since July 26, 2021, Hruby has served as Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a post subject to Senate confirmation. Jill Hruby made history as the first woman to ever head a U.S. nuclear weapons lab, serving as director of Sandia National Laboratories from 2015-2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvin Adams</span> American nuclear engineer and computational physicist

Marvin L. Adams is a nuclear engineer and computational physicist. Since April 2022, he has served as Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in the Biden administration.

References

  1. 1 2 Reis, Victor Herbert (1962). Free expansion of pure and mixed gases from small sonic nozzles (Thesis). Princeton University. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Birth Certificate". Birth Index, 1910-1965. No. 4223. New York City Department of Health. 1935.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Oral History Interviews: Victor Reis Session I". American Institute of Physics. April 7, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  4. "Nomination of Victor H. Reis To Be Director of Defense Research and Engineering at the Department of Defense". The American Presidency Project. UC Santa Barbara. October 2, 1991. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Victor H. Reis" (PDF). Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. February 5, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  6. "Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden". Defending Democracy Together. August 20, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2021.