Robert Nelson
Senior Scientist
Global Security Program

Expertise
nuclear weapons policy and nonproliferation
arms control

Profile
Robert Nelson's research and writing focuses on technical issues related to U.S. nuclear weapons policy, arms control and nuclear nonproliferation.

Nelson is a theoretical physicist by training. He received his doctorate from Cornell University in 1992 and conducted basic research in astrophysics at the University of Toronto, the California Institute of Technology and Princeton University. In the fall of 2002, after participating in a UCS-sponsored Symposium on Science and World Affairs in Moscow, Nelson began research related to tehnical arms control. From 2002 to 2004 he was senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Nelson has published over 30 journal articles on subjects ranging from astrophysics to science policy to nuclear arms control. He has spoken about nuclear weapons issues on National Public Radio and has been quoted widely in newspapers on the topic.