David Wright received his Ph.D. in theoretical condensed matter physics from Cornell University in 1983 and worked as a research physicist until 1988. Since then he has worked on arms control and international security issues, researching technical aspects of nuclear weapons policy, missile defense systems, missile proliferation, hypersonic weapons, and space weapons. From 1992 to 2020 he was a researcher with the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, serving as co-director of the program from 2002 to 2020. He also held research positions in the Defense and Arms Control/Security Studies Program at MIT, the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and the Federation of American Scientists.
From 1990 to 2019, he was a primary organizer of the International Summer Symposiums on Science and World Affairs, which fostered cooperation among scientists around the world working on arms control and security issues. In 2001, he was a co-recipient of the American Physical Society’s Joseph A. Burton Forum Award for his arms control research and his work with international scientists. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Research Notes
Deriving Range and Crossrange Distances in Spherical Coordinates, David Wright, May 26, 2021.
Heat Conduction into a Hypersonic Glide Vehicle, David Wright, November 12,2020.
Selected Publications
“The Physics and Hype of Hypersonic Weapons,” David Wright and Cameron Tracy, Scientific American, vol. 325:2, August 2021, pp. 64-71.
“Don't Believe the Hype About Hypersonic Missiles,” Cameron Tracy and David Wright, IEEE Spectrum, 5, February 2021.
“Presidents Do Have Limits on Nuclear Use—But Need More,” Lisbeth Gronlund and David Wright, Inkstick, January 21, 2021.
“Modelling the Performance of Hypersonic Boost-Glide Missiles,” Cameron L. Tracy and David Wright, Science and Global Security, vol. 28:3 (January 2021).
Rethinking Land-Based Nuclear Missiles: Sensible Risk-Reduction Practices for US ICBMs, David Wright, William D. Hartung, and Lisbeth Gronlund (Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists, June 2020).
“Broken Shield,” Laura Grego and David Wright, Scientific American, vol. 320:6, June 2019, pp. 62-7.
Decoys Used in Missile Defense Intercept Tests, 1999-2018, David Wright (Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists, January 2019).
Incremental Progress but No Realistic Capability: Analysis of the Ground-based Midcourse Missile Defense Test FTG-15 (May 30, 2017), Laura Grego and David Wright (Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists, 23 January 2018).
“How to limit presidential authority to order the use of nuclear weapons,” Lisbeth Gronlund, David Wright, Steve Fetter, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 23 January 2018.
Shielded from Oversight: The Disastrous U.S. Approach to Strategic Missile Defense, Laura Grego, George Lewis, and David Wright (Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists, July 2016).
Reducing the Risk of Nuclear War: Taking Nuclear Weapons Off High Alert, David Wright, Eryn MacDonald, and Lisbeth Gronlund (Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists, January 2016).
“Research Note to Hypersonic Boost-Glide Weapons by James M. Acton: Analysis of the Boost Phase of the HTV-2 Hypersonic Glider Tests,” David Wright, Science and Global Security 23:3, pp. 220-229, October 2015.
Securing the Skies: Ten Steps the United States Should Take to Improve the Security and Sustainability of Space, Laura Grego and David Wright, (Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists, November 2010).
Toward True Security: Ten Steps the Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, B. Blair, T. Cochran, J. Dean, S. Fetter, R. Garwin, K. Gottfried, L. Gronlund, H. Kelly, H. Kristensen, R. Nelson, R. Norris, I. Oelrich, C. Paine, F. von Hippel, D. Wright and S. Young (Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists, February 2008).
“Space Debris,” David Wright, Physics Today 60 (10), October 2007, pp. 35-40.
The Physics of Space Security: A Reference Manual, David Wright, Laura Grego, and Lisbeth Gronlund (Cambridge, MA: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2005).
Technical Realities: An Analysis of the 2004 Deployment of a U.S. National Missile Defense System, Lisbeth Gronlund, David Wright, George Lewis, Philip Coyle (Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists, May 2004).
“Estimating China’s Production of Plutonium for Weapons,” David Wright and Lisbeth Gronlund, Science and Global Security 11 (2003), pp. 61-80.
Countermeasures: A Technical Evaluation of the Operational Effectiveness of the Planned US National Missile Defense System, A.M. Sessler, J.M. Cornwall, B. Dietz, S. Fetter, S. Frankel, R.L. Garwin, K. Gottfried, L. Gronlund, G.N. Lewis, T.A. Postol, and D.C. Wright (Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists and MIT Security Studies Program, April 2000).
“An Analysis of the North Korean Nodong Missile,” David Wright and Timur Kadyshev, Science and Global Security 4 (1994), p. 129. Reprinted in Japanese in World Weekly 3 (1) (1994), p. 57.
“Depressed-Trajectory SLBMs: A Technical Assessment and Arms Control Possibilities,” Lisbeth Gronlund and David Wright, Science and Global Security 3 (1992), p. 101.
“A Status Report on the Boycott of Star Wars Research by Academic Scientists and Engineers,” Lisbeth Gronlund, John Kogut, Michael Weissman, David Wright, 13 May 1986.
“The Space Groups of Axial Crystals and Quasicrystals,” D.A. Rabson, N.D. Mermin, D.S. Rokhsar, and D.C. Wright, Rev. Mod. Phys. 63, 699 (July 1991).
“Crystalline Liquids: The Cholesteric Blue Phases,” D.C. Wright and N.D. Mermin, Rev. Mod. Phys. 61, 385 (April 1989).