Herbert York | A-bomb physicist, 87

Herbert York, 87, a physicist who worked on the development of the atomic bomb before becoming an advocate of nuclear arms control, has died.

Mr. York died Tuesday of leukemia at a San Diego hospital, University of California, San Diego, spokesman Paul Mueller said. He had been affiliated with the university from its founding in 1961 - when he was its first chancellor - until his death.

Mr. York was working for the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley during World War II when he was recruited for the top-secret Manhattan Project, which designed the atomic bomb dropped on Japan.

In the 1950s, he was the first director of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, overseeing further nuclear-weapons research.

Although he praised the Manhattan Project's work, saying, "Not only did we complete the project, we ended the war," he came to be a leading proponent of arms control.

An arms adviser to several presidents, he was the chief U.S. negotiator during talks with the Soviet Union in the 1970s and early '80s to ban nuclear-weapons testing.

At the University of California, San Diego, he stepped down as chancellor in 1964 to join the school's physics faculty. He later became chairman of the physics department and dean of graduate studies.

In 1983, be founded the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. The institute, based on the San Diego campus, studies conflict resolution and promotes efforts to avoid war. - AP