Martin J. Sherwin


Martin J. Sherwin is an American historian. His scholarship mostly concerns the history of the development of atomic energy and nuclear proliferation.
Sherwin received his B.A. from Dartmouth College and his Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was the long-time Walter S. Dickson Professor of English and American History at Tufts University until his retirement in May 2007. He is now a professor emeritus of Tufts and a University Professor at George Mason University.
He and co-author Kai Bird shared the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for their book on Robert Oppenheimer's life, titled '. Sherwin worked on the book for two decades before Bird, a writer, came on to collaborate in piecing all his research together.
Sherwin also wrote
', which won the Stuart L. Bernath Prize, and the National Historical Society's American History Book Prize. A previous book on nuclear policy was a runner-up for the Pulitzer.
Sherwin serves on the board of The Nation magazine, to which he is a regular contributor. While a professor at Princeton University, he taught and mentored Katrina vanden Heuvel, now editor-in-chief of The Nation.
He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Susan.