In Memoriam
Sigvard Eklund, IAEA Director General from 1961 to 1981
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has taken note with great sorrow that its former Director General Dr. Sigvard Arne Eklund has died on 30 January 2000 in Vienna, Austria.
Dr. Eklund was the second Director General of the IAEA, starting his first term on 1 December 1961. He remained in his post for 20 years, leaving the Agency on 30 November 1981. His work for the IAEA in this time was characterized by the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1981 as follows: "Dr. Eklund’s firm hand and wise guidance have served as an example of the benefits which strong leadership can provide in the field of international organizations." At the end of its 25th regular session, the IAEA General Conference decided by acclamation to confer upon him the title of Director General Emeritus of the IAEA. It endorsed a resolution of the IAEA’s Board of Governors which stated.
"The Board of Governors,
Recalling that Dr. Sigvard Eklund has served the Agency throughout his 20 years of service as Director General faithfully and with untiring dedication;
Deeply appreciative of the contribution he has made to the promotion of the peaceful uses of atomic energy and the cause of peace;
Conscious that no man has done more than he to further the development of the Agency and the attainment of the objective of its Statute;
Mindful of his great human qualities and his achievements as a statesman and scientist;
Expresses its sincerest gratitude and deepest appreciation to him for the way in which he has discharged the responsibilities of his high office."
Dr. Sigvard Arne Eklund was born in 1911 in Kiruna, Sweden. He obtained the degree of Master of Science in 1936 and of Doctor of Science in 1946. From 1937 to 1945 he was first Assistant and then Senior Scientist at the Nobel Institute of Physics, and from 1946 to 1950, Senior Scientist at the Research Institute for National Defence in Stockholm. He was Assistant Professor of Nuclear Physics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm from 1946 to 1956. From 1950 to 1956, he was Director of Research at the then Swedish Atomic Energy Company (AB Atomenergi, Stockholm). Before his appointment as Director General of the IAEA in 1961, Dr. Eklund was Deputy to the Managing Director of AB Atomenergi from 1950, and also Director of the Reactor Development Division at AB Atomenergi from 1957. In 1957 he was Secretary General for the Second International United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy.