The Science Advisor to the President is an individual charged with providing advisory opinions and analysis on science and technology matters to the President of the United States. The first Science Advisor, Vannevar Bush, chairman of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, served Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman from 1941 to 1951. President Truman created the President's Science Advisory Committee in 1951, establishing the chairman of this committee as the President's Science Advisor. This committee continued under Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M. Nixon until 1973. Nixon terminated the committee rather than appointing a replacement for his advisor who had resigned. The US Congress established the Office of Science and Technology Policy in 1976, re-establishing Presidential Science Advisors to the present day.

The current advisor is Arati Prabhakar, who has served as the 12th director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) since October 3, 2022.[1]

History

Special Advisory Board

Although the National Research Council (now known as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine), formed in 1916, was the first body formed to advise the government on science and technology, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt launched the Science Advisory Board as a body within the NRC in 1933 in order to advise the president. Karl Taylor Compton served as the chair of the body. However, the body was dissolved in 1935.

World War II

The OSTP evolved out of the Office of Scientific Research and Development created in 1941 during World War II by Roosevelt. Vannevar Bush chaired this office through Roosevelt's death in 1945, and continued under Roosevelt's successor Harry S. Truman until 1951.

PSAC

After the war, President Harry S. Truman replaced the OSRD with the Science Advisory Committee in 1951. The office was moved to the White House on November 21, 1957, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to provide advice and recommendation in response to the Space Race started by the USSR's launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1.

OSTP

President Richard M. Nixon eliminated the PSAC in 1973, rather than appointing a replacement for his second Science Advisor, Edward E. David Jr., who resigned. The United States Congress established the OSTP in 1976 with a broad mandate to advise the President and others within the Executive Office of the President on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs. The 1976 Act also authorizes OSTP to lead inter-agency efforts to develop and to implement sound science and technology policies and budgets and to work with the private sector, state and local governments, the science and higher education communities, and other nations toward this end.

Science Advisors

Image Name Agency Start End President
Vannevar Bush OSRD June 28, 1941 December 31, 1947 Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
Oliver Buckley PSAC April 20, 1951 June 15, 1952
Lee DuBridge 1952 1956
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Isidor Rabi 1956 1957
James Killian November 7, 1957 July 1959
George Kistiakowsky July 1959 January 20, 1961
Jerome Wiesner OST January 20, 1961 January 24, 1964 John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Donald Hornig January 24, 1964 January 20, 1969
Lee DuBridge January 20, 1969 August 31, 1970 Richard Nixon
Ed David August 31, 1970 January 26, 1973
Guyford Stever OSTP August 9, 1976 January 20, 1977 Gerald Ford
Frank Press January 20, 1977 January 20, 1981 Jimmy Carter
Benjamin Huberman
Acting		 March 5, 1981 August 1981 Ronald Reagan
Jay Keyworth August 1981 December 1985
John McTague
Acting		 January 1986 May 23, 1986
Richard Johnson
Acting		 May 24, 1986 October 1, 1986
William Graham October 2, 1986 June 1989
Thomas Rona
Acting		 June 1989 August 1989 George H. W. Bush
William Wells
Acting		 August 1989 August 1989
Allan Bromley August 1989 January 20, 1993
Jack Gibbons January 20, 1993 April 3, 1998 Bill Clinton
Kerri-Ann Jones
Acting		 April 4, 1998 August 3, 1998
Neal Lane August 4, 1998 January 20, 2001
Rosina Bierbaum
Acting		 January 21, 2001 September 30, 2001 George W. Bush
Clifford Gabriel
Acting		 October 1, 2001 October 28, 2001
Jack Marburger October 29, 2001 January 20, 2009
Ted Wackler
Acting		 January 20, 2009 March 19, 2009 Barack Obama
John Holdren March 19, 2009 January 20, 2017
Ted Wackler
Acting		 January 20, 2017 January 11, 2019 Donald Trump
Kelvin Droegemeier January 11, 2019 January 15, 2021
Kei Koizumi
Acting		 January 20, 2021 January 25, 2021 Joe Biden
Eric Lander January 25, 2021 February 18, 2022
Francis Collins
Acting		 February 18, 2022 October 3, 2022
Arati Prabhakar October 3, 2022 present

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jeannie Baumann (September 22, 2022). "Senate Confirms Prabhakar to Lead White House Science Office" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: Bloomberg Law. Retrieved January 8, 2023.


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