Science Advisor to the President

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 Science Advisor to the President is Eric Lander, who is the first holder of this position to serve in the Cabinet of the United States.^[1][2]

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 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[]

Name		Agency	President	Term
	Vannevar Bush	OSRD	Franklin D. Roosevelt	June 28, 1941 – December 31, 1947
			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	John F. Kennedy	January 20, 1961 – January 24, 1964
			Lyndon B. Johnson
	Donald Hornig			January 24, 1964 – January 20, 1969
	Lee DuBridge		Richard Nixon	January 20, 1969 – August 31, 1970
	Ed David			August 31, 1970 – January 26, 1973
	Guyford Stever	OSTP	Gerald Ford	August 9, 1976 – January 20, 1977
	Frank Press		Jimmy Carter	January 20, 1977 – February 1981
	Benjamin Huberman (acting)		Ronald Reagan	February 1981 – August 1981
	Jay Keyworth			August 1981 – December 1985
	(acting)			January 1986 – May 23, 1986
	(acting)			May 24, 1986 – October 1, 1986
	William Graham			October 2, 1986 – June 1989
	Thomas Rona (acting)			June 1989 – August 1989
	(acting)		George H. W. Bush	August 1989
	Allan Bromley			August 1989 – January 20, 1993
	Jack Gibbons		Bill Clinton	January 20, 1993 – April 3, 1998
	Kerri-Ann Jones (acting)			April 4, 1998 – August 3, 1998
	Neal Lane			August 4, 1998 – January 20, 2001
	Rosina Bierbaum (acting)		George W. Bush	January 21, 2001 – September 30, 2001
	(acting)			October 1, 2001 – October 28, 2001
	Jack Marburger			October 29, 2001 – January 20, 2009
	(acting)		Barack Obama	January 20, 2009 – March 19, 2009
	John Holdren			March 19, 2009 – January 20, 2017
	(acting)		Donald Trump	January 20, 2017 – January 11, 2019
	Kelvin Droegemeier			January 11, 2019 – January 15, 2021
	Kei Koizumi (acting)		Joe Biden	January 20, 2021 – June 2, 2021
	Eric Lander			June 2, 2021 – present

See also[]

• Chief Technology Officer of the United States

References[]

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