I have a letter in today’s Science about James Killian, the first (official) presidential science adviser. Here it is:

Science 20 February 2009:
Vol. 323. no. 5917, p. 1010
DOI: 10.1126/science.323.5917.1010a

The Nonscientist Science Adviser

E. Kintisch’s News Focus story (“Bending the president’s ear,” 2 January, p. 28) on the role of the science adviser to the president contains an important historical error: The first science adviser, James Killian, was not an electrical engineer. In fact, Killian was not a scientist or engineer at all. His academic training was in management and administration, and his experience included serving as the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on a number of government advisory committees (1). That the first science adviser was not a scientist is not widely appreciated, and it is not widely advertised in the science community that Killian did not earn a doctorate. Killian had been awarded an honorary doctorate from Middlebury College in 1945 (2), and he was later awarded honorary degrees from Union College, Drexel Institute of Technology, and the College of William and Mary (3). That the first science adviser–often held up as the exemplar of the role–was a management expert should not be overlooked (1).

Roger A. Pielke
Center for Science and Technology Policy Research
University of Colorado/CIRES
Boulder, CO 80309, USA. E-mail: pielke@colorado.edu

References

1. R. Pielke Jr., R. Klein, Minerva 47, 5 (2009).
2. Anonymous, The Tech 65, 4 (13 July 1945).
3. Anonymous, The Tech 77, 1 (26 April 1957).