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 advisor is Francis Collins, who has served in an acting capacity since February 18, 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

	Agency	President	Term
Vannevar Bush	OSRD	Franklin D. Roosevelt	June 28, 1941 – December 31, 1947
Vannevar Bush	OSRD	Harry S. Truman	June 28, 1941 – December 31, 1947
Oliver Buckley	PSAC		April 20, 1951 – June 15, 1952
Lee DuBridge			1952–1956
Lee DuBridge		Dwight D. Eisenhower	1952–1956
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
Jerome Wiesner		Lyndon B. Johnson	January 20, 1961 – January 24, 1964
Donald Hornig		Lyndon B. Johnson	January 24, 1964 – January 20, 1969
Lee DuBridge		Richard Nixon	January 20, 1969 – August 31, 1970
Ed David		Richard Nixon	August 31, 1970 – January 26, 1973
Guyford Stever	OSTP	Gerald Ford	August 9, 1976 – January 20, 1977
Frank Press		Jimmy Carter	January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
Benjamin Huberman (acting)		Ronald Reagan	March 5, 1981 – August 1981
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)		George H. W. Bush	June 1989 – August 1989
William Wells (acting)			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
Clifford Gabriel (acting)			October 1, 2001 – October 28, 2001
Jack Marburger			October 29, 2001 – January 20, 2009
Ted Wackler (acting)		Barack Obama	January 20, 2009 – March 19, 2009
John Holdren		Barack Obama	March 19, 2009 – January 20, 2017
Ted Wackler (acting)		Donald Trump	January 20, 2017 – January 11, 2019
Kelvin Droegemeier		Donald Trump	January 11, 2019 – January 15, 2021
Kei Koizumi (acting)		Joe Biden	January 20, 2021 – January 25, 2021
Eric Lander			January 25, 2021 – February 18, 2022
Francis Collins (acting)			February 18, 2022 – October 3, 2022
Arati Prabhakar			October 3, 2022 – present

References

^ "President Biden Announces OSTP Leadership" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2022.{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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[1] "President Biden Announces OSTP Leadership" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2022.{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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