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 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

Main article: Office of Scientific Research and Development

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

Main article: President's Science Advisory Committee

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

Main article: Office of Science and Technology Policy

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

• Chief Technology Officer of the United States

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.