Lewis McAdory Branscomb (born August 17, 1926) is an American physicist, government policy advisor, and corporate research manager. He is best known as former head of the
National Bureau of Standards
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
and, later, chief scientist of
IBM; and as a prolific writer on science policy issues.
Education and early life
Branscomb received a B.A. in physics from
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
in 1945. He joined the navy reserves, where he deployed to the Philippines as a junior officer. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1949,
and remained two additional years as a
Junior Fellow
The Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginnings of their careers by Harvard University for their potential to advance academic wisdom, upon whom are bestowed distinctive opportunities to foster their individual and intell ...
. These years, and his interactions with scholars as diverse as
Clyde Kluckhohn
Clyde Kluckhohn (; January 11, 1905 in Le Mars, Iowa – July 28, 1960 near Santa Fe, New Mexico), was an American anthropologist and social theorist, best known for his long-term ethnographic work among the Navajo and his contributions to the de ...
,
Merle Fainsod
Merle Fainsod (May 2, 1907 – February 11, 1972) was an American political scientist best known for his work on public administration and as a scholar of the Soviet Union. His books ''Smolensk under Soviet Rule'', based on documents captured by t ...
,
William Fairbank, and
Edward Purcell, kindled a lifelong interest in broad policy issues.
[American Institute of Physics, Oral History Project]
Interview with Lewis Branscomb by Finn Aaserud at Armonk, New York, 7 April 1986
/ref> No less remembered from this period, Branscomb played the role of "Professor" in Tom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew Lehrer (; born April 9, 1928) is an American former musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician, having lectured on mathematics and musical theater. He is best known for the pithy and humorous songs that he recorded in ...
's 1951 "The Physical Revue", premiering several Lehrer songs in early versions.
Early career
Branscomb joined the U.S. National Bureau of Standards in 1951 as a research physicist. Rising in management through several levels, he became the founding chair of the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics
JILA, formerly known as the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, is a physical science research institute in the United States. JILA is located on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. JILA was founded in 1962 as a joint institute of ...
(JILA), and was in 1969 appointed director of the National Bureau of Standards by President Nixon. In 1972, Branscomb moved to IBM Corporation as vice president and chief scientist, and was later a member of the IBM Corporate Management Board. In 1986, he moved to Harvard as director of the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program in the John F. Kennedy School of Government
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
at Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, holding that position until 1996.[Branscomb Family Foundation]
Lewis Branscomb Professional Biography
Late career
Branscomb was a member of President Johnson's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) from 1964 to 1968, during which time (a critical early period of the Apollo program) he chaired PSAC's Panel on Space Science and Technology. Under President Reagan, he was a member of the National Productivity Advisory Committee and was chair of the National Science Board (1980-1984). Other honors include president of the American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...
(1979), elected memberships in all three U.S. national academies (NAS
Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones.
Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to:
Aviation
* Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea
* National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia
** Nas Air ( ...
, NAE, and IOM, as well as the American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
), and honorary degrees from 15 universities. In 1998, Branscomb was awarded the Okawa Prize "for outstanding contributions to the progress of informatics, scientific and technological policy and corporate management." He serves on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Science Policy & Governance.
Works
Branscomb is an author of more than 500 scholarly publications and 11 books. He has served on the boards of several corporations (including General Foods
General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895.
The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...
and Mobil
Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
...
) and many non-profit organizations. For a continuous period of 57 years Branscomb and/or his father, B. Harvie Branscomb
Bennett Harvie Branscomb (December 25, 1894 – July 23, 1998) was an American theologian and academic administrator. He served as the fourth chancellor of Vanderbilt University, a private university in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1946 to 1963. P ...
, served as a trustee of Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
.
Publications
* Beyond Spinoff: Military and Commercial Technologies in a Changing World, (with J. Alic, et al., 1992)
* Empowering Technology: Implementing a U.S. Policy (1993)
* Confessions of a Technophile (1994)
* Converging Infrastructures: Intelligent Transportation and the National Information Infrastructure (with James Keller, 1996)
* Informed Legislatures: Coping with Science in a Democracy (with Megan Jones and David Guston, 1996)
* Korea at the Turning Point: Innovation-Based Strategies for Development (with H.Y. Choi, 1996)
* Investing in Innovation: Creating a Research and Innovation Policy that Works (with James Keller, eds., 1998)
* Industrializing Knowledge: University-Industry Linkages in Japan and the United States (with Fumio Kodama and Richard Florida, eds., 1999)
* Taking Technical Risks: How Innovators, Executives, and Investors Manage High-Tech Risks (with Philip E. Auerswald, 2001),
* Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism (co-chaired with Richard Klausner, Committee on S&T for Countering Terrorism, National Academies, 2002)
* Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response: How Private Action can Reduce Public Vulnerability (with P. Auerswald, Todd M. LaPorte, and E. Michel-Kerjan, Cambridge University Press, September 2006)
References
External links
*
Oral history interview transcript with Lewis Branscomb, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Branscomb, Lewis M.
1926 births
Living people
NIST Directors
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Harvard Kennedy School faculty
IBM employees
Webb School (Bell Buckle, Tennessee) alumni
Harvard University alumni
United States Navy officers
20th-century American engineers
20th-century American physicists
Fellows of the American Physical Society
United States Navy reservists
United States Navy personnel of World War II
Members of the National Academy of Medicine
Presidents of the American Physical Society