William Fletcher Talbot (October 29, 1903 – November 1967) was a research chemist and the founding director of
SRI International, a position he held from 1946 to 1947.
Early life and education
Born in
Loup City, Nebraska in 1903,
Talbot received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the
State University of Iowa.
Career
Initially a teacher, Talbot joined
E. I. du Pont as a research chemist. He was then a research chemist for
A. D. Little.
He was later the technical director of the
Sun Chemical Company (formerly the General Printing Ink Company) and president of its Fine Chemicals Division. While on leave from Sun in 1944, he was the assistant director of research and development for the
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...
.
During his career, he developed
melamine resin, a type of plastic used for molding and casting. Talbot held several patents.
Unofficially appointed in September 1946 and officially appointed in January 1947, he was SRI International's first director.
He helped establish the organization and set its early priorities. Due to a dispute with
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
president
Donald Tresidder, he offered his resignation and reluctantly left SRI in December 1947. Talbot believed SRI should seek contracts from governmental organizations (and be what is now considered a
defense contractor); Tressider believed the organization should be independent from government interference.
Talbot went on to work for the
Rubberset Company and later for
Bristol Myers
The Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMS) is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in New York City, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consistently ranks on the ''Fortune'' 500 list of the lar ...
. He died in 1967.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, William F.
SRI International people
University of Iowa alumni
Year of birth unknown
1967 deaths
Scientists from the San Francisco Bay Area
20th-century American chemists
People from Loup City, Nebraska
1903 births