American electrical engineer, science policy adviser, and university president
Jerome Wiesner
13th President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In office 1971–1980
Preceded by
Howard Johnson
Succeeded by
Paul Gray
Director of the Office of Science and Technology
In office January 20, 1961 – January 24, 1964
President
John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson
Preceded by
George Kistiakowsky
Succeeded by
Donald Hornig
Personal details
Born
Jerome Bert Wiesner
(1915-05-30)May 30, 1915 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Died
October 21, 1994(1994-10-21) (aged 79) Watertown, Massachusetts, U.S.
Spouse
Laya Wainger
Education
University of Michigan (BS, MS, PhD)
Awards
IEEE Founders Medal (1977) Vannevar Bush Award (1992)
Scientific career
Fields
Electrical engineering
Institutions
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Los Alamos Laboratory
Thesis
Pre-ignition phenomena in gas switching tubes and related rectifier burnout problems(1950)
Jerome Bert Wiesner (May 30, 1915 – October 21, 1994) was a professor of electrical engineering, chosen by President John F. Kennedy as chairman of his Science Advisory Committee (PSAC). Educated at the University of Michigan, Wiesner was associate director of the university's radio broadcasting service and provided electronic and acoustical assistance to the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan. During World War II, he worked on microwave radar development at the MIT Radiation Laboratory. He worked briefly after the war at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, then returned to MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics from 1946 to 1961. After serving as Kennedy's science advisor, he returned to MIT, becoming its president from 1971 to 1980.
He was an outspoken critic of crewed exploration of outer space, believing instead in automated space probes. He challenged NASA's choice of developing the Apollo Lunar Module as a means to achieving Kennedy's goal of landing men on the Moon. At Kennedy's direction, he investigated Rachel Carson's criticism of the use of the pesticide DDT, and issued a report in support of her claims. He was an advocate for arms control, and a critic of anti-ballistic missile defense systems. While MIT president, he was put on President Richard M. Nixon's extended "enemies list".
Jerome Bert Wiesner (May 30, 1915 – October 21, 1994) was a professor of electrical engineering, chosen by President John F. Kennedy as chairman of his...
Wiesner building (Building E15) houses the MIT Media Lab and the List Visual Arts Center and is named in honor of former MIT president JeromeWiesner...
of the more humanistically oriented presidents Howard W. Johnson and JeromeWiesner between 1966 and 1980. MIT's involvement in military science surged...
information science in the 1980s and 1990s. Stephen Wiesner is the son of JeromeWiesner and Laya Wiesner. He received his undergraduate degree from Brandeis...
late 1920s Günter Wiesner, German judo athlete Jacob Benjamin Wiesner(1763--1842), German mineralogist and engineer. JeromeWiesner (1915–1994), educator...
1985 by Nicholas Negroponte and former MIT President JeromeWiesner, and is housed in the Wiesner Building (designed by I. M. Pei), also known as Building...
Chemistry faculty webpage". Retrieved 2007-03-26. "President emeritus JeromeWiesner is dead at 79". October 26, 2004. Retrieved 2007-04-04. Norman F. Ramsey...
Killian (1948) Julius Adams Stratton (1959) Howard Wesley Johnson (1966) JeromeWiesner (1971) Paul E. Gray (1980) Charles M. Vest (1990) Susan Hockfield (2004)...
24, 1964 – January 20, 1969 President Lyndon B. Johnson Preceded by JeromeWiesner Succeeded by Lee DuBridge Personal details Born Donald Frederick Hornig...
Kennedy's support for America's piloted space program was lukewarm. JeromeWiesner of MIT, who served as a science advisor to presidents Eisenhower and...
science of the workings of the human mind. In 1951, Wiener convinced JeromeWiesner to hire some physiologists of the nervous system. A group was established...
Administrator Robert Seamans, and Special Assistant to the President JeromeWiesner / Nov 1962, minutes 2:58–ff. Nicks, O. W. (June 1985). "ch8". history...
propellant and could be launched in minutes." During a transition briefing, JeromeWiesner, "a member of Eisenhower's permanent Science Advisory Committee,......
Julius Adams Stratton (1959–1966) Howard Wesley Johnson (1966–1971) JeromeWiesner (1971–1980) Paul Edward Gray (1980–1990) Charles Marstiller Vest (1990–2004)...
private funeral service. At a public memorial subsequently held by MIT, JeromeWiesner declared "No American has had greater influence in the growth of science...
ambassador), the State Department, the United States Information Agency, and JeromeWiesner, the PSAC chairman, opposed resuming atmospheric tests. On the side...
critical of certain technologies. A 1980 issue contained an article by JeromeWiesner attacking the Reagan administration's nuclear defense strategy. The...
Administration, pp. 86, 110; J.Wiesner, 'War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Bigger Bang for the Buck, A; Interview with JeromeWiesner, [1]', WGBH Media Library...
Bees to play drums, and Taylor's childhood friend Zachary Wiesner (son of academic JeromeWiesner) to play bass. After Taylor rejected the notion of naming...
him a large entourage that included Lyndon Johnson, McGeorge Bundy, JeromeWiesner, Harold Brown, Donald Hornig, Glenn Seaborg, Robert Seamans, Harold...
the ABM topic were attendees of the Reading meeting: George Rathjens, JeromeWiesner, and Richard N. Goodwin. Immediately after the meeting, they wrote to...
In office 1966–1971 Preceded by Julius Adams Stratton Succeeded by JeromeWiesner Personal details Born (1922-07-02)July 2, 1922 Chicago, Illinois Died...
Killian (1948) Julius Adams Stratton (1959) Howard Wesley Johnson (1966) JeromeWiesner (1971) Paul E. Gray (1980) Charles M. Vest (1990) Susan Hockfield (2004)...
agreement, it was far from smooth sailing. Kennedy's science advisor JeromeWiesner, who had expressed his opposition to human spaceflight to Kennedy before...
Killian (1948) Julius Adams Stratton (1959) Howard Wesley Johnson (1966) JeromeWiesner (1971) Paul E. Gray (1980) Charles M. Vest (1990) Susan Hockfield (2004)...
Killian (1948) Julius Adams Stratton (1959) Howard Wesley Johnson (1966) JeromeWiesner (1971) Paul E. Gray (1980) Charles M. Vest (1990) Susan Hockfield (2004)...
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