John Holdren
Encyclopedia
John Paul Holdren is advisor to President Barack Obama
for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)
Holdren was previously the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
, director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
, and Director of the Woods Hole Research Center
.
, and grew up in San Mateo, California
. He trained in aeronautics
, astronautics
and plasma physics
and earned a bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in 1965 and a Ph.D. from Stanford University
in 1970. He taught at Harvard for 13 years and at the University of California, Berkeley
for more than two decades. His work has focused on the causes and consequences of global environmental change
, energy technologies and policies
, ways to reduce the dangers from nuclear weapons and materials, and science and technology policy
. He has also taken measures to contextualize the U.S.'s current energy challenge, noting the role that nuclear energy could play. He lives in Falmouth, Massachusetts
, with his wife, biologist Cheryl E. Holdren, with whom he has two children and five grandchildren.
Holdren was involved in the famous Simon–Ehrlich wager in 1980. He, along with two other scientists helped Paul R. Ehrlich
establish the bet with Julian Simon
, in which they bet that the price of five key metals would be higher in 1990. The bet was centred around a disagreement concerning the future scaricity of resources in an increasingly polluted and heavily populated world. Ehrlich and Holdren lost the bet, when the price of metals had decreased by 1990.
Holdren was chair of the Executive Committee of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
from 1987 until 1997 and delivered the Nobel Peace Prize
acceptance lecture on behalf of Pugwash Conferences in December 1995. From 1993 until 2003, he was chair of the Committee on International Security and Arms Control
of the National Academy of Sciences
, and Co-Chairman of the bipartisan National Committee on Energy Policy form 2002 until 2007. Holdren was elected President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS) (2006-2007), and served as board Chairman (2007-2008). He was the founding chair of the advisory board for Innovations
, a quarterly journal about entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges published by MIT Press, and has written and lectured extensively on the topic of global warming
.
Holdren served as one of President Bill Clinton
's science advisors (PCAST) from 1994 to 2001. Eight years later, President Barack Obama nominated Holdren for his current position as science advisor and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in December 2008, and he was confirmed
on March 19, 2009, by a unanimous vote in the Senate. He testified to the nomination committee that he does not believe that government should have a role in determining optimal population size and that he never endorsed forced sterilization.
was an early concern and interest. In a 1969 article, Holdren and co-author Paul R. Ehrlich
argued, "if the population control measures are not initiated immediately, and effectively, all the technology man can bring to bear will not fend off the misery to come." In 1973, Holdren encouraged a decline in fertility to well below replacement in the United States, because "210 million now is too many and 280 million in 2040 is likely to be much too many." In 1977, Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich
, and Holdren co-authored the textbook Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment; they discussed the possible role of a wide variety of solutions to overpopulation, from voluntary family planning
to enforced population controls, including forced sterilization for women after they gave birth to a designated number of children, and recommended "the use of milder methods of influencing family size preferences" such as access to birth control and abortion.
Other early publications include Energy (1971), Human Ecology (1973), Energy in Transition (1980), Earth and the Human Future (1986), Strategic Defenses and the Future of the Arms Race (1987), Building Global Security Through Cooperation (1990), and Conversion of Military R&D (1998).
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Office of Science and Technology Policy
The Office of Science and Technology Policy is an office in the Executive Office of the President , established by Congress on May 11, 1976, with a broad mandate to advise the President on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs.The director of this office is...
, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)
Holdren was previously the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is a permanent research center located within the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The center's current director is political scientist Graham T. Allison....
, and Director of the Woods Hole Research Center
Woods Hole Research Center
The Woods Hole Research Center addresses pressing environmental issues, including climate change, through scientific and policy initiatives. The Center has projects in the Amazon, the Arctic, Africa, Russia, Alaska, Canada, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic, working in collaboration with a wide...
.
Biography
Holdren was born in Sewickley, PennsylvaniaSewickley, Pennsylvania
Sewickley is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,827 at the 2010 census...
, and grew up in San Mateo, California
San Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
. He trained in aeronautics
Aeronautics
Aeronautics is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft and rocketry within the atmosphere...
, astronautics
Astronautics
Astronautics, and related astronautical engineering, is the theory and practice of navigation beyond the Earth's atmosphere. In other words, it is the science and technology of space flight....
and plasma physics
Plasma (physics)
In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms , thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions...
and earned a bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
in 1965 and a Ph.D. from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in 1970. He taught at Harvard for 13 years and at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
for more than two decades. His work has focused on the causes and consequences of global environmental change
Environmental change
Environmental change is defined as a change or disturbance of the environment by natural ecological processes, and is described in the following articles:*Climate change*Environment...
, energy technologies and policies
Energy policy
Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity has decided to address issues of energy development including energy production, distribution and consumption...
, ways to reduce the dangers from nuclear weapons and materials, and science and technology policy
Technology policy
The study of technology policy or engineering and policy is taught at multiple universities.Classic political science teaches technology as a black box. Similarly economics treats technology as a residual to explain otherwise inexplicable growth. The creation of the U.S...
. He has also taken measures to contextualize the U.S.'s current energy challenge, noting the role that nuclear energy could play. He lives in Falmouth, Massachusetts
Falmouth, Massachusetts
Falmouth is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States; Barnstable County is coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 31,531 at the 2010 census....
, with his wife, biologist Cheryl E. Holdren, with whom he has two children and five grandchildren.
Holdren was involved in the famous Simon–Ehrlich wager in 1980. He, along with two other scientists helped Paul R. Ehrlich
Paul R. Ehrlich
Paul Ralph Ehrlich is an American biologist and educator who is the Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University and president of Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology. By training he is an entomologist specializing in Lepidoptera , but...
establish the bet with Julian Simon
Julian Simon
Julian Simon is the American economist.Julian Simon also may refer to:* Julián Simón , Spanish motorcycle racer...
, in which they bet that the price of five key metals would be higher in 1990. The bet was centred around a disagreement concerning the future scaricity of resources in an increasingly polluted and heavily populated world. Ehrlich and Holdren lost the bet, when the price of metals had decreased by 1990.
Holdren was chair of the Executive Committee of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an international organization that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of armed conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats...
from 1987 until 1997 and delivered the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
acceptance lecture on behalf of Pugwash Conferences in December 1995. From 1993 until 2003, he was chair of the Committee on International Security and Arms Control
Committee on International Security and Arms Control
The Committee on International Security and Arms Control , created in 1980 by the United States National Academy of Sciences , supports the nation and the public with his best members on concerns of international security and arms control. The CISAC maintains dialogues with Russia , China and...
of the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
, and Co-Chairman of the bipartisan National Committee on Energy Policy form 2002 until 2007. Holdren was elected President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science , founded in 1848, is the world's largest general scientific society. It serves 262 affiliated societies and academies of science and engineering, representing 10 million individuals worldwide...
(AAAS) (2006-2007), and served as board Chairman (2007-2008). He was the founding chair of the advisory board for Innovations
Innovations (journal)
Innovations is a peer-reviewed academic journal that focuses on entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges. It is published quarterly by the MIT Press.- History :Innovations published its first issue in 2006...
, a quarterly journal about entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges published by MIT Press, and has written and lectured extensively on the topic of global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
.
Holdren served as one of President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
's science advisors (PCAST) from 1994 to 2001. Eight years later, President Barack Obama nominated Holdren for his current position as science advisor and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in December 2008, and he was confirmed
Advice and consent
Advice and consent is an English phrase frequently used in enacting formulae of bills and in other legal or constitutional contexts, describing a situation in which the executive branch of a government enacts something previously approved of by the legislative branch.-General:The expression is...
on March 19, 2009, by a unanimous vote in the Senate. He testified to the nomination committee that he does not believe that government should have a role in determining optimal population size and that he never endorsed forced sterilization.
Recent publications
Holdren is the author of over 200 articles and papers, and he has co-authored and co-edited some 20 books and book-length reports, including:- Science in the White House. Science MagazineScience MagazineScience Magazine was a half-hour television show produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from 1975 to 1979.The show was hosted by geneticist David Suzuki, who previously hosted the daytime youth programme Suzuki On Science...
, May 2009, 567. - Policy for Energy Technology Innovation. Acting in Time on Energy Policy, (with Laura Diaz Anadon, Max H. Bazerman, David T. Ellwood, Kelly Sims Gallagher, William H. Hogan, Henry Lee, and Daniel Schrag), Brookings InstitutionBrookings InstitutionThe Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
Press, 2009. - The Future of Climate Change Policy: The U.S.'s Last Chance to Lead. Scientific AmericanScientific AmericanScientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
2008 Earth 3.0 Supplement. October 13, 2008, 20-21. - Convincing the Climate Change Skeptics. Boston Globe, August 4, 2008.
- Ending the Energy Stalemate: A Bipartisan Strategy To Meet America's Energy Challenges. Presentation at the National Academies 2008 Energy Summit, Washington, D.C., March 14, 2008.
- Global Climatic Disruption: Risks and Opportunities. Presentation at Investor Summit on Climate Risk, New York, February 14, 2008.
- Meeting the Climate-Change Challenge. The John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture, National Council for Science and the EnvironmentNational Council for Science and the EnvironmentThe National Council for Science and the Environment is a U.S. based non-profit organization which has a mission to improve the scientific basis for environmental decision-making...
, Washington, D.C., January 17, 2008.
Early publications
OverpopulationOverpopulation
Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...
was an early concern and interest. In a 1969 article, Holdren and co-author Paul R. Ehrlich
Paul R. Ehrlich
Paul Ralph Ehrlich is an American biologist and educator who is the Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University and president of Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology. By training he is an entomologist specializing in Lepidoptera , but...
argued, "if the population control measures are not initiated immediately, and effectively, all the technology man can bring to bear will not fend off the misery to come." In 1973, Holdren encouraged a decline in fertility to well below replacement in the United States, because "210 million now is too many and 280 million in 2040 is likely to be much too many." In 1977, Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich
Anne H. Ehrlich
Anne Howland Ehrlich is the co-author of several books on overpopulation and ecology with her husband, Stanford University professor Paul R...
, and Holdren co-authored the textbook Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment; they discussed the possible role of a wide variety of solutions to overpopulation, from voluntary family planning
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
to enforced population controls, including forced sterilization for women after they gave birth to a designated number of children, and recommended "the use of milder methods of influencing family size preferences" such as access to birth control and abortion.
Other early publications include Energy (1971), Human Ecology (1973), Energy in Transition (1980), Earth and the Human Future (1986), Strategic Defenses and the Future of the Arms Race (1987), Building Global Security Through Cooperation (1990), and Conversion of Military R&D (1998).
Awards
- MacArthur FellowMacArthur Fellows ProgramThe MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T...
(1981) - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(1983) - Member of the National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
(1991) - Volvo Environment PrizeVolvo Environment PrizeVolvo Environment Prize is an annual international award originating in Sweden. The prize is awarded to individuals who explore the way to a sustainable world...
(1993 with Paul Ehrlich) - Kaul Foundation Award in Science and Environmental Policy (1999)
- Member of the National Academy of EngineeringNational Academy of EngineeringThe National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
(2000) - Tyler Prize for Environmental AchievementTyler Prize for Environmental AchievementThe Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement is an award for environmental science, environmental health and energy. Tyler Laureates receive a $200,000 annual prize and a gold medallion...
(2000) - 7th Annual Heinz AwardHeinz AwardThe Heinz Award is an award currently given annually to ten honorees by the Heinz Family Foundation. The Heinz Awards recognize outstanding individuals for their contributions in the five areas of: Arts and Humanities, the Environment, the Human Condition, Public Policy, and Technology, the Economy...
in Public Policy (2001)
External links
- Biography at the Office of Science and Technology PolicyOffice of Science and Technology PolicyThe Office of Science and Technology Policy is an office in the Executive Office of the President , established by Congress on May 11, 1976, with a broad mandate to advise the President on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs.The director of this office is...
- John Holdren at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International AffairsBelfer Center for Science and International AffairsThe Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is a permanent research center located within the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The center's current director is political scientist Graham T. Allison....
- Holdren's Faculty page at Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
- Holdren's CV at Woods Hole Research CenterWoods Hole Research CenterThe Woods Hole Research Center addresses pressing environmental issues, including climate change, through scientific and policy initiatives. The Center has projects in the Amazon, the Arctic, Africa, Russia, Alaska, Canada, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic, working in collaboration with a wide...
- Presidential Address: Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being in Science (journal)Science (journal)Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
25.January.2008 Vol. 319. no. 5862, pp. 424 - 434 - "Interview on Late Night with David Letterman", "CBS.com", April 17, 2008.
- "Nominations Hearing for Director OSTP", Washington DC, February 12, 2009.
- The New Team: John P. Holdren, profile at The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- John Holdren Speech at the Harvard Kennedy School Forum "Global Climate Disruption: What do we know? What should we do?"
- Nobel Prize, Pugwash Online, Arms Limitation and Peace Building in the Post-Cold-War World presented by Professor John P. Holdren, Chairman, Pugwash Executive Committee, 10 December 1995, Oslo, Norway
- Lead essay for Innovations journal (Vol. 1, No. 2) "The Energy Innovation Imperative: Addressing Oil Dependence, Climate Change, and Other 21st Century Energy Challenges"
- John Holdren speaking at The American Response to Climate Change Conference, held at The Wild Center.
- Holdren Urged a ‘World of Zero Net Physical Growth’ in 1995 World Bank Publication.