John Marburger
Encyclopedia
John Harmen Marburger, III (February 8, 1941 – July 28, 2011) was an American
physicist
who directed the Office of Science and Technology Policy
in the administration of President George W. Bush
, thus serving as the Science Advisor to the President
. His tenure was marked by controversy: he defended the administration against allegations that scientific evidence was being suppressed or ignored
in policy decisions, but he has been credited with keeping the political effects of the September 11 attacks from harming science research, and with increasing awareness of the relationship between science and government. He also served as the President of Stony Brook University from 1980 until 1994, and director of Brookhaven National Laboratory
from 1998 until 2001.
. He attended Princeton University
, graduating in 1962 with a B.A. in Physics, followed by a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University
in 1967.
in 1966, specializing in the theoretical physics
of nonlinear optics
and quantum optics
, and co-founded the Center for Laser Studies there. He rose to become chairman of the physics department in 1972, and then Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in 1976. He was engaged as a public speaker on science, including hosting a series of educational television programs, and on campus issues, being designated the university's spokesperson during a scandal over preferential treatment of athletes.
In 1980, he left USC to become the third president of SUNY Stony Brook. At the time, state budget cuts were afflicting the university; he returned it to growth with increases in the university's science research funding from the federal government. He also presided over the founding of Stony Brook University Medical Center. In 1983, he was picked by New York Governor Mario Cuomo
to chair a scientific fact-finding commission on the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant
, a job that required him to find common ground between the many viewpoints represented on the commission. The commission eventually recommended the closure of the plant, a course he personally disagreed with. In 1988, Marburger chaired the organization that oversaw construction of the ill-fated Superconducting Super Collider
, and this experience is credited with convincing him of the influence government had in how science is done. During this time he also served as a trustee of Princeton University
. He stepped down as President of Stony Brook University in 1994, and began doing research again as a member of the faculty there.
In January 1998, Marburger became president of Brookhaven Science Associates, which subsequently won a bid to operate Brookhaven National Laboratory
for the federal government, and Marburger became the director of the lab. He took office after a highly publicized scandal in which tritium
leaked from the lab's High Flux Beam Reactor, leading to calls by activists to shut down the lab. Rather than directly oppose the activists, Marburger created policies that improved the environmental management of the lab as well as community involvement and transparency. Marburger also presided over the commissioning of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
, expanded the lab's program in medical imaging and neuroscience, and placed more emphasis on its technology transfer
program.
under George W. Bush
. His tenure was marked by controversy as he defended the Bush Administration from accusations that political influence was distorting scientific research
in federal agencies and that scientific evidence was being suppressed or ignored in policy decisions, especially on the topics of abstinence-only birth control education, climate change policy
, and stem cell research
. Marburger defended the Bush Administration from these accusations, saying they were inaccurate or motivated by partisanship, especially on the issue of science funding levels. Marburger continued to be personally respected by many of his academic colleagues.
Marburger's tenure as Director was the longest in the history of that post. After the September 11 attacks, he helped to establish the DHS Directorate for Science and Technology within the new Department of Homeland Security
. He has been called a central player opposing new restrictions of international scientific exchanges of people and ideas after the attacks. He later was responsible for reorienting the nation's space policy after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
, and played an important part in the nation's re-entry into the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor program. Marburger was also known for his support of the emerging field of science of science policy
, which seeks to analyze how science policy
decisions affects a nation's ability to produce and benefit from innovation.
Marburger responded to criticism of his support for Bush Administration policies in 2004, stating “No one will know my personal positions on issues as long as I am in this job. I am here to make sure that the science input to policy making is sound and that the executive branch functions properly with respect to its science and technology missions." On the topic of stem cell research, he in 2004 said that stem cells "offer great promise for addressing incurable diseases and afflictions. But I can’t tell you when a fertilized egg becomes sacred. That’s not my job. That’s not a science issue. And so whatever I think about reproductive technology or choice, or whatever, is irrelevant to my job as a science adviser." However, in February 2005, in a speech at the annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers
, he stated, "Intelligent design
is not a scientific theory.... I don't regard intelligent design as a scientific topic."
Sherwood Boehlert
, the Republican chair of the House Committee on Science during most of Marburger's tenure, said that "the challenge he faced was serving a president who didn't really want much scientific advice, and who let politics dictate the direction of his science policy... and he was in the unenviable position of being someone who had earned the respect of his scientific colleagues while having to be identified with policies that were not science-based." On the other hand, Robert P. Crease
, a colleague of his at Stony Brook University, characterized him as someone who "[went] to the White House as a scientist, not an advocate. He refused to weigh in on high-profile, politically controversial issues, but instead set about fixing broken connections in the unwieldy machinery by which the government approves and funds scientific projects.... Some bitterly criticized him for collaborating with the Bush administration. But he left the office running better than when he entered."
, after four years of treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He is survived by his wife, Carol.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
who directed the 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...
in the administration of President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, thus serving as the Science Advisor to the President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. His tenure was marked by controversy: he defended the administration against allegations that scientific evidence was being suppressed or ignored
Politicization of science
The politicization of science is the manipulation of science for political gain. It occurs when government, business, or advocacy groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted. The politicization of...
in policy decisions, but he has been credited with keeping the political effects of the September 11 attacks from harming science research, and with increasing awareness of the relationship between science and government. He also served as the President of Stony Brook University from 1980 until 1994, and director of Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory , is a United States national laboratory located in Upton, New York on Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base...
from 1998 until 2001.
Early life
Marburger was born on Staten Island, New York, to Virginia Smith and John H. Marburger Jr., and grew up in Severna Park, MarylandSeverna Park, Maryland
Severna Park is a census-designated place in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 28,507 at the 2000 census.-History:Robinson House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.-Geography:...
. He attended Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, graduating in 1962 with a B.A. in Physics, followed by a Ph.D. in Applied Physics 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 1967.
Academic career
After completing his education, he served as a professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
in 1966, specializing in the theoretical physics
Theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...
of nonlinear optics
Nonlinear optics
Nonlinear optics is the branch of optics that describes the behavior of light in nonlinear media, that is, media in which the dielectric polarization P responds nonlinearly to the electric field E of the light...
and quantum optics
Quantum optics
Quantum optics is a field of research in physics, dealing with the application of quantum mechanics to phenomena involving light and its interactions with matter.- History of quantum optics :...
, and co-founded the Center for Laser Studies there. He rose to become chairman of the physics department in 1972, and then Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in 1976. He was engaged as a public speaker on science, including hosting a series of educational television programs, and on campus issues, being designated the university's spokesperson during a scandal over preferential treatment of athletes.
In 1980, he left USC to become the third president of SUNY Stony Brook. At the time, state budget cuts were afflicting the university; he returned it to growth with increases in the university's science research funding from the federal government. He also presided over the founding of Stony Brook University Medical Center. In 1983, he was picked by New York Governor Mario Cuomo
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...
to chair a scientific fact-finding commission on the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant
Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant
The Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant was a completed General Electric nuclear boiling water reactor located adjacent to the Wading River in East Shoreham, New York...
, a job that required him to find common ground between the many viewpoints represented on the commission. The commission eventually recommended the closure of the plant, a course he personally disagreed with. In 1988, Marburger chaired the organization that oversaw construction of the ill-fated Superconducting Super Collider
Superconducting Super Collider
The Superconducting Super Collider was a particle accelerator complex under construction in the vicinity of Waxahachie, Texas that was set to be world's largest and most energetic, surpassing the current record held by the Large Hadron Collider. Its planned ring circumference was with an energy...
, and this experience is credited with convincing him of the influence government had in how science is done. During this time he also served as a trustee of Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. He stepped down as President of Stony Brook University in 1994, and began doing research again as a member of the faculty there.
In January 1998, Marburger became president of Brookhaven Science Associates, which subsequently won a bid to operate Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory , is a United States national laboratory located in Upton, New York on Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base...
for the federal government, and Marburger became the director of the lab. He took office after a highly publicized scandal in which tritium
Tritium
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The nucleus of tritium contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of protium contains one proton and no neutrons...
leaked from the lab's High Flux Beam Reactor, leading to calls by activists to shut down the lab. Rather than directly oppose the activists, Marburger created policies that improved the environmental management of the lab as well as community involvement and transparency. Marburger also presided over the commissioning of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider is one of two existing heavy-ion colliders, and the only spin-polarized proton collider in the world. It is located at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York and operated by an international team of researchers...
, expanded the lab's program in medical imaging and neuroscience, and placed more emphasis on its technology transfer
Technology transfer
Technology Transfer, also called Transfer of Technology and Technology Commercialisation, is the process of skill transferring, knowledge, technologies, methods of manufacturing, samples of manufacturing and facilities among governments or universities and other institutions to ensure that...
program.
Bush administration
In September 2001, Marburger became Director of the Office of Science and Technology PolicyOffice 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...
under George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. His tenure was marked by controversy as he defended the Bush Administration from accusations that political influence was distorting scientific research
Politicization of science
The politicization of science is the manipulation of science for political gain. It occurs when government, business, or advocacy groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted. The politicization of...
in federal agencies and that scientific evidence was being suppressed or ignored in policy decisions, especially on the topics of abstinence-only birth control education, climate change policy
Climate change policy of the George W. Bush administration
This article is about the climate change policy of the United States under the George W. Bush administration.-Kyoto Protocol:In March 2001, the Bush Administration announced that it would not implement the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty signed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan that would require...
, and stem cell research
Stem cell laws and policy in the United States
Stem cell laws and policy in the United States have had a complicated legal and political history.-Science background:Stem cells are cells found in all multi-cellular organisms. They were isolated in mice in 1981, and in humans in 1988. In humans there are many types of stem cells, each with...
. Marburger defended the Bush Administration from these accusations, saying they were inaccurate or motivated by partisanship, especially on the issue of science funding levels. Marburger continued to be personally respected by many of his academic colleagues.
Marburger's tenure as Director was the longest in the history of that post. After the September 11 attacks, he helped to establish the DHS Directorate for Science and Technology within the new Department of Homeland Security
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
. He has been called a central player opposing new restrictions of international scientific exchanges of people and ideas after the attacks. He later was responsible for reorienting the nation's space policy after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in the death of all seven crew members...
, and played an important part in the nation's re-entry into the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor program. Marburger was also known for his support of the emerging field of science of science policy
Science of science policy
The science of science policy is an emerging interdisciplinary research area that seeks to develop theoretical and empirical models of the scientific enterprise...
, which seeks to analyze how science policy
Science policy
Science policy is an area of public policy concerned with the policies that affect the conduct of the science and research enterprise, including the funding of science, often in pursuance of other national policy goals such as technological innovation to promote commercial product development,...
decisions affects a nation's ability to produce and benefit from innovation.
Marburger responded to criticism of his support for Bush Administration policies in 2004, stating “No one will know my personal positions on issues as long as I am in this job. I am here to make sure that the science input to policy making is sound and that the executive branch functions properly with respect to its science and technology missions." On the topic of stem cell research, he in 2004 said that stem cells "offer great promise for addressing incurable diseases and afflictions. But I can’t tell you when a fertilized egg becomes sacred. That’s not my job. That’s not a science issue. And so whatever I think about reproductive technology or choice, or whatever, is irrelevant to my job as a science adviser." However, in February 2005, in a speech at the annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers
National Association of Science Writers
The National Association of Science Writers was created in 1934 by a dozen science journalists and reporters in New York City. The aim of the organization was to improve the craft of science journalism and to promote good science reportage....
, he stated, "Intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
is not a scientific theory.... I don't regard intelligent design as a scientific topic."
Sherwood Boehlert
Sherwood Boehlert
Sherwood "Sherry" Louis Boehlert is a retired American politician from New York. He represented upstate New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2007. Boehlert, a Republican, was considered to be a member of the party's moderate wing. In 2003, Utica Union Station was...
, the Republican chair of the House Committee on Science during most of Marburger's tenure, said that "the challenge he faced was serving a president who didn't really want much scientific advice, and who let politics dictate the direction of his science policy... and he was in the unenviable position of being someone who had earned the respect of his scientific colleagues while having to be identified with policies that were not science-based." On the other hand, Robert P. Crease
Robert P. Crease
Robert P. Crease is a philosopher and historian of science. He writes a monthly column, "Critical Point ", for the international physics magazine Physics World....
, a colleague of his at Stony Brook University, characterized him as someone who "[went] to the White House as a scientist, not an advocate. He refused to weigh in on high-profile, politically controversial issues, but instead set about fixing broken connections in the unwieldy machinery by which the government approves and funds scientific projects.... Some bitterly criticized him for collaborating with the Bush administration. But he left the office running better than when he entered."
Later life
Marburger returned to Stony Brook University as faculty in 2009. He also served as Vice President for Research but stepped down on July 1, 2011. Marburger died Thursday, July 28, 2011, at his home in Port Jefferson, New YorkPort Jefferson, New York
The Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson is located in the town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the 2000 United States Census, the village population was 7,837...
, after four years of treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He is survived by his wife, Carol.