Alan T. Waterman

Alan Tower Waterman (born June 4, 1892 in Cornwall-on-Hudson , New York , † November 30, 1967 in Washington, DC ) was an American physicist and first director of the National Science Foundation .

Life

Alan T. Waterman studied at Princeton University and received his doctorate there in 1916. He then worked briefly at the University of Cincinnati . During the First World War he worked for two years in the Science and Research Division of the Army Signal Corps. He then went back to Yale University , where he was employed from 1917. In 1923 he became an assistant professor , from 1931 to 1948 he was an associate professor of physics at Yale University. His activity as a university lecturer was interrupted by the Second World War. First he worked for the National Defense Research Committee and from 1943 for the Office of Scientific Research and Development . Both agencies were headed by Vannevar Bush . In 1946 he became the assistant director and chief scientist of the Office of Naval Research of the United States Navy . His rich experience in science and research management resulted in his being appointed first director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in April 1951. He held this post until June 1963. He was also a member and advisor in various government agencies and scientific societies. In 1963 he was President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science .

Waterman has received several awards. In 1960 he received the Public Welfare Medal of the National Academy of Sciences and in 1963 the US President's Medal of Freedom . In 1924 he became a Fellow of the American Physical Society and in 1927 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science . In 1954 he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

He was the son of physicist Frank A. Waterman, who taught at Smith College .

Honors

The Alan T. Waterman Award has been presented by the NSF since 1975 in memory of Waterman .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Public Welfare Medal. National Academy of Sciences, accessed July 25, 2017 (English, with list of award winners). 
2. ↑ APS Fellow Archive. American Physical Society, accessed July 25, 2017 (List of Fellows). 
3. ↑ Fellows of the AAAS: Alan Waterman. (No longer available online.) American Association for the Advancement of Science, archived from the original on July 28, 2018 ; accessed on July 28, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter W. (PDF; 852 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved July 27, 2017 (English). 
5. ^ Alan T. Waterman Award. National Science Foundation, accessed July 25, 2017 . 

Web links

• Biography: Alan T. Waterman (1892-1967). National Science Foundation, accessed July 25, 2017 . 
• Alan Tower Waterman. American Institute of Physics, accessed July 24, 2017 (English, short biography).