Robert Lamb Sproull

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Robert Lamb Sproull (1970)

Robert Lamb Sproull (born August 16, 1918 in Lacon , Illinois , † October 9, 2014 in Pittsford , New York ) was an American physicist and university professor who was director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA ), Provost at the University of Rochester from 1968 to 1970 , Chairman of the Defense Science Board (DSB) from 1968 to 1970 and President of the University of Rochester from 1970 to 1984.

Life

Professor at Cornell University and Chairman of the DSB

Robert Lamb Sproull, son of John Steele Sproull and his wife Chloe Velma Lamb Sproull, began an undergraduate degree in English-language literature at Deep Springs College and Cornell University , which he completed in 1940 with a Bachelor of Arts (AB) . A subsequent postgraduate degree in physics at Cornell University, he completed in 1943 with a Doctor of Philosophy ( Ph.D. ). He then began his professional career as a research physicist in the laboratory of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1943 and was also president of the Telluride Association between 1945 and 1947 , a non-profit organization founded by LL Nunn in 1910 to provide free educational programs for young people People who promote intellectual curiosity, democratic self-government and social responsibility.

In 1946 Sproull moved to Cornell University as a lecturer and was also senior physicist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in 1952 . Between 1956 and 1963 he was professor of physics at Cornell University. He was also the 1958-1959 Lecturer of NATO and at the same time also a physicist at the European Research Association in Brussels . He was then director of the Laboratory for Atomic and Solid State Physics (LASSP) from 1959 to 1960 and director of the Center for Materials Science between 1960 and 1963. He then replaced Jack Ruina in 1963 as director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which carries out research projects for the US armed forces for the US Department of Defense . He held this post until 1965 and was then replaced by Charles M. Herzfeld . In 1965 he returned to Cornell University and was its Vice President for Academic Affairs until 1968. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of Deep Springs College for the first time between 1967 and 1975.

In 1968 Robert Lamb Sproull succeeded Frederick Seitz as chairman of the Defense Science Board (DSB), an advisory body to the US Department of Defense on scientific and technical matters, of which he had been a member since 1966. He held this position until 1970, when Gerald F. Tape succeeded him.

President of the University of Rochester

Robert Lamb Sproull was first Provost from 1968 to 1970 and then President of the University of Rochester between 1970 and 1984

In addition to his work for the Defense Science Board, Sproull was from 1968 to 1970 as the successor to McCrea Mazlett Provost of the University of Rochester . In 1970 he replaced Wilson Allen Wallis as President of the University of Rochester, while Wallis was Chancellor of that university. He held the post of President of the University of Rochester until 1984 and was then replaced by G. Dennis O'Brien . In 1970 the US Secretary of Defense presented him with the Meritorious Civilian Service Award for his services to defense research .

Sproull became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1971 . He also became a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of General Motors in 1971 , of which he was chairman between 1973 and 1980. He was also a member of the Cornell University Board of Trustees from 1972 to 1977 and in 1973 was also a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), an interdisciplinary research laboratory at Stanford University . He was also a member of the Naval Research Advisory Committee of the Marine NRAC from 1974 to 1976 and of the Sloan's Commission for Higher Education from 1977 to 1979.

Robert Lamb Sproull, to whom Nazareth College awarded an honorary doctorate in law (Doctor of Laws (honorary)) in 1983, was again a member of the Board of Trustees of Deep Springs College between 1983 and 1987 and of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for, founded in 1956, from 1984 to 1992 Defense Analyzes (IDA). He was also a member of the New York City Council Commission for Higher Education between 1992 and 1993 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in music from the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in 1997 . He was also President of the Environmental Literacy Council between 1997 and 1999 .

His marriage to Mary Louise Knickerbocker on June 27, 1942 resulted in a son and a daughter.

Publications

  • Modern physics. A textbook for engineers , Wiley, New York 1956
  • The conduction of heat in solids , WH Freeman, San Francisco 1962
  • A scientist's tools for business. Metaphors and modes of thought , University of Rochester Press, Rochester 1997, ISBN 1-8788-2284-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1950-1999 by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
personal data
SURNAME Sproull, Robert Lamb
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American physicist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Lacon , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 2014
Place of death Pittsford , New York