William T. Golden

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William T. Golden

William Theodore Golden (born October 25, 1909 in New York City ; † October 7, 2007 ibid) was an influential American science advisor who supported numerous institutions financially and organizationally with his fortune as an investment banker.

Life

Golden graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received his bachelor's degrees in biology and English in 1930. He then attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration for a year and went to Wall Street in 1931 , where he became a successful investment banker. During the Second World War he did his army service in the US Navy .

After the war he worked under Lewis Strauss for the United States Atomic Energy Commission . After the start of the Korean War , Golden was appointed special advisor to the director of the Bureau of Budget by US President Truman in October 1950 .

Truman was under pressure to reactivate the Office of Scientific Research and Development , which was dissolved in December 1947 . Golden's job was to review the organization and conduct of scientific research and development activities by the US government. He submitted his proposals in various memoranda. In his memorandum of December 18, 1950, Mobilization of Science for War: A Scientific Adviser to the President , he proposed to Truman the position of permanent science advisor to the President to coordinate the activities of various federal agencies. Truman agreed to this proposal. In the following years, Golden sought to allay the fears of scientists about an overly close association of the military with large research organizations (e.g. National Science Foundation , NSF). On his recommendation, Alan T. Waterman became the first director of the NSF.

In the 1950s he began to support numerous scientific organizations and educational institutions financially and organizationally. These included the American Association for the Advancement of Science , the New York Academy of Sciences , the Carnegie Institution of Washington , Mount Sinai Medical Center, Barnard College, and many others. Most recently, he was Chairman emeritus of the American Museum of Natural History

Golden received many awards and honors. In 1995 he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Public Service of the American Philosophical Society , of which he was a member since 1982 and of which he was Vice President from 1992 to 1998. In 1996 he received the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences and in 2001 the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1984 he was accepted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . He has received honorary doctorates from Bard College , the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University , among others .

He died at the age of 97 in Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

The asteroid (4423) Golden was named after him.

Fonts (selection)

  • William T. Golden (Ed.): Science and Technology Advice to the President, Congress, and Judiciary . 2nd Edition. Routledge, London, New York 2017, ISBN 978-1-56000-829-3 .
  • William T. Golden (Ed.): Worldwide Science and Technology Advice to the Highest Levels of Governments . Pergamon Press, New York, Oxford a. a. 1991, ISBN 0-08-040407-3 , pp. 400 .

literature

  • Dennis Overbye: William T. Golden, Financier and Key Science Adviser, Is Dead at 97 . In: New York Times . October 9, 2007 ( online [accessed August 26, 2018]).
  • Eli Kintisch: William T. Golden Dies . In: Science . October 9, 2007 ( online [accessed August 26, 2018]).

Web links

  • Obituary at the National Science Foundation

Individual evidence

  1. William A. BLANPIED (ed.): Impacts of the Early Cold War on the Formulation of US Science Poliy. Selected Memoranda of William T. Golden . American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC 1995, pp. 112 .
  2. ^ Member History: William T. Golden. American Philosophical Society, accessed August 28, 2018 (with biography).
  3. ^ William T. Golden. American Association for the Advancement of Science, accessed August 27, 2018 .