Biographical Memoirs Volume 78 (2000) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Jerome Bert Wiesner
Jerome Bert Wiesner
Pages 334-353
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 335... ...
War II, to a "coic! warrior" cluring the early clays of the "missile gap," en cl finally to a leacling spokesman for the nuclear test ban en cl a worker for nuclear disarmament.
|
From page 336... ...
went to the public schools there. Jerry went on to stucly electrical engineering en cl mathematics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
|
From page 337... ...
. a key figure in the establishment of the Arms Control en cl Disarmament Agency, in achieving a partial nuclear test ban treaty, en c!
|
From page 338... ...
The Marshall Plan en cl the North AtIantic Treaty Organization came into being, en cl the attention of the military was now clirectec! towards the new situations.
|
From page 339... ...
the Soviet Union to copy the German ballistic missile technology, the explosion of the first Soviet atomic bomb, en cl the successful launching of Sputnik. Facecl with the threat of the Soviet atomic bomb, the MIT LincoIn Laboratory was establishecl in 1951 to work on the problems of air defense of the continental Uniter!
|
From page 340... ...
In his book Making Weapons, Talking Peace Herbert York describes the early steps towards achieving a nuclear test ban (pp.
|
From page 341... ...
He worked on both of the two largest scientific technological efforts of the time: first on radar at the Radiation Lab at MIT, then on the atomic bomb at Los Alamos. Out of these experiences grew his
|
From page 342... ...
In 1954 he served on the Technical Capabilities Panel chaired by lames Killian, which recommended to the Pentagon the initiation and vigorous pursuit of an intercontinental ballistic missile program. When in response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, President Eisenhower appointed Killian to the newly created post of science advisor to the President, and made him chairman of the President's Scientific Advisory Committee (PSAC)
|
From page 343... ...
Wiesner helped to persuade the President in 1961 to call for a very modest civil defense program of fall-out shelters rather than the large program of blast shelters that many in the military and some of Kennedy's political adversaries were calling for. Wiesner saw the desirability and technical feasibility of installing electronic locks permissive action links or PALs on nuclear warheads.
|
From page 344... ...
These were the years of international student unrest, en cl of the growing protest against the war in Viet Nam. Johnson en cl Wiesner by flint of their coo!
|
From page 345... ...
In his later years, ferry was centrally involved, together with Professor Nicholas Negroponte, in the creation of the Program in Media Arts and Sciences and the Media Laboratory, which are housed at MIT in the Jerome and Laya Wiesner Building. He was deeply committed to the goals of this nation's civil rights movement, and the period of his leadership of MIT produced the greatest progress up to that time in bringing women and minorities to the student body and the faculty.
|
From page 346... ...
Subsequently, the project workocl intensively with Boston schools to foster minority participation in scientific and technical education endeavors. In civil rights Laya's activities covered much ground, but two of them bear special mention.
|
From page 347... ...
Stratton, willow of MIT's eleventh president, Julius, saicI: "Laya Wiesner was a remarkable woman with an inclomitable spirit. She was increclibly courageous, allocating her energy to the causes which mattered most to her civil rights, mentoring MIT women students in the fielcis of science en c!
|
From page 348... ...
As a first step, the committee invited McGeorge Bundy to head an independent study of existing programs in the field and to enlist the advice and counsel of specialists. Its report led to the establishment of an International Security Program that, in its first decade, contributed more than $200 million in support of young researchers, educational institutions, international collaborative projects, and public interest organizations.
|
From page 349... ...
During this period, he clevotecl part of his time to writing a biographical memorandum. Former MIT President Howard W
|
From page 350... ...
IN THE PREPARATION OF this essay we received help, critical advice, and encouragement from the following people: Mildred Dresselhaus, MIT Joshua Wiesner Edna Wiesner McNeal Walter and Judy Rosenblith (Walter and Terry had been very close friends after Walter came to MIT in 1948; he served as MIT provost under Wiesner. Their advice about the organization of this memoir was extremely helpful.)
|
From page 351... ...
Y Lettvin, professor emeritus, MIT Frances Tenenbaum, a close friend of Laya's since University of Michigan days Peter Bartes, Library of Congress Anna Kariotakis, Alan Lomax's daughter.
|
From page 352... ...
York. National security and the nuclear test ban.
|
From page 353... ...
78~8~. 1987 The rise and fall of the President's Science Advisory Committee.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.