Presidential Science Advisor John H. Marburger, III to Speak at Brookhaven Lab, November 18, 19, 20

October 21, 2008

John H. Marburger, III enlarge

John H. Marburger, III, the Science Advisor to President George W. Bush and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (Click on the image to download a high-resolution version.)

UPTON, NY — John H. Marburger, III, the Science Advisor to President George W. Bush and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, will give the George B. Pegram Lectures on November 18, 19, and 20 at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory. Inaugurated in 1959, the Pegram lectures bring distinguished scholars to the Laboratory to speak on topics of both scientific and general interest. The lectures are sponsored by Brookhaven Science Associates, and are free and open to the public. Visitors to the Laboratory age 16 and over must bring a photo ID.

The titles of the lectures are:

  • “The Science of Science Policy,” Tuesday, November 18
  • “Science and Money,” Wednesday, November 19
  • “Science and Politics,” Thursday, November 20

All the lectures will start at 4 p.m. in the Laboratory’s Berkner Hall auditorium.

Drawing on his experience as a research scientist, academic administrator, national laboratory director and presidential science advisor, Marburger will focus on the intellectual machinery of science policy and current policy issues in his talks. The underlying premise of the lectures is that science policies are like scientific hypotheses: They need to be developed consistently with other knowledge and validated empirically.

Marburger received a B.A. in physics from Princeton University in 1962 and a Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford University in 1967. Before his current appointment as Presidential Science Advisor, he was director of Brookhaven Lab from 1998 to 2001. He is credited with building the local community’s support and confidence in the Laboratory, while helping science to flourish. He served as president of Stony Brook University from 1980 to 1994, and, during his tenure, scientific research at the university grew to exceed that of any other public university in the northeastern U.S. In 1994, Marburger returned to the faculty at Stony Brook, teaching and doing research in optical science.

Marburger came to Long Island in 1980 from the University of Southern California (USC), where he was a Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering, serving as Physics Department Chair and Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in the 1970s. At USC, Marburger developed theory for various laser phenomena and was co-founder of the university’s Center for Laser Studies.

During his presidency at Stony Brook, Marburger served on numerous boards and committees. He was chair of the New York State Governor’s Commission on the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, and chair of the 80-campus Universities Research Association, which operates Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

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