Engineering Hall of Fame:

James R. Killian, Engineer, U.S. Science Adviser and Humanist

by Robert Colburn

When Sputnik, the Earth’s first artificial satellite, was launched on 4 October 1957, James Killian was the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sputnik’s launch triggered immense soul-searching in the U.S. scientific, technical and political communities. On 7 November 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Killian to be the first Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology or — as the title was often shortened — Presidential Science Adviser, and charged him with coordinating U.S. technical research.

Eisenhower made an excellent choice with James Killian. Widely known and profoundly respected for his technical and educational accomplishments, Killian was also a humanist and truth-seeker. He was strong enough to resist the post-Sputnik panic and to ensure that the United States pursued reasoned paths of research that served the country’s own interests, rather than weaken its technology by frantically imitating the Soviets. “The aim of the United States should be to surpass itself, not some other nation,” Killian said in his first public speech.

Raising Public Awareness, Human Well-Being

Killian was an advocate of science and technology. He hoped to make people enthusiastic about sci-tech, and to “discover its inner power to make men and women a little more creative, a little more objective and a little more humane.”

Killian’s main job responsibility was advising on research programs the federal government was considering. He attempted to make sure the government dedicated research resources to “those undertakings which bear more directly on human well-being;” technologies that increased industrial productivity, generated high-technology industry, strengthened the economy and improved environmental quality.

Strong Education Leads to Strong Technical Base

Part of strengthening the nation’s technical base meant strengthening educational resources. Killian did much to shape the legislation that would ultimately become the National Defense Education Act of 1958. Perhaps Killian’s most enduring and widely felt legacy is that he helped then-Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Marion Folsom convince President Eisenhower to accept the Judd amendment, which established a federal student loan program as part of the Act. Eisenhower had initially doubted that a student loan program would prove popular. Killian’s experience at MIT — which had made such a fund available to its students since 1930 — convinced Eisenhower that such a program could work.

The Federal Student Loan program has grown to become the largest federal financial aid program; currently 54 percent of U.S. college and university students borrow from it for their educations. Without the program, generations of talented U.S. students would either have been unable to pursue a college education or would have had far fewer choices. It is no exaggeration to say that generations of U.S. students (this author included) owe their college educations to Killian — and by extension, to Sputnik.

Killian Helps Launch Public Television

Killian’s contributions to society do not rest there. After returning to his duties as president of MIT, Killian accepted an invitation to chair the Carnegie Commission on Education Television, which had much to do with shaping the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act. Killian later wrote in his autobiography that helping to design and launch public television and public radio was one of the most rewarding undertakings of his career. While Killian’s contributions to the student loan program opened educational opportunities to millions of Americans, his vision of a publicly owned, non-commercial network enhanced the intellectual and cultural landscape of virtually every U.S. citizen. Killian received two George Foster Peabody Awards for his achievements on behalf of public broadcasting.

Beginning in 1969, Killian served a five-year term as a member of the General Advisory Committee of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. He was credited with major contributions to disarmament as the committee developed verification proposals, and he demonstrated that underground nuclear tests could be detected using seismic equipment.

In 1975, the Marconi Foundation named James Killian its first Marconi Fellow in honor of “a lifetime of public service in science and engineering.” James Killian died on 29 January 1988, a technologist and humanist who shaped the world in which he lived.
 

 

---

Robert Colburn is research coordinator at the IEEE History Center at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. Visit the IEEE History Center's Web page at: www.ieee.org/organizations/history_center/