James Rhyne Killian

James Rhyne Killian Jr. (July 24, 1904 – January 29, 1988) was the 10th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from 1948 until 1959. He also held a number of government roles, such as Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board under John F. Kennedy.

James Killian


Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board
In office May 4, 1961 – April 23, 1963
President	John F. Kennedy
Preceded by	John Hull
Succeeded by	Clark Clifford
In office January 13, 1956 – March 1, 1958
President	Dwight Eisenhower
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	John Hull
Chairman of the President's Science Advisory Committee
In office November 7, 1957 – July 1959
President	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded by	Isidor Rabi
Succeeded by	George Kistiakowsky
10th President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In office 1948–1959
Preceded by	Karl Compton
Succeeded by	Julius Stratton

Personal details
Born	(1904-07-24)July 24, 1904 Blacksburg, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	January 29, 1988(1988-01-29) (aged 83) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	Duke University Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS)
Awards	Vannevar Bush Award (1980)

Early life and education

Killian was born on July 24, 1904, in Blacksburg, South Carolina. His father was a textile maker. He attended The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee later studied at Duke University (formerly Trinity University) for two years until he transferred to MIT, where he received a Bachelor of Business Administration and engineering administration in 1926. While there, he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Career

Leadership at MIT

In 1932, while the editor of MIT's alumni magazine Technology Review, Killian was instrumental in the founding of Technology Press, the publishing imprint that would later become the institute's independent publishing house, MIT Press. He became executive assistant to MIT President Karl Taylor Compton in 1939, and co-directed the wartime operation of MIT, which strongly supported military research and development.

From 1948 until 1959, Killian was the 10th president of MIT. His administration encouraged the western expansion of campus, building Baker House, the Kresge Oval, and the Kresge Chapel, all significant modernist buildings. MIT's Sloan School of Management, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Lincoln Laboratory were established during his presidency.

Advisor to the President of the U.S.

In 1956, James R. Killian Jr was named as the 1st Chair to the new President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board by the Eisenhower Administration, a position which he held until April 1963.

Shortly after the October 1957 launches of the Soviet artificial satellites, Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2, President Eisenhower asked Killian to serve as Special Assistant for Science and Technology, making him the first true Presidential Science Advisor. Killian took leave from MIT for two years to fill this new role. He headed the Killian Committee and oversaw the creation of the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC). PSAC was instrumental in initiating national curriculum reforms in science and technology and in establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Killian described an environment of "widespread discouragement" facing scientists and, in particular, scientists of the Technological Capabilities Panel, which had been convened by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to develop technological solutions to the perceived possibility of a surprise nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. This stifling work atmosphere was caused by the widely cast, groundless aspersions of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the removal of Robert Oppenheimer from work on sensitive military projects. Oppenheimer had expressed support for shifting U.S. military resources from offensive nuclear weapons to defensive capabilities, and following Oppenheimer's loss of his security clearance, scientists felt that it was inadvisable to challenge the thinking of the military establishment.

Awards and autobiography

In 1956 Killian was awarded the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. He co-authored a memoir, The Education of a College President (1985),^{[ISBN missing]}. After stepping down as president of MIT in 1959, he was chairman of the MIT Corporation from 1959 to1971.

Death

Killian died on January 29, 1988, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Legacy

Two locations on MIT's campus bear the name Killian: Killian Court, a tree-lined courtyard with views of MIT's Great Dome, and Killian Hall, a concert hall (actually named after Killian's wife, Elizabeth Parks Killian, a Wellesley College alumna).