SCIENCE sciencemag.orgPHOTO: COURTESY MIT MUSEUM
By Marcia McNuttF
rank Press, geophysicist and two-term
president of the National Academy of
Sciences (NAS), died on 29 January. He
was 95. This soft-spoken son of Jewish
immigrants advised four U.S. presi-
dents, built institutions to prominence,
and provided the scientific guarantee for the
nuclear test ban treaty. No scientist had more
impact on the American science-policy inter-
face in the late 20th century.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Press earned
his bachelor’s degree in physics from City
College of New York before completing a
Ph.D. in geophysics at Columbia University
with the famed geophysicist and oceanogra-
pher Maurice “Doc” Ewing in 1949. Press was
appointed to the faculty of Columbia, where
he developed the Press-Ewing seismom-
eter and cofounded the Lamont Geological
Observatory (now the Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory). In 1955, he was recruited to the
Seismological Laboratory at the California
Institute of Technology (Caltech), where just
2 years later he succeeded its founder, Beno
Gutenberg, to become the director, leapfrog-
ging more senior seismologists. As a member
of the international “Conference of Experts”
in Geneva in 1958, Press convinced world
leaders that a worldwide seismic network
could be designed to monitor compliance
with a nuclear test ban treaty. This assurance
that such a treaty could be verified was in-
strumental to its ultimate success. At Caltech,
Press championed the use of computers to
digitize the increasing volume of seismic
data. Along with colleagues, he used this pro-
cessing power to make the first observational
detection of the excitation of Earth’s normal
modes from the 1960 Chilean earthquake.
In 1965, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) recruited Press to head
the Department of Geology and Geophysics.
Press transformed the classical department
into a modern-day Department of Earth
and Planetary Sciences (now known as the
Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and
Planetary Sciences), addressing the cutting-
edge issues of the day. For Neil Armstrong’s
first walk on the Moon, Press designed a
seismic experiment to passively detect moon-quakes and asteroid impacts. The experi-
ment returned the first information on the
internal structure of the Moon and proved
this concept for probing planetary interiors.
The Joint Program between MIT and the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution that
educates graduate students in ocean sciences
and engineering is one of Press’s more suc-
cessful innovations during his MIT years.
President Jimmy Carter appointed Press
as his science adviser and director of the
Office of Science and Technology Policy in- By that time, Press was no stranger
to Washington, D.C., policy circles. He had
already served 3 years on the President’s
Science Advisory Committee under John
Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and 6 years
on the National Science Board under Richard
Nixon. While in the White House, he champi-
oned federal investment in research and in-
ternational cooperation. He created the first
opportunities for Chinese students to study
at U.S. universities, a cohort that grew to
100,000 young scholars in just 5 years.
In 1981, Press was elected president of the
NAS. Despite what the research community
viewed as the Reagan administration’s as-
saults on science budgets, science-based pol-
icy, and the environment, Press managed to
avoid politicizing the NAS and deftly piloted
its advisory mission to new prominence by
supplying unassailable advice based on sci-
ence. For example, the Supreme Court ruled
in the late 1980s that requiring creationism
to be taught in public schools along with
evolution was unconstitutional under the
First Amendment, influenced by a NAS pub-lication (Science and Creationism, 1984) that
pointed out that creationism is not supported
by scientific evidence. In an environmental
win, a report on acid rain (Acid Deposition:
Atmospheric Processes in Eastern North
America, 1983) led the Reagan administra-
tion to cap the emissions of nitrogen dioxide.
A year later, Congress amended the Clean Air
Act to address sulfur dioxide emissions. Press
was also a defender of the social sciences,
stating that their research is evidence based
and that they belong in the NAS.
Two high-profile consensus reports
changed the course of the nation during
Press’s NAS tenure. Confronting AIDS (1986)
spurred a reluctant administration to ac-
tion to prevent HIV infections from becom-
ing a nationwide public health epidemic.
Within a few years, several African nations
that did not act saw life expectancy fall. In
1988, Mapping and Sequencing the Human
Genome launched a project that spawned
multibillion-dollar industries and has con-
tributed immeasurably to human health. In
2000, recognizing that Press had positioned
the NAS as the most trusted adviser in sci-
ence for policy, the NAS honored him as its
first-ever “president emeritus.”
After his retirement from NAS in 1993,
Press founded the Washington Advisory
Group (WAG). WAG worked with, among
others, the King Abdullah University of
Science and Technology. Press and col-
leagues helped Saudi Arabia develop a first-
class research university.
When Frank Press talked, people listened.
I was one of those people. I was the final
hire into “the department that Frank built”
at MIT before he left to head the NAS. Later,
he helped recruit me to lead the Monterey
Bay Aquarium Research Institute for an
idyllic dozen years, where he served on the
board. His office was my first stop for advice
after being asked to lead the U.S. Geological
Survey in 2009. I was wavering on accept-
ing the Washington, D.C., position because
it would require a long separation from my
family in California. When Press learned that
I would also be science adviser to the secre-
tary of the interior, he was adamant that I ac-
cept. Press saw an important opportunity to
ensure that science would have a direct route
into Cabinet-level decisions. He made me re-
alize that choices were no longer about me
but rather what was best for the nation.
I also followed Press’s advice to benefit
from the fresh perspectives of new colleagues
and a new mission by changing positions
frequently. I could not be more fortunate to
have had such an amazing mentor choose
me. His passing is a loss not just for the na-
tion but for the many he inspired. j10.1126/science.abb2626RETROSPECTIVEFrank Press (1924–2020)
Policy adviser and National Academy of Sciences president
President of the National Academy of Sciences,
Washington, DC, and chair of the National Research Council
of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and
Medicine, Washington, DC. Email: [email protected]6 MARCH 2020 • VOL 367 ISSUE 6482 1077
Published by AAAS