Lee Alvin DuBridge

Lee Alvin DuBridge (21 September 1901 – 23 January 1994) was an American educator and physicist, best known as president of the California Institute of Technology from 1946 to 1969.^[1]

Lee DuBridge
DuBridge in 1950
Director of the Office of Science and Technology
In office January 20, 1969 – August 31, 1970
President	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Donald Hornig
Succeeded by	Ed David
Chairman of the President's Science Advisory Committee
In office 1952–1956
President	Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded by	Oliver Buckley
Succeeded by	Isidor Rabi
2nd President of the California Institute of Technology
In office 1946–1969
Preceded by	Robert Millikan
Succeeded by	Harold Brown
Personal details
Born	(1901-09-21)September 21, 1901 Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
Died	January 23, 1994(1994-01-23) (aged 92) Duarte, California, U.S.
Education	Cornell College (BA) University of Wisconsin, Madison (MA, PhD)
Awards	Vannevar Bush Award (1982)
Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Institutions	University of Rochester MIT Radiation Laboratory California Institute of Technology Washington University
Thesis	Variations in the photo-electric sensitivity of platinum (1926)
Doctoral advisor	Charles Mendenhall
Doctoral students	LeRoy Apker Robert H. Dicke Albert G. Hill

Background

Lee Alvin DuBridge was born on 21 September 1901, in Terre Haute, Indiana. His father was Fred DuBridge, a football coach at Indiana State Normal School.^[2] He graduated from Cornell College in 1922, and then began a teaching assignment at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, from which he received an M.A. degree in 1924^[3] and a Ph.D. in 1926.^[4] DuBridge continued his academic work at the California Institute of Technology, as assistant, then associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis (1928–1934), and the University of Rochester.^[1][5]

Career

Academia

At Rochester, DuBridge began a long career as an academic administrator, serving as dean of the faculty of arts and sciences. On leave from Rochester between 1940 and 1946, he became the founding director of the Radiation Laboratory at MIT. In 1946, DuBridge began serving as president of the California Institute of Technology through 1969.^[1]

Civil service

In 1958, he, along with William A. Fowler, Max Mason, Linus Pauling, and Bruce H. Sage, was awarded the Medal for Merit.^[6][7] DuBridge served as presidential Science Advisor under President Harry S. Truman from 1952 to 1953 and under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1955, and (after retiring from Caltech) under President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970.^[1]

Associations

DuBridge served on boards for: RAND Corporation (1948–1961), National Science Board (1950–1954), Western College Association (president, 1950–1951),^[8] Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1951–1957), Air Pollution Foundation (1953–1961), Institute for Defense Analysis (1956–1960), Rockefeller Foundation (1956–1976), National Science Board (vice chair, 1958–1964), board of governors for the Los Angeles Town Hall (1959–1963), Edison Foundation (1960–1968), KCET (1962–1968), Huntington Library (1962–1968), and National Educational Television (1964–1968).^[1]

Personal and death

DuBridge died of pneumonia at a retirement home in Duarte, California, on 23 January 1994.^[2]

Awards

• 1942: American Philosophical Society^[9]
• 1943: National Academy of Sciences^[1]
• 1946: American Academy of Arts and Sciences^[10]
• 1947: Research Corporation Award^[1]
• 1948: United States Medal for Merit^[6]
• 1967: Governor's Award, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences^[11]
• 1968: Sesquicentennial Award, University of Michigan^[1]
• 1969: Lehman Award, New York Academy of Sciences^[1]
• 1974: Golden Plate Award, Academy of Achievement^[1][12][13]
• 1982: Vannevar Bush Award, National Science Foundation^[1]
• Minor planet 5678 DuBridge discovered by Eleanor Helin is named in his honor.^[14]