James Rhyne Killian

For the NFL football player, see James Kilian.

James Killian
Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board
In office May 4, 1961 – April 23, 1963
President	John F. Kennedy Lyndon Johnson
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
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	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS)
Awards	Vannevar Bush Award (1980)
Academic work
Discipline	Business Administration
Institutions	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

James Rhyne Killian Jr. (July 24, 1904 – January 29, 1988) was the 10th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from 1948 until 1959.

Early life

Killian was born on July 24, 1904, in Blacksburg, South Carolina. His father was a textile maker. He attended The McCallie School in Chattanooga, TN [1] 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

In 1932, while serving as 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. He was from 1948 until 1959 the 10th president of MIT. 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.

On leave from MIT he served as Special Assistant for Science and Technology to President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1957 to 1959, making him the first true Presidential Science Advisor. Killian headed the Killian Committee and oversaw the creation of the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) shortly after the launches of the Soviet artificial satellites, Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2, in October and November 1957. PSAC was instrumental in initiating national curriculum reforms in science and technology and in establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

In 1956 Killian was awarded the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. He co-authored a book, The Education of a College President (1985), which serves as an autobiography as well. After stepping down as president of MIT in 1959, he served as chairman of the MIT Corporation from 1959 until 1971.

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).

Further reading

• Stever, H. Guyford (2002). In War and Peace: My Life in Science and Technology. Joseph Henry Press. ISBN 0-309-08411-3.

External links

• Killian, James Rhyne, "The Obligations and Ideals of an Institute of Technology", The Inaugural Address, Tenth President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, April 2, 1949
• Official MIT biography
• Welzenbach, Donald E., "SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: ORIGINS OF A DIRECTORATE", March 15, 1953. Discussion of Killian's involvement with the C.I.A. and Pres. Eisenhower
• Records of the White House Office of the Special Assistant for Science and Technology, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library

Academic offices
Preceded by Karl Compton	President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1948–1959	Succeeded by Julius Stratton
Government offices
New office	Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board 1956–1958	Succeeded by John Hull
Preceded by John Hull	Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board 1961–1963	Succeeded by Clark Clifford