WILLIAM A. NIERENBERG (1919-2000)

BY CHARLES F. KENNEL, RICHARD S. LINDZEN,
AND WALTER MUNK
SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY

WILLIAM AARON NIERENBERG excelled in two scientific fields: physics and oceanography. As a physicist, he worked on the Manhattan Project and contributed to molecular beam research and cascade theory. As an oceanographer, he helped shape national policy in oceanography and develop the field into a multidisciplinary, planetary science that plays a pivotal role in climate research and earth science. Bill Nierenberg died of cancer at his home in La Jolla, California, on Sept. 10, 2000.

Bill Nierenberg was born on Feb. 13, 1919, in Manhattan, New York City, to a family of Austro-Hungarian Jewish ancestry that lived on Houston Street in the Lower East Side before moving to the Bronx. His first job was as a “floor boy” in the garment industry. The Bronx was near to his heart and perceptible in his diction throughout his life. Bill credited his successful transition from what we now call the South Bronx to California to Townsend Harris High School, a citywide school for the gifted where he was admitted in 1933. The school recognized and rewarded his prowess in mathematics, schooled him in physics, paid him small sums for grading papers, and prepared him for the City College of New York. Bill knew he had a high IQ; even his boyhood gang called him “the Brain.” As a youth he was ambitious, competitive, and excited to be out and in the world; these characteristics stayed with him for life.

Bill capitalized on the advantages of growing up in a great city, spending his free time at the Bronx Botanical Garden and developing an interest in science at the American Museum of Natural History. He went to high school with Herman Wouk and college with Bernard Feld, and he met Richard Feynman at an intercollegiate math contest. Physics was a small world then, and he quickly established himself at CCNY in a set that included Eugene Booth, William Havens Jr., and teachers like Henry Semat, Mark Zemansky, and Walter Zinn (NAE 1974, NAS 1956). While CCNY was an undergraduate institution, students and faculty participated in research at Columbia and New York University. Clark Williams took Bill to visit his lab at Columbia, and they became friends. The talk in physics at CCNY was all about the work of Enrico Fermi (NAS), I.I. Rabi (NAS), and John Dunning (NAS) at Columbia. Bill first met Rabi in 1939, when he took his course in statistical mechanics.

Bill won many honors, medals, and prizes. He spent his junior year as the Aaron Naumberg Fellow at the University of Paris, where he polished both his physics and his French at the Sorbonne. France broadened Bill’s American outlook and made room for his big personality. France in 1938 was in a foreboding mood, however, and Bill came home expecting a European war.

Bill expected to enter military service. While naval aviation appealed to him, his enlistment was delayed when, through Fermi and Dunning, he was offered an opportunity in 1941 for six months of war work in what turned out to be the Manhattan Project. Bill worked with Dunning and Clark Williams and had a role in the project, which he later said was closer to engineering than physics. It placed him within the haut monde of physics and gave him opportunities and responsibilities unusual for a physicist who had just passed the qualifying examination for his doctorate.

Bill’s family responsibilities expanded at about the same time, when he married Edith Meyerson in 1941. Their daughter, Victoria, was born in New York, and their son, Nicolas Clark Eugene, in Berkeley, California.

After Bill’s graduation from CCNY in 1942, he was accepted at Columbia as a graduate student of I.I. Rabi and recognized as a brilliant young physicist, although the acerbic Rabi told him he was too forward and brash. Bill listed Rabi first among those who influenced him because of the personal approach Rabi took with his students.

Rabi drew Bill into science advisory circles. Rabi introduced Bill to Alan Waterman (NAS) and Mannie Piore (NAE 1966, NAS 1963), then at the Office of Naval Research, and to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Science Committee.

Bill received a National Research Council Fellowship in 1945 and returned to his doctoral research as soon as the war ended. He reopened Sidney Millman’s molecular beam laboratory and worked on an elucidation of the quadrupole broadened alkali resonances in the alkali halides. The committee for his orals included Rabi, Norman Ramsey (NAS), Willis Lamb (NAS), and Hendryk Kramers (NAE 1978). In 1948 Bill had a new Ph.D. and a letter of recommendation from Rabi.²

Bill began his academic career at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Two years later he moved to the University of California, Berkeley, in the summer of 1950 as an associate professor of physics.

Bill contrasted American physics before and after World War II by comparing the work done by Rabi at Columbia with that of E.O. Lawrence (NAS) at Berkeley. While Rabi did his great work in “small” physics, with grants of a few hundred dollars from foundations and the loan of Navy electric submarine cells for magnet power supplies, Lawrence built huge and advanced physics laboratories by convincing the University of California and the federal government that research in physics strengthened the university and the country. In 1958 Bill was selected as the first E.O. Lawrence Memorial Lecturer by the National Academy of Sciences.

Bill started work at Berkeley by building a molecular beam apparatus, modeled on the one he had used at Columbia. His research included gaseous diffusion theory and experiment, cascade theory, atomic and molecular beams, the measurement of nuclear spins, magnetic moments, electric quadrupole moments, hyperfine anomalies with particular application to radioactive nuclei, and similar applications to atomic electronic ground states. His group measured spins and magnetic moments of radioactive nuclei, published 100 papers in physics, and trained 40 doctoral students. He developed an excellent reputation as a teacher, and he established the atomic beam research group at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory. He worked with and admired Edwin McMillan (NAS) and met Jerry Wiesner (NAE 1966) during these years. There were lots of parties and social interactions among the physicists in Berkeley. The McMillans introduced the Nierenbergs to Borrego Springs and encouraged them to explore the deserts of California and Mexico. Luis Alvarez (NAE 1969) borrowed and played Bill’s mandolin at faculty dinners.

When the physics department purchased an IBM 650 computer in the early 1960s, Bill taught himself how to program it with FORTRAN, and then he taught FORTRAN to other members of the department. He was closely involved in the development of the applications of computers to nuclear physics and particle physics at Lawrence Radiation Lab. Short-lived radioactive nuclei were flown into his labs by helicopter for rapid measurement. One of the laboratory doors had a sign that read, “Every nucleus has its moment.” Bill was responsible for the determination of more nuclear moments than any other individual, as he was fond of telling visitors.

Bill built and flew model airplanes in Berkeley with his son and quickly moved to full-size aviation. He and his family purchased a vacation home in Borrego, and he explored Mexico both from the air and on the ground.

While at Berkeley, Bill was recruited by Rabi and Piore to work on Project Michael, an Office of Naval Research effort to establish an academic base for use of long-range low-frequency sound in submarine detection. This led to the creation of the Hudson Labs at Dobbs Ferry, New York, and Nierenberg took a leave from Berkeley in 1953 to direct the lab for a year. He introduced the concept of the vertical hydrophone array, which enabled improved signal-to-noise and also contributed to anti-mine warfare. While in New York, Bill and Edith attended the opera and theater. Bill adopted the French physicist Cyrano de Bergerac as an alter ego, and researched and lectured on his life. It was typical of Bill to pick a subject completely outside his academic interests and become an expert on it.

Fred Seitz (NAS) recommended that Bill succeed him in the position of assistant secretary general for scientific affairs at NATO in Paris from 1960 to 1962. During the time he and his family spent in Paris, he also served as associate professor at the University of Paris and traveled widely in Europe and the Middle East. Those years in Paris improved Bill’s French accent and deepened his interest in French culture and literature. He also became familiar with several European languages and began seriously studying Turkish.

Low-energy nuclear physics and atomic beams was an exciting and promising field in physics in 1950, but by 1965, when Bill left the field, it was past its prime, leaving very difficult experiments but no new ideas. He was ready for a change. Ironically, he spent the next 21 years shepherding oceanography through a similar transition from small science to big science.

Bill formally became an oceanographer on July 1, 1965, when he assumed the directorship of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He already knew many of the scientists in La Jolla and had gained knowledge of oceanography through service on the President’s Science Advisory Panel on Antisubmarine Warfare 1958-60 and research he conducted on long-range low-frequency sound in submarine detection under contract to the Office of Naval Research at Berkeley.

Bill began his tenure at Scripps by trying to repair what he saw as shortcomings at the institution. His appointment as director included the rank of dean and vice chancellor for marine sciences at UCSD, and it helped define the muddled relationship between Scripps and the UCSD campus. He was amazed to find that computers were almost unknown on campus and that important large datasets were resident at other institutions. To address the issue, he loaded IBM 1800s on the institution’s largest ships, acquired a Prime computer for the Scripps campus, modernized the shore-based datacenters, and supported the creation of a supercomputer facility at UCSD. He went on to streamline the administrative and financial structure of the rapidly expanding Scripps.

Scripps managed and housed the Deep Sea Drilling Project during 1966-86, under contract with the National Science Foundation. Bill negotiated the Prime contract and oversaw the building of the drilling vessel Glomar Challenger, with its unique dynamic positioning technology. Under his leadership, the project transitioned from a national and institution-based effort to the first multi-institutional, international collaboration in science, a model for later projects from GEOSECS to ITER (international thermonuclear experimental reactor). The Deep Sea Drilling Project fostered major scientific advances, including the discovery of hydrocarbons in the deep ocean basins and understanding the history and evolution of the Mediterranean and ocean basins.

During Bill’s leadership at Scripps, oceanography entered the mainstream of American science. He moved Scripps toward work in air-sea interaction and climate studies and established its remote sensing facility, the first such facility at an oceanographic institution. Scripps acquired a DC-3 airplane for observations from above the sea, an acquisition that coincided with Bill’s growing enthusiasm for flying his own plane. The climate program capitalized on Scripps’ growing reputation in atmospheric science, which was based on the CO₂ work that had been done there for years by Charles David Keeling (NAS) and others. Nierenberg and Keeling held differing views about climate change, but they agreed about the necessity for continuous measurements.

Bill was director of Scripps for 21 years, the longest sitting director of the institution to date. During his tenure, five vessels joined the research fleet and the institution’s budget increased fivefold. Scripps scientists discovered the deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Bill worked to strengthen both the teaching and research programs. He fostered international cooperation, for instance, working with Saul Alvarez Borrego to strengthen the relationship between Scripps and science institutions in Mexico. Bill retired from Scripps in 1986 but energetically continued his science advisory activities.

Oceanography emerged as a topic of interest to federal policymakers, beginning with the International Geophysical Year in 1956, and by 1969 the Stratton Commission recommended the creation of a new agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and a new presidential advisory committee, the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere (NACOA), to oversee a national program in oceanography. Bill chaired NACOA from 1972 to 1977 and spoke forcefully in support of NOAA. This put him in close contact with legislators and drew him into related matters of interest to Congress, including law of the sea and the earth observing system being promoted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Bill served the White House during 1975-76 as a member of the President’s Science Advisory Committee and during 1976-78 in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. He served on the NASA Advisory Council and was its first chairman from 1978 to 1982. However, he may be best remembered for influential reports he prepared on the Santa Barbara oil spill, acid rain³, and climate change.⁴

Bill delved seriously into scientific issues as the author of these reports, and never was this truer than his involvement with the climate change issue. His 1983 report, Changing Climate, was the first to introduce into public debate the concept of the “fingerprint” for detecting human-induced climate change, the possible release of methane hydrates because of warming, and carbon taxes. The New York Times covered the report on its front page, and Bill was proud that the newspaper published verbatim the report’s executive summary, every word of which he had worried over.

For the remainder of his life Bill actively battled what he felt was exaggerated concern over the role of CO₂ in climate change. His priorities were the nation, science in both its methodology and institutions, and honesty and fairness. While he was often allied with conservatives, his children both felt that Bill was supportive of their frequently opposing views. One of Bill’s last e-mail messages to one of us (R.S.L.) was a reminder that a proper representation of climate feedback should also automatically eliminate climate drift in coupled models. This is a far deeper and subtler comment than one usually finds associated with this issue. The same e-mail message sought advice on purchasing a flat in Paris, something Bill had his heart set on.

At the time of his death Bill was assembling a panel for the Marshall Institute to prepare a summary of the IPCC Third Assessment Report that would be representative of the text itself. James Schlesinger eventually succeeded him in this effort, and the report, Climate Science and Policy: Making the Connection, was completed in 2001.

Bill’s family created the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest in his honor, which recognizes those who promote science in the public interest and reflects the mission of Scripps: to seek, teach, and communicate scientific understanding of the oceans, atmosphere, Earth, and other planets for the benefit of society and the environment. The world of science will miss Bill’s critical, perceptive, and supportive voice.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Scripps Archivist Deborah Day for her critical and dedicated assistance with this tribute. Bill’s correspondence and personal papers, including a brief autobiography completed shortly before his death, are at the Scripps Archives. These were invaluable in the preparation of this tribute. We would like to thank Jesse Ausubel, Edith Nierenberg, and Ken Watson for their comments and suggestions.

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¹Adapted with permission from Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (available online at www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/). The NAS memoir includes some additional details and citations.
²II Rabi to GE Uhlenbeck, TLS on Feb 20, 1948. The original letter is in the files of the Physics Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. A photocopy is in the Nierenberg papers at Scripps Archives.
³National Research Council. 1983. Changing Climate: Report of the Carbon Dioxide Assessment Committee. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
⁴Climate Science and Policy: Making the Connection. Washington, D.C.: George C. Marshall Institute, 2001.