JOHN W. LYONS (1930-2024)

BY HRATCH G. SEMERJIAN

JOHN WINSHIP LYONS was born in Reading, Massachusetts, on Nov. 5, 1930, to Margaret (Tolman) Lyons and Louis M. Lyons. The third of four children, his family had been in the Boston area for many years. His father was a renowned journalist at The Boston Globe who later became curator of the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University and a widely known radio and TV news host at WGBH in Boston.

John attended high school in Reading, just north of Boston. He earned his undergraduate education at Harvard College in 1952, receiving an A.B. degree in chemistry. His wife, Grace Catherine Hanley, was from North Reading, but had attended school in Reading, where she met her future husband. They married on Nov. 28, 1953. The couple had four children: Margaret, Mary Ann, John, and Louis. John served in the U.S. Army for two years during the Korean War era. When he completed his service in 1955, he joined Monsanto Corp. as a chemist and started working at its research laboratory located in Everett, Massachusetts. The family later moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where Monsanto had built its new world headquarters and consolidated its laboratory operations.

At Monsanto, Lyons conducted research on the chemistry of phosphorus compounds, the behavior of polyelectrolytes in solution, and rheology. During that period, he also helped write a book on rheology and flow measurements.¹ Eventually, he decided to pursue graduate school while continuing to work; his dissertation research, which he conducted at Monsanto, focused on using DNA (“it was the rage at the time”) as an example of a natural polyelectrolyte. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in physical chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis in 1964. Reflecting on those years, he said: “Got two degrees in almost exactly three years; usually takes 4-5 years; but I had a couple of children and I was motivated to get my ticket as fast as possible.”²

He continued to work in Monsanto’s phosphorus and related chemicals division, where his assignment was to look for new markets for these products. “Phosphorus compounds are superb fire retardants, particularly for cotton and wood, and other oxygen-containing substances. I didn’t start that work; I was moved into a group that was doing work on phosphorus compounds as flame retardants. I got involved in it and became the group leader.”³ While researching the topic, he found no existing books, so he decided to write one. The result was Chemistry and Uses of Fire Retardants, which was widely read at the time.⁴ The book’s main objective was to educate Monsanto customers on improving the fire resistance of various natural and synthetic polymers. The book helped establish his reputation in industry and within the fire research community, leading to his next career move.

Interest in flammability of fabrics used in clothing and other applications was partly driven by the Flammable Fabrics Act that Congress passed in 1953.⁵ In 1967, it was amended to extend its coverage to flammable interior furnishings.⁶ Shortly afterward, in March 1968, the Fire Research and Safety Act was passed; that law amended the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) Organic Act to authorize the establishment of a Fire Research and Safety Program at NBS.⁷

In the late 1960s, NBS asked the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies to form an ad hoc Committee on Fire Research, with Howard Emmons (NAE 1965, NAS) of Harvard as chair. Emmons, considered the dean of fire research in the United States, led the panel, where Lyons served as the “chemist.” The committee prepared a “monumental” report, with 43 recommendations.⁸ Emmons wrote most of the report, but Lyons contributed significantly, particularly to the chemistry-related sections.

Congress was drafting new legislation that would require more concrete action by NBS to meet the spirit of the law. The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 was passed in October 1974, creating a Center for Fire Research at NBS.⁹ The legislation was partly a response to the landmark report, America Burning, published in May 1973, which detailed the devastating toll of lives lost to fire in the United States.¹⁰ The report criticized what it called the nation’s indifference to the fire problem and urged a comprehensive effort by government, industry, and the public to address it. After about a year of recruitment efforts by NBS management, Lyons decided to leave Monsanto and joined NBS in October 1973.

The decision was difficult for Lyons. He recalled: “Most of the people at Monsanto thought that the Federal government was all negative. They didn’t understand why I would possibly consider leaving [Monsanto], but I was really struck by the people here [at NBS], and of course the site, which was then quite new.” The Center for Fire Research was established at NBS in the fall of 1974, with Lyons as its director. However, the anticipated funding for the center never materialized. Instead, the Research Applied to National Needs (RANN) Program at NSF was transferred to NBS. NSF had funded fire research in the private sector, at universities, and other research laboratories. Congress transferred the funds to NBS with the stipulation that the program fund only external programs and not internal research.

The transfer was not entirely welcomed by some NBS staff and management. Unlike most other federal agencies, NBS had little experience managing an external research program. Some managers were highly suspicious of anything that might divert the staff from laboratory work. However, Lyons considered the program a perfect complement to NBS research and an interesting experiment. He later reflected: “The experiment worked. And in fact, it raised the quality of Bureau’s work, because there’s nobody better in the fire business than (Professor) Howard Emmons. He became part of the program, and I think that kept the standards high internally. We were working with leading universities…And we didn’t know it then, but it was proof of the concept that NBS could do things like that.”¹¹ Based on this experience, Lyons believed that NBS could successfully run external programs, a notion later reinforced when NBS took on major initiatives such as the Advanced Technology Program.

When Lyons joined NBS, he felt that most fire-related work was applied engineering, focused on developing test methods, with little emphasis on fundamental long-term research. His experience at Monsanto had convinced him that the most successful researchers pursued fundamental knowledge, publishing their findings, and solved problems for customers. He was determined to implement this model at NBS. When the Center for Fire Research was established, he organized it into two divisions: Fire Safety Engineering and Fire Science. He then recruited several prominent scientists to strengthen the fire science programs at NBS. According to the National Fire Protection Association, the U.S. fire death rate declined by approximately 60 percent between 1980 and 2022.

John was not just a manager of fire research programs at NBS; his interest in fire was personal and passionate. His fascination went back to the works of Michael Faraday (NAS). Lyons recounted: “(He was) one of the giants of nineteenth century science…At the Royal Institution where Faraday lived his entire working life, lecturing to the public was an accepted part of the assignment. Faraday was an outstanding lecturer, [one of these lectures] was published as ‘The Chemical History of a Candle’…I had discovered this little book while writing my own book on fire retardants and was captivated by it. I became a Faraday fan for life. In my second book on fire¹² I devoted a full chapter to chemical and physical phenomena in flaming combustion and modeled the discussion on Faraday’s lectures.”¹³ Faraday’s painting hung in Lyons’ office until he retired. It also appears in Lyons’ portrait, displayed in the NIST Portrait Room, along with a candle and the logo of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

Concerns about the state of U.S. industry and industrial technology began surfacing in the late 1970s during President Jimmy Carter’s term. Jordan Baruch (NAE 1974), assistant secretary for science and technology at the Department of Commerce, actively worked to focus government attention on issues in the civilian technology sector. He believed the government should be more involved with American industry, helping businesses develop technology. “He was probably 10 or 15 years ahead of his time, looking back…” Lyons recalled.¹⁴ In 1977, NBS Director Ernest Ambler restructured NBS to establish new organizations, including the National Measurement Laboratory (NML) and the National Engineering Laboratory (NEL). Lyons, because of his industry background, was put in charge of organizing NEL activities. In 1978, Lyons became the first director of the newly formed NEL. As computers and robotics were revolutionizing manufacturing, the NEL, under his leadership, expanded its Automated Manufacturing Research Facility. Serving as a test bed and proving ground for emerging technologies, the facility hosted industry researchers who then brought new manufacturing methods back to their firms. This became a successful model for technology transfer, and the experience prepared Lyons to lead NBS through one of the most significant transformations in its history.

During the 1980s, concerns grew that the U.S. was losing its technological edge. Trade deficits increased as Japanese and other foreign manufacturers surpassed U.S. companies in markets long dominated by American industries. One of Lyons’ observations was that “big companies in this country don’t train their suppliers.” In the U.S. large manufacturers simply told their suppliers what they needed, specified the format or standard required, and left them to figure it out themselves. During trips to Japan, he observed the close collaboration between the Japanese government and industry. He studied the Japan Key Technology Center and visited the laboratories of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), realizing that NTT’s research and development program was the driving force behind Japan’s electronics revolution. After NTT’s privatization, profits from the government’s prior investment funded the Key Technology Center, which provided up to 70 percent of capital investments for new technology enterprises over five years. Similarly, Japan’s optoelectronics industry was funded through a comparable approach. Lyons was impressed by this government-industry partnership and shared his findings with Congressional staff. He particularly remembered an early discussion about a “new” NBS with Congressional staff on Nov. 19, 1986, shortly after the midterm elections, when Democrats recaptured control of the Senate.

In response to these concerns, Congress passed the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988,¹⁵ which charged NBS with enhancing U.S. industry’s competitiveness while maintaining its traditional roles in measurement, calibration, and standards. To reflect this new emphasis, the act renamed the agency the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It also established the National Quality Award, the Advanced Technology Program, and the Manufacturing Technology Centers program to accelerate technology transfer to small and medium-sized manufacturers. That initiative later evolved into the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program, which continues to promote manufacturing innovation nationwide.

President George H.W. Bush nominated Lyons on Nov. 17, 1989, to serve as the next NIST director. During his Senate confirmation hearing in February 1990, in response to a question about NIST’s future, Lyons stated:

“In some critical respects the Institute will be unchanged in the years ahead. We shall still have a substantial core of fundamental research in science and engineering and thereby serve both our internal interests and those of the technical community at large. We shall continue our dedication to excellence in all of our activities. We shall continue to work on the basic physical and chemical standards of measurement on which our National quality assurance systems are based and provide the necessary services to all those seeking to base their work on ours. The Institute will keep up its work in supporting technologies. We shall continue to serve as a crossroads for the technical community, conducting hundreds of conferences, hosting thousands of visitors, and participating in a myriad of external committees and activities. The Institute will remain an open laboratory.”

The Senate confirmed his appointment on Feb. 8, and he was sworn in as the ninth director of NBS/NIST on Feb. 9, 1990. Lyons believed that staff should conduct both long-term basic research and short-term applied research that could be quickly transferred to industry. This approach, he argued, would facilitate “instantaneous” technology transfer. For this reason, he discouraged separating research and standards divisions in the laboratories. Lyons was pleased with NIST’s progress during his tenure. In his statement during the 1991 Appropriation hearings, he said:

“The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 established new programs and approaches on a successful foundation at the old National Bureau of Standards. The Act confirms the importance of the existing NBS functions and reaffirms the primary NBS mission to promote the competitiveness of U.S. industry…Today NIST is a far different laboratory. Over a thousand guest scientists and 88 cooperative research and development agreements with industry and academia (plus 33 in the process of completion) have become part of our lives. We are in the closing stages of our first competition under the Advanced Technology Program. We have three Regional Centers for the Transfer of Manufacturing Technology in the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program, and we are in the process of selecting two more.”

In 1993, President Bill Clinton took office and appointed a new NIST director. Lyons then became director of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in nearby Adelphi, Maryland, and retired from ARL in 1998.¹⁶ In retirement, he served for many years as a distinguished research fellow at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., where he shared his experiences with the scientific community.¹⁷ He held a dozen patents and authored four books, including Fire, published by Scientific American Books in 1985. He also wrote more than 60 technical and scientific papers and delivered dozens of lectures on scientific research, technology, and national laboratory management. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1985, was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Washington Academy of Sciences, and was a member of the American Chemical Society and Sigma Xi.

During a 2013 interview at NIST, Lyons was asked how he would like to be remembered. He responded: “As somebody that could straddle science and technology…and who could actually support basic work and at the same time worry about the application or the results of that work.”

John was not only a renowned scientist but also a man deeply devoted to his family and community. While living in Webster Groves, a St. Louis suburb, in the mid-1960s, he participated in and later chaired a “block partnership” through his church. These partnerships aimed to pressure public officials to improve conditions at the notorious Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex in downtown St. Louis.

In 1973, Lyons and his family moved from St. Louis to a 200-year-old farmhouse near rural Mount Airy, Maryland. For more than 50 years, he enjoyed a respite from his demanding career, raising farm animals as pets, riding horses, tending a vegetable garden, tinkering with cars and tractors, baking bread, completing multiple crosswords each day, and welcoming children — later grandchildren and a great-grandchild — along with extended family, business associates, and friends from around the world to its pastoral setting.

Lyons was active in lay leadership at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Libertytown, Maryland, a nearly 200-year-old parish. He was its incorporator for 25 years and helped lead the church community through the reconstruction of the main sanctuary after a devasting fire in 2004. Previously, he had served as Parish Council president and was a lector for Sunday Mass for decades.

John died on March 14, 2024, in Frederick, Maryland, after a brief illness. He was 93. He is survived by his wife, Grace C. Lyons; daughters Margaret Emily Lyons (Donald Keyser) and Mary Ann Lyons; sons John Hanley Lyons (Kathleen) and Louis Martin Lyons II (Christina); nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. He was predeceased by his daughter, Elizabeth Catherine Lyons, who died at five weeks old on Jan. 15, 1956.

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¹ Van Wazer JR, Colwell RE, Kim KY, and Lyons JW. 1963. Viscosity and Flow Measurement: A Laboratory Handbook of Rheology. New York: Interscience Publishers.
² Lyons JW. “Technology at NIST – A Memoir of the Lyons Directorship: 1990-93.” Unpublished Manuscript, John Lyons biographical file, Box 16, Folder 11. Archives, NIST Research Library and Museum.
³ Lyons JW. “Technology at NIST – A Memoir of the Lyons Directorship: 1990-93.”
⁴ Lyons JW. 1970. The Chemistry and Uses of Fire Retardants. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
⁵ P.L. 83-88. 1953. Flammable Fabrics Act, June 30.
⁶ P.L. 90-189. 1967. Flammable Fabrics Act Amendment, December 14.
⁷ P.L. 90-259. 1968. Fire Research and Safety Act, March 1.
⁸ National Research Council. 1969. A Proposed Fire Research Program. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
⁹ P.L. 93-498. 1974. The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act, October 29.
¹⁰ National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control. 1973. America Burning, The Report of the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control. May. Washington, DC: National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control. Available at https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/fa-264.pdf.
¹¹ Lyons JW. “Technology at NIST – A Memoir of the Lyons Directorship: 1990-93.”
¹² Lyons JW. 1985. Fire. Scientific American Books, Inc.
¹³ Lyons JW. “Technology at NIST – A Memoir of the Lyons Directorship: 1990-93.”
¹⁴ Lyons JW. “Technology at NIST – A Memoir of the Lyons Directorship: 1990-93.”
¹⁵ P.L. 100–418. 1988. Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, 102 Stat. 1107, Aug. 23.
¹⁶ Moye WT. 1999. “Dr. John W. Lyons: Interviews with the Director.” Army Research Laboratory, December. Available at https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA372275.pdf.
¹⁷ Lyons JW. 2012. “Reflections on Over Fifty Years in Research and Development: Some Lessons Learned.” Center for Technology and National Security Policy, National Defense University, February. Available at https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA559598.pdf.