Clifford C. Furnas

Clifford Cook Furnas (October 24, 1900 – April 27, 1969) was an author, Olympic athlete, scientist, expert on guided missiles, university president, and public servant. He was first cousin of the author Evangeline Walton.

Olympic career

• 1920 Olympic Games, Antwerp, Belgium^[1]
• 1922 Big 10 Conference Medal, for best combined scholastic and athletic record

Education

• 1922 B.S., with honors, Purdue University
• 1926 Ph.D., University of Michigan
• 1946 Honorary Doctor of Engineering, Purdue University
• 1957 Honorary Doctor of Engineering, University of Michigan
• 1958 Honorary Doctor of Laws, Alfred University
• 1960 Honorary Doctor of Science, Thiel College
• 1963 Degree Honoris Causa, University National de Asuncion

Academic career

• 1922-1924 Teacher of Mathematics, Shattuck School, Minnesota
• 1924-1925 Research Chemist with U.S. Steel Corporation
• 1926-1931 Physical Chemist with U.S. Bureau of Mines
• 1931-1941 Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Yale University
• 1941-1942 Technical aide at the National Defense Research Committee
• 1943-1946 Director of Curtiss-Wright Aeronautical Research Laboratory at Buffalo, New York
• 1946-1954 Director and Executive Vice President of Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory
• 1954-1962 Chancellor, University of Buffalo
• 1962-1966 President, State University of New York at Buffalo^[2]
• 1962-1966 President, Western New York Nuclear Research
• 1966-1969 President Emeritus, State University of New York at Buffalo

Government career

• 1952-1953 Chairman, Guided Missile Commission, Research and Development Board
• 1954-1957 Chairman, U.S. Department of Defense Advisory Panel on Aeronautics
• 1954-1969 Member, U.S. Army Science Advisory Panel
• 1955-1957 Member of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
• 1955-1957 Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Development
• 1956-1957 Chairman, Air Navigation Development Board
• 1957-1969 Member of the Defense Science Board
• 1958-1969 Member of the Naval Research Advisory Committee
• 1961-1965 Chairman of the Defense Science Board
• 1961-1969 Chairman, New York Advisory Council, Industrial Research and Development
• 1968-1969 Vice-Chairman, National Research Council

Publications

• 1932 America’s Tomorrow
• 1935 The Unfinished Business of Science
• 1936 The Next Hundred Years
• 1937 Man, Bread and Destiny
• 1937 Technological Trends and National Policy (section on metallurgy)
• 1939 The Storehouse of Civilization
• 1940 The Individual and the World
• 1940 Excerpts from Our Intellectual World Sections 9-13, Division II of The Individual and the World
• 1948 Research in Industry
• 1957 Sputnik. Why did the US lose the race? Critics speak up, Life Magazine, October 21, 1957
• 1966 The Engineer

References

External links

• Clifford C. Furnas Collection, State University of New York at Buffalo
• Papers of Clifford C. Furnas, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library