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President-elect Kennedy Names Jewish Scientist His Scientific Advisor

January 13, 1961
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Dr. Jerome Bert Wiesner, a Jewish scientist, was named yesterday as special scientific advisor to President-elect John F. Kennedy.

The 54-year-old professor of engineering and director of the research laboratory of electronics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was born in Detroit. His father, Joseph Wiesner, operated a dry goods store in Dearborn. Dr. Wiesner has been a member of the President’s Science Advisory Committee and of the Army Scientific Advisory Committee.

During World War II. Dr. Wiesner directed the development of the airborne early warning radar, and at Los Alamos he was in charge of an electronic development group and of planning the instrumentation for the Bikini atomic bomb test. His government advisory work has taken him all over the world. Early in his career, he became interested in books for the blind and is now chairman of the technical committee of the American Foundation for the Blind.

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