John Marburger Dies

John Marburger, the former science adviser to President George W. Bush, died, reports The New York Times. He was 70. Marburger started as a physics professor at University of Southern California and eventually directed Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island. With a reputation "as an even-handed manager of difficult assignments," Marburger was nominated to direct the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in September 2001. Once there, he "encountered new controversy," The Times says. "He was widely criticized for defending Bush policies on abstinence-only education and global warming, especially in his defense against an assertion by the National Academy of Sciences that political influence was contaminating the scientific research in government agencies." Talking Points Memo notes that Marburger was much admired as well. In a letter to staff at Stony Brook, Nancy Daneau, deputy to the vice president of research wrote, "Jack will always be to me an amazing and accomplished person, and more important, a very good man for whom I have the utmost respect, admiration, and care."