Gardiner L. Tucker

Gardiner Luttrell Tucker (1925 – 2021)[1] was an American scientist and former government official. He was the former director of IBM Research and was Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Analysis in the Nixon administration.[2][3] He also served as Assistant Secretary General of NATO.[4]

Gardiner L. Tucker
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Analysis
In office
March 30, 1973 – January 30, 1970
Preceded byIvan Selin
Succeeded byLeonard Sullivan
Personal details
Born
Gardiner Luttrell Tucker

1925 (1925)
New York City, New York
Died2021 (aged 95–96)
EducationColumbia University (BA, PhD)
Occupationscientist, government official

Biography

Tucker was born in 1925 in New York City.[1] His father, Ernest E. Tucker, was an osteopathic doctor who was on the staff of LeRoy Sanitarium.[5]

Tucker graduated from the Birch Wathen School in 1943, and from Columbia College in 1947,[6] Phi Beta Kappa, with special distinction in mathematics and physics. In 1953, he received his PhD from Columbia University, where he studied with Isidor Isaac Rabi.[7][8] He was also a member of the Sigma Xi honor society.[7]

A year before earning his doctorate from Columbia, he was recruited by Wallace John Eckert as a research physicist at the Watson Laboratory at Columbia University to help advance IBM's research capabilities in solid state physics.[2][9]

In 1954, he was promoted to physicist in charge of semiconductor research at Poughkeepsie, New York.[8] In 1957, he became manager of research analysis and planning staff of IBM's Poughkeepsie campus.

In 1959, Tucker was made manager of IBM's San Jose, California research laboratory and in 1961 advanced to Director of Development Engineering of the IBM World Trade Corporation.[7] In January 1963, Tucker was named IBM's Director of Research.[2]

As Director of Research, Tucker launched a planning effort that pulled together staff from various divisions to determine what projects could be handled by existing technologies and what would require a radically different approach, streamlining the company's research and development agenda.[10] He also started research into field effective transistors and related areas such as processing techniques, chemistry, lithography, and circuit design, laying the groundwork for IBM's mainframe memories.[10]

In 1967, Tucker was invited to join the United States Department of Defense as Deputy Director of Defense Research and Engineering for Electronics and Information Systems.

In 1969, he was appointed Principal Deputy Director of Defense Research and Engineering before being named Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Analysis.[7][11][9] Tucker assumed office in January 1970 and served in that position for three years before joining NATO as Assistant Secretary General for Defense Support, a post he held from 1973 to 1976.[4][12][13][14]

From 1976 to 1985, Tucker was vice president for Science and Technology for International Paper.[15] He also served as a director of Motorola and was the chairman of the technology committee and a member of the executive and audit committees.[1][15]

Tucker died in November 2021.[1]

References
  1. "Gardiner Luttrell Tucker Obituary (2021) New York Times". Legacy.com. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  2. "IBM100 – The First Corporate Pure Science Research Laboratory". www-03.ibm.com. March 7, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  3. "Department of Defense Key Officials" (PDF). Historical Office, OSD. 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  4. "NATO Who is Who: Principal Officials to the NATO International Staff". nato.int. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  5. "DR. ERNEST E, TUCKER". The New York Times. January 18, 1958.
  6. Columbia College (Columbia University). Office of Alumni Affairs and Development; Columbia College (Columbia University) (1962–1963). Columbia College today. Columbia University Libraries. New York, N.Y. : Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development.
  7. Services, United States Congress Senate Committee on Armed (1970). Nomination of Gardiner L. Tucker to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense: Hearing, Ninety-first Congress, First Session ... December 19, 1969. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  8. "The IBM Watson Laboratory at Columbia University". columbia.edu. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  9. "Physicists in the Industrial Environment—A Talk with Gardiner Tucker". Physics Today. 20 (11): 85–87. November 1967. doi:10.1063/1.3034035.
  10. Buderi, Robert (July 14, 2000). Engines Of Tomorrow: How The Worlds Best Companies Are Using Their Research Labs To Win The Future. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-1248-9.
  11. "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXXV, National Security Policy, 1973–1976 – Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  12. Tucker, Gardiner L.; Irving, J. N. B. (March 1976). "Standardisation and Defence in NATO". The RUSI Journal. 121 (1): 7–14. doi:10.1080/03071847609421226. ProQuest 1305557629.
  13. Sulzberger, C. L. (November 21, 1976). "A Smaller Bang for a Buck". The New York Times.
  14. "Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird, left, congratulates Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Analysis Gardiner L. Tucker after presenting him with the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal during a ceremony at the Pentagon. Tucker has served in his position since January 30, 1970. His wife and son stand by during the ceremony". The U.S. National Archives. January 3, 1973. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  15. "Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934". SEC. 1994. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
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