Edward David

Edward E. David Jr.

Credentials

  • Sc.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1950).1Edward E. David,” Nixon Presidential Library & Museum. Accessed January, 2012.
  • M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1947).2Edward E. David,” Nixon Presidential Library & Museum. Accessed January, 2012.
  • B.S. degree in electrical engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (1945).3Edward E. David,” Nixon Presidential Library & Museum. Accessed January, 2012.

Background

Edward David is an American electrical engineer. He served as a past science advisor to president Richard M. Nixon. He resigned from his position with Nixon in 1973, because of “disappointment that his advice had not been heeded.”4Lyons, Richard D. (January 3, 1973). Science Adviser to Nixon Leaving for Industry Job. New York Times

David was past president of Exxon Research and Engineering Company and Vice-President of Science and Technology of Exxon Corporation.5Science and Technology in the National Interest: The Presidential Appointment Process (2001),” Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy. The National Academies Press. See page 10. 6Overview of Policy Issues: Panel Report,” NYAS, Vol. 334, Pages 108-115 (December, 1979).

He was also the past executive director of Bell Telephone Laboratories, and President of his own investment firm, EED, Inc. He is now retired.7Corporate Membership: Edward Emil David, Jr. ’47,” The MIT Corporation. Accessed January, 2012.

Stance on Climate Change

David was one of sixteen “scientists” who signed an inflammatory Wall Street Journal opinion piece titled “No Need to Panic About Global Warming” that stated:8No Need to Panic About Global Warming,” The Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2012.

“The lack of warming for more than a decade—indeed, the smaller-than-predicted warming over the 22 years since the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) began issuing projections—suggests that computer models have greatly exaggerated how much warming additional CO2 can cause. Faced with this embarrassment, those promoting alarm have shifted their drumbeat from warming to weather extremes, to enable anything unusual that happens in our chaotic climate to be ascribed to CO2.”

Key Quotes

“The time has come for a closer and more intimate relationship between industry and academia.”9Edward E. David Jr. “Science Futures: The Industrial Connection,” Science, 203(4383), March 2, 1979: 837. Quoted in “Big Oil U.” (PDF), Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Key Deeds

January 27, 2012

David is one of 16 scientists who appended their signatures to a Wall Street Journal article titled “No Need to Panic About Global Warming.”10No Need to Panic About Global Warming,” The Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2012.

The article argues that elected officials should avoid implementing climate change policy because it would “divert resources from real needs and are based on alarming but untenable claims of ‘incontrovertible’ evidence.”

Other “scientists” whose signatures appear include Claude Allègre, J. Scott Armstrong, Jan Breslow, Roger Cohen, William Happer, William Kininmonth, Richard Lindzen, James McGrath, Rodney Nichols, Burt Rutan, Harrison H. Schmitt, Nir Shaviv, Michael Kelly, Henk Tennekes, and Antonino Zichichi..

Interestingly, 255 members of the United States National Academy of Sciences wrote their own essay, this on the realities of climate change, which had been rejected by the Wall Street Journal in favor of the sixteen-scientist letter.11Peter Gleick. “Remarkable Editorial Bias on Climate Science at the Wall Street Journal,” Forbes, January 27, 2012.

Media Matters also reported on the WSJ article, and also found that most of the scientists who signed the Op-Ed “Do Not Actually Publish Peer-Reviewed Climate Research.” They also contacted Yale Economist William Nordhaus who had been cited by the article, and he replied that it was a “Complete Mischaracterization Of My Work.”12The Journal Hires Dentists To Do Heart Surgery,” Media Transparency, January 30, 2012.

Affiliations

Publications

According to a search of Google Scholar, there do not appear to be any publications in peer-reviewed journals by an “Edward E. David Jr.”

The search does list him as the “Panel Chair” for a 1979 policy report at the New York Academy of Sciences. The report discusses alternative energy sources. At the time he was President of Exxon Research and Engineering Company, and Vice-President of Science and Technology of the Exxon Corporation.

The report’s introduction states that “Any hope of utilizing fusion, photovoltaics, the breeder, biomass, solar, or solar thermal energy on a large-scale economically feasible basis in the next two decades is based on a thin thread of optimism, as is the hope for massive reductions in energy demand through end-use conservation.”25Overview of Policy Issues: Panel Report,” NYAS, Vol. 334, Pages 108-115 (December, 1979).

Other Resources

Resources

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