Lightning Rod: A History of the Air Force Chief Scientist's Office. . - Touch and Go - book review

Aerospace Power Journal, Summer, 2002

Lightning Rod: A History of the Air Force Chief Scientist's Office by Dwayne A. Day. Chief Scientist's Office, United States Air Force, Washington, D.C., 2000, 310 pages.

Starting with the famous bond between Gen Hap Arnold and Dr. Theodore von Karman, Dwayne Day uses the history of the Air Force Chief Scientist's Office to chronicle the relationship between the Air Force's leadership and the science and technology community. Since the establishment of the position of chief scientist in 1950, 29 interesting and diverse individuals from academia, industry, and the government have served as the principal science and technology advisor to the chief of staff and secretary of the Air Force. Day gives us a synopsis of the life and career of the individuals who have filled this important role, as well as a taste of the political and technological environment in which they served. In this volume, we see that the relationship between Air Force leadership and its chief technology advisor has been sometimes effective, sometimes tumultuous, and sometimes ineffective, depending upon the personalities involved and the atmosphere at the time. Lightning Rod will be of most interest to avid A ir Force historians or science and engineering officers curious about how technology decisions are made at the highest levels of the Air Force.