Richard Meserve

Meserve received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University in 1966 {{cite web|title=Richard A. Meserve, 2013|url=https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF02/20130313/100439/HHRG-113-IF02-Bio-MeserveR-20130313.pdf|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=U.S. House of Representatives}} He then began pursuing his doctorate in physics at Stanford University. While doing his graduate research, he decided to attend law school as well, {{cite journal|title=Applying Physics to Law, Oct. 1, 2003|issue=10 |pages=30–32 |url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.1628993|accessdate=16 February 2021|journal=Physics Today|date=October 2003 |volume=56 |doi=10.1063/1.1628993|last1=Feder |first1=Toni }} and entered Harvard Law School, where he received a J.D. in 1975.{{cite web|title=Meserve, Fisher to lead Overseers, Apr. 30, 2012|date=30 April 2012 |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/04/meserve-fisher-to-lead-overseers/|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=The Harvard Gazette}}{{cite web|title=Richard A. Meserve, 2013|url=https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF02/20130313/100439/HHRG-113-IF02-Bio-MeserveR-20130313.pdf|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=U.S. House of Representatives}} He received a Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford in 1976, after completing his dissertation.{{cite web|title=Meserve, Fisher to lead Overseers, Apr. 30, 2012|date=30 April 2012 |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/04/meserve-fisher-to-lead-overseers/|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=The Harvard Gazette}}{{cite web|title=Carnegie's Meserve First Recipient of Tufts Vannevar Bush Dean's Medal, 2011|url=https://carnegiescience.edu/news/carnegie%E2%80%99s-meserve-first-recipient-tufts-vannevar-bush-dean%E2%80%99s-medal|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=Carnegie Institution for Science}}{{cite journal|title=Applying Physics to Law, Oct. 1, 2003|issue=10 |pages=30–32 |url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.1628993|accessdate=16 February 2021|journal=Physics Today|date=October 2003 |volume=56 |doi=10.1063/1.1628993|last1=Feder |first1=Toni }}

Meserve married Martha "Marty" Meserve (Richards) on September 20, 1966, and they have two daughters: Amy Meserve (b. Nov. 1966) and her husband, Jeffrey "Jeff" Bergstrom, and Lauren Meserve (b. June 1971), and three granddaughters: Sophie (b. Oct. 2001), Sydney (b. Dec 2003), and Sylvie Bergstrom (b. Apr. 2008).

Meserve has a history of making political donations to Democratic candidates and committees. {{Cite web|title=OpenSecrets.org Donor Lookup - Richard Meserve|url=https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=richard+meserve|access-date=May 28, 2021}}

After graduating from law school, Meserve served as a law clerk to Justice Benjamin Kaplan of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court during 1975-76 and Justice Harry Blackmun of the Supreme Court of the United States during its 1976-77 term.{{cite web|title=Meserve, Fisher to lead Overseers, Apr. 30, 2012|date=30 April 2012 |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/04/meserve-fisher-to-lead-overseers/|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=The Harvard Gazette}}{{cite web|title=Richard A. Meserve, 2013|url=https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF02/20130313/100439/HHRG-113-IF02-Bio-MeserveR-20130313.pdf|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=U.S. House of Representatives}} After his clerkships, he became legal counsel to Frank Press, science and technology advisor of President Jimmy Carter, from 1977 to 1981.{{cite web|title=Meserve, Fisher to lead Overseers, Apr. 30, 2012|date=30 April 2012 |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/04/meserve-fisher-to-lead-overseers/|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=The Harvard Gazette}}{{cite journal|title=Applying Physics to Law, Oct. 1, 2003|issue=10 |pages=30–32 |url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.1628993|accessdate=16 February 2021|journal=Physics Today|date=October 2003 |volume=56 |doi=10.1063/1.1628993|last1=Feder |first1=Toni }} During that tenure, Meserve led the staff-level response at the White House to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident.{{cite journal|title=Applying Physics to Law, Oct. 1, 2003|issue=10 |pages=30–32 |url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.1628993|accessdate=16 February 2021|journal=Physics Today|date=October 2003 |volume=56 |doi=10.1063/1.1628993|last1=Feder |first1=Toni }}

Meserve began practicing law at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., in 1981 as an associate; he became a partner of that firm in 1984.{{cite web|title=Meserve, Fisher to lead Overseers, Apr. 30, 2012|date=30 April 2012 |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/04/meserve-fisher-to-lead-overseers/|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=The Harvard Gazette}}{{cite book|last1=Westwood|first1=Howard C.|title=Covington & Burling: 1919-1984|date=1986|page=390}} Much of his work in private practice involved legal issues with connections to science or scientific institutions.{{cite book|last1=Miller|first1=Charles A.|title=Covington: A Centennial Story|date=2018|page=401}} He also served on a variety of committees of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.{{cite web|title=Chairman Richard A. Meserve, 1999|url=https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/organization/commission/former-commissioners/meserve.pdf|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Public Affairs}} After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, Meserve chaired a panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences to assess the safety of nuclear reactors operated by the Department of Energy at the Savannah River Site to create nuclear weapons materials.{{cite news|title=Nuclear Arms Plant Ordered to Reduce Power for Safety, March 21, 1987|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/03/21/nuclear-arms-plant-ordered-to-reduce-power-for-safety/c60f739b-7dec-4718-9e0b-dda825e1108a/|accessdate=16 February 2021|newspaper=Washington Post}}

In August 1999, President Bill Clinton nominated Meserve to become Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and was confirmed by the United States Senate in October 1999.{{cite web|title=Richard A. Meserve, Chairman, 2000|url=https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/organization/commission/former-commissioners/meserve.html|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=NRC}}{{cite journal|title=Meserve Joins NRC, Nov. 1999| issue=11 | pages=55–58 |url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.2802831?journalCode=pto|accessdate=16 February 2021|journal=Physics Today| date=November 1999 | volume=52 |doi = 10.1063/1.2802831| last1=Goodwin | first1=Irwin }} He continued as NRC Chairman after the 2001 inauguration of President George W. Bush. {{cite journal|title=Applying Physics to Law, Oct. 1, 2003|issue=10 |pages=30–32 |url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.1628993|accessdate=16 February 2021|journal=Physics Today|date=October 2003 |volume=56 |doi=10.1063/1.1628993|last1=Feder |first1=Toni }}{{cite web|title=Carnegie's Richard Meserve Awarded Nuclear Industry Leadership Prize, 2012|url=https://carnegiescience.edu/news/carnegie%E2%80%99s-richard-meserve-awarded-nuclear-industry-leadership-prize|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=Carnegie Institution for Science}}

In 2003, Meserve became the ninth President of the Carnegie Institution for Science.{{cite web|title=Carnegie's Meserve First Recipient of Tufts Vannevar Bush Dean's Medal, 2011|url=https://carnegiescience.edu/news/carnegie%E2%80%99s-meserve-first-recipient-tufts-vannevar-bush-dean%E2%80%99s-medal|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=Carnegie Institution for Science}}{{cite web|title=About|date=22 September 2014 |url=https://carnegiescience.edu/about|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=Carnegie Institution for Science}} He also resumed the practice of law on a part-time basis in 2004 with Covington & Burling.

since 2003, he has served as U.S. representative and Chairman of the International Nuclear Safety Group of the International Atomic Energy Agency.{{cite web|title=Class Notes, 1966, 2016|url=https://tuftsmagazine.com/issues/magazine/2016/fall/class-notes|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=Tufts Magazine}}{{cite web|title=Meserve, Fisher to lead Overseers, Apr. 30, 2012|date=30 April 2012 |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/04/meserve-fisher-to-lead-overseers/|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=The Harvard Gazette}}{{cite web|title=International Nuclear Safety Group (INSAG), Membership (as at May 2020)|url=https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/18/06/insag-members-list.pdf|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=International Atomic Energy Agency}} In 2010, United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu appointed Meserve to the federal government’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.{{cite web|title=Carnegie's Meserve First Recipient of Tufts Vannevar Bush Dean's Medal, 2011|url=https://carnegiescience.edu/news/carnegie%E2%80%99s-meserve-first-recipient-tufts-vannevar-bush-dean%E2%80%99s-medal|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=Carnegie Institution for Science}} In 2016, Meserve received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, from the Government of Japan, for his role advising that government in its response to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.{{cite web|title=Class Notes, 1966, 2016|url=https://tuftsmagazine.com/issues/magazine/2016/fall/class-notes|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=Tufts Magazine}} He became President Emeritus of the Carnegie Institution for Science in 2014.

He is a member of the American Philosophical Society{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Richard+A.+Meserve&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-07-08|website=search.amphilsoc.org}} and the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Physical Society.{{cite web|title=Meserve, Fisher to lead Overseers, Apr. 30, 2012|date=30 April 2012 |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/04/meserve-fisher-to-lead-overseers/|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=The Harvard Gazette}}

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Category:Tufts University alumni

Category:Stanford University alumni

Category:Harvard Law School alumni

Category:Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials

Category:1944 births

Category:Living people

Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society