Weaver, Warren, 1894-1978

In his nearly three decades of leadership of the natural sciences at the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), Warren Weaver contributed substantially to the mid-century revolution in biology and agricultural science. Over a lifetime dedicated to building bridges across the sciences, he also contributed significantly to mathematics, statistics, physics, computer science, and scientific associations.

Warren Weaver was born in Reedsburg, Wisconsin in 1894. He received his B.A. and Ph.D., as well as a Certificate of Engineering, from the University of Wisconsin. He served in the Army in World War I and taught mathematics at Throop College of Technology (now the California Institute of Technology) until 1920. Later that year, at the request of his mentor, physics professor Max Mason, Weaver joined the mathematics department at University of Wisconsin and chaired the department from 1928 – 1932. Together, in 1929, Mason and Weaver wrote the classic physics textbook, The Electromagnetic Field.

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