Alumni Gazette

One of the world’s best-known science diplomats, Norman Neureiter ’52 has lived a life that reads like a novel, with compelling settings, political intrigue, and a global cast of characters. The story of the one-time advisor to Richard Nixon, Madeleine Albright, and Colin Powell could be written in six languages: he reads and speaks German, Russian, Polish, French, Spanish, and Japanese.

Widely honored over the course of his more than 40-year career for his efforts to share scientific and technological information and negotiate cooperative agreements around the world, Neureiter this summer received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the School of Arts & Sciences.

My childhood

My father was an Austrian immigrant who came to the US to teach college chemistry and science in Illinois. My mother was a farm girl who made wonderful jams and jellies. When I was about five years old, our family moved to Geneseo, New York, as my father took a teaching position at the college there.

My passion for language

Although my father was fluent in German, he never spoke it at home. This was around the time of the Second World War, when speaking German was not something many in the US did. In high school, I took to Latin quickly, and my affinity for language flourished in college.

When I started at Rochester, I recall my dad telling me to study whatever I wanted but to learn Russian because it would be very useful someday. It was the best advice I was ever given.

For a short time, I even taught Russian. That was back in 1957, when Sputnik went off.

My Rochester days

Four years at Rochester influenced me greatly. It was a pivotal time for me, including working at WRUR, being a letter sorter in the post office downtown, selling vanilla ice cream on a stick at a local theater, and even working for the famous wrestler, Gorgeous George, when he came to town. My job entailed walking him into the ring and helping him remove his robe for dramatic effect.

My time as Fulbright scholar

After Rochester, I went to Northwestern University, where I earned a PhD in chemistry. During graduate school, I went to Munich, Germany, as a Fulbright scholar. This was exactly 10 years after the war. American occupation had officially ended. All around me, I saw destruction. So much was in ruins and I thought to myself: What for? Why war? I decided then that I wanted to do what I could to make the world a little better and more peaceful. It sounds idealistic and naive, but it set the course for my life.

My early career

After the Fulbright, I went back to Northwestern to complete my graduate work. Then I went to work as a research scientist at Humble Oil, which later became Exxon, and I was there for about five years. The State Department put a call out looking for Russian interpreters. At that time, a top-ranking Russian official, Alexander Topchiev, was coming to the US to give a series of organic chemistry lectures at universities across the country. The real purpose of his visit, though, was to discuss, in closed-door meetings, the control of nuclear weapons. As a chemist who spoke Russian, I translated the lectures and the secret meetings.

My first time in Russia

My wife, Georgine, and I met at Northwestern. We’ve been married 60 years now. A three-month trip to Moscow turned out to be our honeymoon. I had accepted a position as a guide for a cultural exhibition to be held there. Its purpose was to show how American life was. The Russians previously held an exhibition in New York City.

My continued global service

After the Russian exhibition, I returned to Humble Oil for two years and subsequently went to work for the National Science Foundation. I directed a program, started by President Kennedy, that was committed to developing diplomatic science programs with Japan. I eventually learned Japanese and spent quite a bit of time there.

After the NSF, I became a foreign service science officer for the State Department. I worked in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia. Eastern Europe was behind the iron curtain, and the people who lived there did not have experience with science officers or even with Americans. Sometimes, they thought we were spies. Other times we were followed, and our house was bugged. Knowing that, Georgine and I would turn on the faucet and whisper if we had anything private to discuss.

My time with the State Department

While we were living in Poland for the State Department, a colleague rang to say he was going to retire as the international advisor to the White House Office of Science and Technology. He asked if I wanted the job. I took it.

The late 1960s and early 1970s were interesting international times. There was Vietnam, of course. And there was also China. The US had lacked a formal relationship with China since 1949, but President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger changed that. They asked my office to come up with some ideas, and we presented 40 joint science initiatives. When an official communiqué was issued, we were excited to see that science cooperation was included. It became a key part of our country’s relationship with China back then. Before his resignation, Nixon closed the Office of Science and Technology. I then went to Texas Instruments, where I was a marketing executive for 25 years and worked around the US, Europe, and Asia, spending five years in Japan.

My commitment to science diplomacy

Science diplomacy is such a key part of fostering cooperation among countries. By the early 1990s, interest and support for it seemingly waned. The scientific community thought the government had forgotten that science can be an important tool for engagement. The pendulum began to swing back in its favor, though. After I retired from Texas Instruments, I was invited to join the Department of State as its first science advisor to Secretary Madeline Albright and then Colin Powell.

Following a three-year term, I was asked to join the American Association for the Advancement of Science. I became very involved in science diplomacy with countries where our overall relationships were strained: Burma, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria. I remain involved, particularly in activities with North Korea. I have visited there five times, as we try to use science diplomacy as a tool for engagement. Stay tuned.

With so many countries having access to nuclear warfare and biochemical and other weapons, science diplomacy is more important now than ever. Committing to it helps us all understand how to use science and technology responsibly, which undeniably helps keep the world at peace.

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As told to Kristine Thompson.