Edward Alan Knapp

Edward Alan Knapp (March 7, 1932 – August 17, 2009)[1] was an American physicist and was Director of the National Science Foundation from 1982 to 1984.

Edward Alan Knapp
7th Director of the National Science Foundation
In office 1982–1984
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	John Brooks Slaughter
Succeeded by	Erich Bloch
Personal details
Born	(1932-03-07)March 7, 1932 Salem, Oregon, US
Died	August 17, 2009(2009-08-17) (aged 77) Santa Fe, New Mexico, US
Nationality	American
Residence	Santa Fe, New Mexico
Occupation	physicist
Alma mater	Pomona College University of California, Berkeley
Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Institutions	Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
Thesis	Angular distribution of photo-pions from hydrogen (1958)

Knapp graduated with BA from Pomona College in 1954, and with a PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1958.[2] He then moved to the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, where he became division leader of the accelerator technology division.

In 1978, he was a guest scientist in the USA–USSR Exchange Program in Fundamental Properties of Matter.[1] He also was a guest scientist in the US–Japanese Cooperative Cancer Research Program (NCI) in 1979.[1]

On July 12, 1982, he was nominated by Ronald Reagan to succeed William Klemperer as Assistant Director for the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate of the National Science Foundation. In November 1982, he became Director of the NSF, succeeding John Brooks Slaughter. In August 1984, he gave up the position to Erich Bloch and returned to scientific research.[3]

Knapp died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on August 17, 2009 after battling pancreatic cancer.[4]