"From the wreckage of wartime London to the halls of power at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Guy Stever devoted his life to the pure and unselfish pursuit of science. President of Carnegie Mellon University, Chief Scientist of the U. S.

Air Force, Director of the National Science Foundation, member of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, science advisor to two presidents...Guy Stever was a central figure in twentieth century science - consistently on the front lines, changing the fate of a nation.".

"In this thoughtful and candid memoir, Stever recounts an extraordinary career that reveals as much about the man as about the major scientific and technological events of his day. Born of humble origins and orphaned at an early age, Stever journeyed from a small town in New York to work alongside British comrades who were developing and refining the critical radar technology that was to turn the tide of the war against the Germans.

As a technical intelligence officer, these harrowing wartime years took him from the beachheads of Normandy to the German slave-labor factories responsible for building the V-2 rockets.".

"Intimately involved in American's nascent guided missile program and a key player in the anti-ballistic missile defense program that heralded the era of the Cold War, Stever exerted lasting influence on countless scientific endeavors. He was instrumental in the formation of new institutions, from the creation of NASA to the merging of Carnegie Tech and the Mellon Institution, giving birth to Carnegie Mellon University."--BOOK JACKET.