Rush holt biography

HOLT, Rush, (son of Rush D. Holt), a Representative from New Jersey; born in Weston, Lewis County, W. Va., October 15, 1948; graduated from the Landon School, Bethesda, Md., 1966; B.A., Carleton College, Northfield, Minn., 1970; M.S., New York University, New York, N.Y., 1974; Ph.D., New York University, New York, N.Y., 1981; Congressional Science Fellow with United States House of Representatives, Office of Representative Bob Edgar of Pennsylvania, 1982-1983; faculty, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pa., 1980-1988; acting chief, Nuclear and Scientific Division, Office of Strategic Forces, United States Department of State, 1987-1989; assistant director, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, 1989-1997; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Sixth and to the seven succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1999-January 3, 2015); unsuccessful candidate for nomination for the United States Senate in 2013.

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American scientist and politician (born 1948)

Rush Dew Holt Jr. (born October 15, 1948) is an American scientist and politician who served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 12th congressional district from 1999 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party and son of former West Virginia U.S. Senator Rush D. Holt Sr. He worked as a professor of public policy and physics, and during his tenure in Congress he was one of two physicists and the only Quaker there.

Holt sought the Democratic nomination in the 2013 special primary election to fill the seat of U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, who died in office on June 3, 2013. He lost the nomination to Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Holt announced on February 18, 2014 that he would not seek re-election to the U.S. House that year.

In February 2015, Holt became chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of the Science family of journals. He served in that role until his retirement in September 2019.

Early life and education

Holt was born in Weston, West Virginia, to Rush Holt Sr. (1905–1955), who served as a United States Senator from West Virginia (1935–1941), and his wife, Helen Froelich Holt (1913–2015), the first woman to be appointed Secretary of State of West Virginia (1957–1959). The senior Holt was the youngest person ever to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate, at age 29. He died of cancer when Rush Jr. was six years old in 1955.

Holt graduated from the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1966, then later graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BS in physics from Carleton College in 1970, and later received his MS and PhD degrees in physics from New York University in 1981. The title of his doctoral dissertation was "Calcium absorption lines and solar activity: a systematic program of observations."

Academic career

Rush Holt Speaker Biography

Rush D. Holt, Ph.D., became the chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of the Science family of journals in February 2015. In this role, Holt leads the world's largest multi-disciplinary scientific and engineering membership organization.

Over his career, Dr. Holt has held positions as a teacher, scientist, administrator, and policymaker. From 1989 to 1998, Holt was assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), a Department of Energy national lab, which is the largest research facility of Princeton University and one of the largest alternative energy research facilities in the country. At PPPL, Holt helped establish the lab's nationally renowned science education program. From 1980 to 1988, Holt was on the faculty of Swarthmore College, where he taught courses in physics and public policy. In 1982, he took leave from Swarthmore to serve as an AAAS/American Physical Society Science and Technology Policy Fellow on Capitol Hill. The Fellowships program, dating to 1973, places outstanding scientists and engineers in executive, legislative, and Congressional branch assignments for one or two years; as of 2017, the program has served more than 3,600 alumni working worldwide in the policy, academic, industry, and nonprofit realms. Holt has said that his AAAS S&T Policy Fellowship was "career changing." From 1987 to 1989, Holt served as an arms control expert at the U.S. State Department, where he monitored the nuclear programs of countries such as Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union. In 1981, Holt was issued a patent for an improved solar-pond technology for harnessing energy from sunlight.

Before coming to AAAS, Holt served for 16 years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New Jersey's 12th Congressional District. In Congress, Holt served as a member of the Committee on Natural Res

American politician (1905–1955)

"Senator Holt" redirects here. For other uses, see Senator Holt (disambiguation).

Rush Dew Holt Sr. (June 19, 1905 – February 8, 1955) was an American politician who was a United States Senator from West Virginia (1935–1941) and a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates (1931–1935, 1942–1950, 1954–1955).

Early life and family

Holt was born in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia, on June 19, 1905. His parents were Chilela (née Dew) and Dr. Matthew Samuel Holt, a small-town physician and horse trader. Matthew Holt was an atheist, who shifted his political support from the Republican Party to William Jennings Bryan in the 1890s, and then to Socialist candidate Eugene Debs; Matthew Holt attended the Socialist Party's 1917 convention, where he participated in condemning American involvement in World War I.

Rush Holt attended the public schools and West Virginia University at Morgantown; he graduated from Salem College in 1924. He became a high school teacher and athletic coach, then an instructor at Salem College.

Political career

Holt was elected as a Democrat to the West Virginia House of Delegates, serving from 1931 to 1935. In this office, he was described as "a champion of the common man and a critic of privately owned utility corporations."

In November 1934, at 29, he was elected to the United States Senate, but because a Senator is constitutionally required to be at least 30 years old, he could not take his seat until after his 30th birthday in June 1935. Holt was the youngest person ever popularly elected to the U.S. Senate.

Holt was elected with the support of the United Mine Workers and the endorsement of Democratic West Virginia Senator Matthew M. Neely. Holt proclaimed himself an unequivocal supporter of PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt, but acc