[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 100 (Monday, July 22, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1308-E1309]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING DR. BRUCE TAUCHER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ELLEN O. TAUSCHER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 22, 2002

  Mrs. TAUSCHER. Mr. Speaker, as we mark the end of Dr. C. Bruce 
Tarter's tenure as the Director of Lawrence Livermore National 
Laboratory, I would like to take this opportunity to celebrate his 
career and honor his accomplishments. During his more than 30 years 
with Livermore Laboratory he has served in capacities that truly span 
the broadest possible range, beginning with a summer internship as a 
graduate student, and culminating

[[Page E1309]]

with his appointment as Director. During his tenure at the lab, Dr. 
Tarter has been steadfast in his commitment to apply science and 
technology to the important problems of our time, as well as 
establishing strong institutional ties with the University of 
California.
  Dr. Tarter received his bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. His 
formal career with Livermore lab began in 1967 as a staff member in the 
Theoretical Physics Division, where he was widely recognized as a 
future leader. Within the decade he was promoted to head of Theoretical 
Physics, where he advanced his belief that Livermore should use world-
class science and technology of our national priorities.
  It was also during this time that Dr. Tarter became a leader in 
solidifying the Livermore Laboratory and University of California 
relationship. Throughout the 1980s Dr. Tarter was a major player in the 
creation of the Laboratory Institutes, notably the Institute of 
Geophysics and Planetary Physics, the Center for Accelerator Mass 
Spectrometry, and the Institute for Scientific Computing Research. 
These institutes, created under Director Roger Batzel, have become 
important tools for the laboratory interacting with the university 
community.
  To guarantee the laboratory ability to use science and technology to 
solve the major problems of our day, Dr. Tarter has long been a 
champion of building the world's best supercomputers at Livermore. He 
has worked to ensure that these supercomputers are used for cutting-
edge fundamental supercomputing, as well as critical national security 
computing.
  His leadership in these areas and others propelled him to the ranks 
of senior management in 1989, as associate director physics, during the 
waning days of the Cold War. Realizing that the political climate 
demanded a sharpened focus on weapons and space-age technology, he 
expanded the position to include weapons physics and space technology, 
leading to the Clementine mission to the moon. He also headed a broadly 
based environmental program in global climate and other environmental 
research.
  In addition to his work at Livermore Laboratory, Dr. Tarter has 
served in a number of other outside professional capacities. These 
include a 6-year-period with the Army Science Board; service as an 
Adjunct Professor at the University of California at Davis; and 
membership on the California Council on Science and Technology, the 
University of California President's Engineering Advisory Council, the 
Laboratory Operations Board, Pacific Council on International Policy, 
Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee, and the Council on Foreign 
Relations. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and received 
the Roosevelt Gold Medal Award for Science in November 1998.
  Since being named director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 
in 1994, Dr. Tarter has remained dedicated to the themes developed 
throughout his career and has continued to adapt to changes in both 
science and the world at large. Under his stewardship the laboratory 
has been a principal contributor to the Department of Energy's programs 
to maintain the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without testing 
underground testing and to reduce the international dangers posed by 
weapons of mass destruction.
  Commenting on the Laboratory's mission, Dr. Tarter has said that 
these efforts have ``set the base for major national security program 
accomplishments in the future.'' While Dr. Tarter is stepping down as 
director of Livermore Lab, and his official leadership will be missed, 
we are grateful that he will remain on staff at Livermore, no doubt 
continuing to lead in his field. Always forward-looking and full of 
boundless energy, Bruce would never want me to speculate about his 
legacy, and I don't need to--his record speaks for itself. 
Congratulations, Bruce, and on behalf of my colleagues and the American 
people, thank you.

                          ____________________