Lauriston Sale Taylor papers

Lauriston Sale Taylor (1902-2004), A.B., 1926, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, was a radiation physicist, founder and President of the United States Advisory Committee on X-Ray and Radium Protection (later the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements or NCRP), and Associate Director of the National Bureau of Standards from 1962 to 1965. His research focused on ionizing radiation and radiation protection standards. Taylor developed the guarded field standard ionization chamber and studied radiation measurement and protection, ionization of liquids, and variable oscillators.

Lauriston Sale Taylor was born on 1 June 1902 in Brooklyn, New York to Charles Taylor and Nancy Bell Sale and grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey. At a young age, Taylor became interested in physics and vacuum x-ray tubes. Taylor later attended the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, from 1920 to 1922 before transferring to Cornell University to study physics, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1926. After finishing his undergraduate degree, Taylor stayed at Cornell University, completing all doctorate requirements except for the necessary residency. In 1927, Taylor accepted a one year position to help organize an x-ray research program at the National Bureau of Standards in Gaithersburg, Maryland (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology). While at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), Taylor held several positions, including Chief of Atomic and Radiation Physics, Chief of the Radiation Physics Division, and eventually, Associate Director of the National Bureau of Standards until his retirement in 1965. During several leaves of absence from the NBS, Taylor helped organize the Biophysics Branch of the Atomic Energy Commission and formed the Operations Research Program for the United States Army during World War II, eventually becoming the director of the Operations Research Division of the United States Air Command. For his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star and the Medal of Freedom.

After leaving the NBS, Taylor accepted a position at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Washington, D.C., as Special Assistant to the President and Executive Director of the Academy’s Advisory Committee to the Office of Emergency Preparedness, where he remained until 1972. In addition to his careers at the NBS and NAS, Taylor was the founder and President of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), for which he served as President of from 1929 until his retirement from the organization in 1977.

Taylor is widely known for helping establish the first national standard for x-ray exposure and for his contributions to radiation protection guidelines. While at the NBS, Taylor developed the first guarded-field free-air ionization chamber which he used to compare international x-ray standards. Taylor was also the Secretary of the International Commission on Radiological Protection from 1937 to 1950, as well as the Secretary and Chairman of the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements, 1934 to 1950 and 1953 to 1969, respectively.

During the course of his career, Taylor authored over 160 scientific papers and wrote or contributed to twenty books, including Organization for Radiation Protection: The Operations of the ICRP and NCRP, 1928-1974 (published 1979). He also collaborated with the Bureau of Radiological Health to produce the videotape series, Vignettes of Early Radiation Workers. In his later years, Taylor served as a consultant and testified as an expert witness in several court cases related to radiation exposure.

Lauriston Taylor married Azulah Walker Taylor (died 1972) in 1925. They had two sons: Lauriston S. Taylor, Jr. and Nelson Taylor. In 1973, Taylor married Robena Harper Taylor, mother of Christine O’Shiell, Carolyn Arthur, Cynthia Nagle, and Constance Taylor. Taylor died in 2004.

Please note: Information for this biography was extracted from Taylor's unpublished autobiography, as found in this collection.