THE MISSION OF THE NAVAL STUDIES BOARD (NSB), CREATED IN I974 AT THE REQUEST OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS (CNO), IS TO BE A SOURCE OF INDEPENDENT, LONG-RANGE, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL PLANNING ADVICE FOR THE NAVAL FORCES. AS MUTUALLY AGREED UPON BETWEEN THE CNO AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND WITH THE APPROPRIATE ATTENTION TO THE INFLUENCE OF THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY, NATIONAL OBJECTIVES, SOCIAL IMPERATIVES, AND ANTICIPATED MILITARY REQUIREMENTS, THE NSB WILL CONDUCT AND REPORT UPON SURVEYS AND STUDIES IN THE FIELD OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT APPLICABLE TO THE OPERATION AND FUNCTION OF THE NAVY.
“The farther we look into the future, the more obvious it will become that without a thorough use of science and technology the Navy cannot accomplish its tremendous mission.”
Dr. Edward Teller in Science and the Future Navy: A Symposium, hosted by the Naval Studies Board, 1977
The founders of the National Academy of Sciences portrayed with President Abraham Lincoln in this apocryphal painting by Albert Herter. Left to right: Benjamin Peirce, Alexander Dallas Bache, Joseph Henry, Louis Agassiz, President Lincoln, Senator Henry Wilson, Rear Admiral Charles H. Davis, USN, and Benjamin Apthorp Gould.