Walter Isaacson

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Walter Isaacson
Isaacson in 2012
Born
Walter Seff Isaacson

(1952-05-20) May 20, 1952 (age 71)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Pembroke College, Oxford (BA)
Spouse
Cathy Wright
​
(m. 1984)​
Broadcasting Board of Governors
In office
July 2, 2010 – January 27, 2012
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byJames K. Glassman
Succeeded byJeff Shell

Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the president and CEO of the

Time
.

Isaacson attended

The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986) and the author of Pro and Con (1983), Kissinger: A Biography (1992), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), American Sketches (2009), Steve Jobs (2011), The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (2014), Leonardo da Vinci (2017), The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race (2021) and Elon Musk
(2023).

Isaacson is a professor at

government board that runs Voice of America
, and was a member of the Defense Innovation Board.

Early life and education

Walter Seff Isaacson was born on May 20, 1952,

real estate broker.[5] He attended New Orleans' Isidore Newman School, where he was student body president. He also attended the Telluride Association Summer Program (TASP) at Deep Springs College
.

Isaacson studied at

first-class honours.[2][4]

Career

Media

Isaacson began his career in journalism at

New Orleans Times-Picayune. He joined Time magazine in 1978, serving as the magazine's political correspondent, national editor, and editor of new media before becoming the magazine's 14th editor in 1996.[8][9]

Isaacson became chairman and CEO of

Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) organization, which said that Isaacson's "pandering" behavior was endowing conservative politicians with power over CNN.[12][13]

In January 2003, he announced that he would step down as president of CNN to become president of the Aspen Institute.[11] Jim Walton replaced Isaacson as president of CNN.[10]

Isaacson served as the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute from 2003 until 2018, when he announced that he would step down to become a professor of history at Tulane University and an advisory partner at the New York City financial services firm Perella Weinberg Partners.[3] In November 2017, the Aspen Institute named Dan Porterfield, the president of Franklin & Marshall College, as Isaacson's successor.[14]

In March 2017, Isaacson launched a podcast with Dell Technologies called Trailblazers, which focuses on technology's effects on business.[15] In 2018, Isaacson was named as a contributor for the Amanpour & Company airing on PBS and CNN that replaced The Charlie Rose Show.[16]

Writing

Isaacson is the author of multiple published books, including Kissinger: A Biography (1992), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007) and American Sketches (2009). He additionally co-authored with Evan Thomas the work The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986).[2][17]

On October 24, 2011,

authorized biography of Apple Inc.'s Jobs, was published by Simon & Schuster, only a few weeks after Jobs's death. It became an international best-seller, breaking all records for sales of a biography. The book was based on over forty interviews with Jobs over a two-year period up until shortly before his death, and on conversations with friends, family members, and business rivals of the entrepreneur.[18][19][20][21][22]

In October 2014, Isaacson published

digital revolution, most notably the parallel developments of the computer and the Internet. It became a New York Times bestseller.[23] Writing for the New York Times, Janet Maslin described the author as "a kindred spirit to the visionaries and enthusiasts" whom Isaacson wrote about.[24]

He is the editor of Profiles in Leadership: Historians on the Elusive Quality of Greatness (2010,

W. W. Norton).[4][25]

His self-titled biography of Leonardo da Vinci was published on October 17, 2017, to positive reviews from critics.[26][27] In August 2017, Paramount Pictures won a bidding war against Universal Pictures for the rights to adapt Isaacson's biography of da Vinci. The studio bought the rights under its deal with Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions, which said that it planned to produce the film with DiCaprio as the star.[28] Screenwriter John Logan (The Aviator, Gladiator) has been tapped to pen the script.[29]

His book

The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race was published in March 2021 by Simon & Schuster. It is a biography of Jennifer Doudna, the winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on the CRISPR system of gene editing.[30] The book debuted at number one on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list for the week ending March 13, 2021.[31] Publishers Weekly called it a "gripping account of a great scientific advancement and of the dedicated scientists who realized it."[32]

Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk was published by Simon & Schuster on September 12, 2023. It was shortlisted for the 2023 Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award.[33]

Government

Isaacson at a State Department briefing in 2008

In October 2005, the Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, appointed Isaacson vice chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, a board that oversaw spending on the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. In December 2007, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the chairman of the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership, which seeks to create economic and educational opportunities in the Palestinian territories.[34] Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed him vice-chair of the Partners for a New Beginning, which encourages private-sector investments and partnerships in the Muslim world.[35]

He also served as the co-chair of the

Radio Free Europe, and the other international broadcasts of the U.S. government; he served until January 2012.[37]

In 2014, he was appointed by New Orleans Mayor

Defense Innovation Advisory Board. In 2018, he was appointed by New Orleans mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell
to be co-chair of her transition team.

Positions

Isaacson is an advisory partner at Perella Weinberg, a financial services firm. He is the chairman emeritus of the board of

Teach for America and is on the boards of United Airlines, Halliburton Labs, The New Orleans Advocate/Times-Picayune, New Schools New Orleans, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Institution for Science and the Society of American Historians, of which he served as president in 2012.[41]

In March 2019, Isaacson became the editor-at-large and senior adviser for Arcadia Publishing, where he was to promote books for the company as well as be involved in editing, new strategy development, and partnerships.[42]

Isaacson is an Associate of the History of Science Department and a member of the Lowell House Senior Common Room at Harvard University. He is also an honorary fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. Walter Isaacson is a special professor of history at Tulane University.[43][44] He teaches the course "The Digital Revolution" every spring and the course "Law and U.S. History" every fall. His courses often feature prominent guest speakers such as author Michael Lewis, Kickstarter founder Perry Chen, and billionaire businessman James Coulter. At Tulane, Isaacson co-chairs the annual New Orleans Book Festival.[45][46]

Honors

In 2023, Isaacson received the National Humanities Medal from President Joe Biden. The White House citation of Isaacson's award emphasizes that his "work, words, and wisdom bridge divides between science and the humanities and between opposing philosophies, elevating discourse and our understanding of who we are as a Nation".[47]

Isaacson's book Steve Jobs, about the life of the entrepreneur, earned Isaacson the 2012 Gerald Loeb Award.[48]

In 2012, he was selected as one of the Time 100, the magazine's list of the most influential people in the world.[49] Isaacson is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was awarded its 2013 Benjamin Franklin Medal.[50][51] He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society[52] and an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.

In 2014, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Isaacson for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. The title of Isaacson's lecture was "The Intersection of the Humanities and the Sciences".[53]

He has honorary degrees from Tufts University, Cooper Union, William & Mary, Franklin University Switzerland, University of New Orleans, University of South Carolina, City University of New York (Hunter College), Pomona College, Lehigh University, Duke University, and Colorado Mountain College, where the Isaacson School of Media and Communications is named after him.[54][55] He was the 2015 recipient of The Nichols-Chancellor's Medal at Vanderbilt University.[56]

Bibliography

  • Pro and Con: Both Sides Of Dozens Of Unsettled And Unsettling Arguments. (Putnam, 1983).
    ISBN 0-399-12869-7
    .
  • Isaacson W,
    ISBN 9780571146062.[57]
  • ISBN 978-0-671-66323-0.[58]
  • ISBN 978-0-684-80761-4.[59][60]
  • ISBN 978-0-7432-6474-7.[61][62]
  • Isaacson, Walter (December 2009). "How Einstein divided America's Jews". The Atlantic. 304 (5): 70–74.
  • American Sketches. (Simon & Schuster, 2009).
    ISBN 978-1-4391-8344-1
    .
  • ISBN 978-1-4516-4853-9
    .
  • ISBN 978-1-4767-0869-0
    .
  • Leonardo Da Vinci. (Simon & Schuster, 2017).
    ISBN 978-1-5011-3915-4.[63][64]
  • ISBN 978-1-9821-1585-2.[65]
  • ISBN 978-1982181284.[66]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Isaacson, Walter 1952–". Contemporary Authors. Archived from the original on April 30, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Encyclopedia.com.
  2. ^
    New York Times
    , March 9, 1998.
  3. ^ a b Neibauer, Michael (March 15, 2017). "Walter Isaacson leaving the Aspen Institute". Washington Business Journal. Archived from the original on March 15, 2017.
  4. ^
    The Times-Picayune. Archived from the original
    on February 12, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Skinner, David. "Awards & Honors: 2014 Jefferson Lecturer: Walter Isaacson". National Endowment for the Humanities. Archived from the original on May 16, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  6. ^ "Family of Sid Salinger". Sid Salinger. August 19, 2013. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  7. The New Orleans Advocate. January 11, 2017. Archived
    from the original on September 28, 2021.
  8. ^ William C. Skinner (May 4, 2016). "Q&A with Walter S. Isaacson". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on September 18, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  9. ^ Paul D. Colford (November 15, 2000). "Moving up the Ladder Big Time". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on June 19, 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  10. ^
    The Chicago Tribune. Archived
    from the original on March 19, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  11. ^ a b "CNN: Head of news network to step down". The Chicago Tribune. January 14, 2003. Archived from the original on March 19, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  12. ^ Eason Jordan (August 15, 2001). "New CNN Chief Trying to Please GOP Elite". FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting). Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  13. ^ "New CNN chairman meets with GOP critics". USA Today. Associated Press. August 6, 2001. Archived from the original on January 18, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  14. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived
    from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  15. ^ Johnson, Lauren (March 15, 2017). "Walter Isaacson Is Getting Into Podcasting With a Series About Technology". Adweek. Archived from the original on March 15, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  16. ^ Guthrie, Marisa (May 8, 2018). "Christiane Amanpour Will Lead New PBS Late-Night Program". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 8, 2018.
  17. ^ "Walter Isaacson". Author page. Simon & Schuster. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  18. ^ Lynch, Rene (October 6, 2011). "Steve Jobs biography: Release date moves up, skyrockets to No. 1". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019.
  19. ^ Brad Stone, "Jobs Is Said to Assist With Book on His Life" Archived November 17, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, New York Times, February 15, 2010.
  20. ^ Peralta, Eyder (April 11, 2011). "Steve Jobs Authorizes Biography; It's Due Out Early 2012". NPR. Archived from the original on October 14, 2019.
  21. ^ Swisher, Kara (August 15, 2011). "New Jobs Bio Cover Is All Apple With Pub Date of November". All Things Digital. Archived from the original on August 27, 2011.
  22. PMID 22458204. Archived
    from the original on March 22, 2012.
  23. ^ Rachel Pickering (October 29, 2014). "The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson". Maroon Weekly. Campus Press LP. Archived from the original on September 3, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  24. ^ Janet Maslin (October 8, 2014). "Heralds of the Digital Tomorrow". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 18, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  25. ^ Janet Maslin, "The Scale of Einstein, From Faith to Formulas," Archived February 21, 2017, at the Wayback Machine New York Times, April 9, 2007.
  26. ^ "Bookmarks reviews of Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson". LitHub. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  27. ISBN 978-1-5011-3915-4
    .
  28. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (August 12, 2017). "Update: Paramount Wins Leonardo Battle: Lands Walter Isaacson Da Vinci Book For DiCaprio". Deadline. Archived from the original on August 12, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
  29. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (February 1, 2018). "John Logan To Adapt Walter Isaacson's Leonardo Da Vinci Book For Leo DiCaprio". Deadline. Archived from the original on February 2, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2020. Paramount has set John Logan to adapt the Walter Isaacson book Leonardo da Vinci as a star vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio to play the painter/scientist. DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson [Jennifer Davisson Killoran] are producing through their Appian Way banner.
  30. ISBN 9781982115852. Archived
    from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  31. ^ "Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction - Best Sellers". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 31, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  32. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson". Publishers Weekly. January 26, 2021. Archived from the original on February 12, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  33. ^ "FT Business Book of the Year Award shortlist". Books+Publishing. October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
  34. ^ "President Bush Meets with U.S.-Palestinian Public-Private Partnership" Archived March 18, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, White House press release, December 2007.
  35. ^ "Partners for a New Beginning" (PDF). United States Department of State. April 26, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 17, 2019. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will serve as the Chair of PNB. Walter Isaacson (President of The Aspen Institute) and Muhtar Kent (Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company) will serve as Vice-Chairs.
  36. ^ Mason, Margie (June 16, 2010). "Plan addresses Agent Orange legacy in Vietnam - World news - World environment". msnbc.com. Hanoi: NBC News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2020. $300 million ($352 million in 2019) for Agent Orange fund
  37. ^ "President Obama More Key Administration Posts" Archived February 16, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, White House press release, November 18, 2009.
  38. ^ Woodward, Alex (December 1, 2014). "Mayor Landrieu unveils New Orleans' tricentennial group". Best of New Orleans. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015.
  39. ^ "My Brother's Keeper Fact Sheet". My Brother's Keeper Alliance. Archived from the original on May 10, 2015. Board and Leadership Team: Walter Isaacson, CEO, Aspen Institute
  40. New Orleans Times-Picayune. Archived from the original
    on November 2, 2016.
  41. ^ "Executive Board | Society of American Historians". Society of American Historians. Archived from the original on March 7, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2020. Executive Board, 2011-2012 [...] Officers: Walter Isaacson, President
  42. ^ Hoff, Patrick (March 25, 2019). "Walter Isaacson joins Arcadia Publishing". Charleston Regional Business Journal. SC Biz News. Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  43. ^ "Leonard A. Lauder funds Tulane University professorship on American history and values". March 9, 2020. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  44. ^ "Walter Isaacson, School of Liberal Arts at Tulane University". Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  45. ^ "New Orleans book festival canceled by COVID on for October". Associated Press. July 3, 2021. Archived from the original on May 24, 2023. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  46. ^ "Our Team". The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University. Archived from the original on May 24, 2023. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  47. ^ "Walter Isaacson". The National Endowment for the Humanities. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  48. ^ "UCLA Anderson Announces 2012 Gerald Loeb Award Winners". UCLA Anderson School of Management. June 26, 2012. Archived from the original on July 19, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2019. Business Books Winner: Walter Isaacson for 'Steve Jobs' published by Simon & Schuster
  49. ^ Albright, Madeline K. (April 18, 2012). "The World's 100 Most Influential People: 2012". Time. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013.
  50. ^ "2013 Benjamin Franklin Medal Presentation To Walter Isaacson". RSA United States. October 2013. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013.
  51. ^ SDA, RSA-US (October 9, 2013), 2013 Benjamin Franklin medal: Walter Isaacson, archived from the original on January 14, 2019, retrieved March 19, 2020
  52. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  53. Times-Picayune. Archived from the original
    on February 4, 2014.
  54. ^ "The Isaacson School at Colorado Mountain College". Colorado Mountain College. Archived from the original on April 9, 2019. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  55. ^ "Walter S. Isaacson, Commencement Speech, May 22, 2012 | The Cooper Union". cooper.edu. May 30, 2012. Archived from the original on March 18, 2015. Retrieved March 19, 2020. [W]hen I first started writing about Benjamin Franklin, I thought of him as a writer, a humanities type, somebody interested in governance. I did realize that he was probably the most important experimental scientist of his time. Both with the electricity experiment and so many of his other inventions. And I realize that a Benjamin Franklin or a Thomas Jefferson would have thought people philistines if they didn't appreciate the beauty of science. And likewise, Albert Einstein, a great scientist would have thought people philistines if they were scientists and didn't appreciate the beauty of Goethe or Mozart, or all of the literature or music that he loved.
  56. ^ Patterson, Jim (May 7, 2015). "Connect your passion to something that matters, Isaacson urges Vanderbilt graduating seniors". Archived from the original on November 4, 2018.
  57. ^ Published simultaneously in London by Faber.
  58. ^ "Review of Kissinger by Walter Isaacson". Kirkus Reviews. July 1, 1992. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  59. ^ Maslin, Janet (July 3, 2003). "Review of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson". NY Times. Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  60. ^ "Review of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson". Kirkus Reviews. July 4, 1983. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  61. ^ Maslin, Janet (April 9, 2007). "Review of Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson". NY Times. Archived from the original on November 11, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  62. ^ "Review of Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson". Kirkus Reviews. February 15, 2007. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011.
  63. ^ Kafka, Alexander C. (October 12, 2017). "Review of Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  64. ^ "Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson". The Objective Standard. May 10, 2019. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  65. ISBN 978-1-9821-1585-2. Archived
    from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  66. ISBN 978-1-9821-8128-4. Archived
    from the original on November 26, 2023. Retrieved May 19, 2023.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Walter Isaacson.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Walter Isaacson.
External videos
video icon Booknotes interview with Isaacson on Kissinger, September 27, 1992, C-SPAN
video icon Louisiana Legends interview with Isaacson by Gus Weil, April 5, 1998, LDMA
video icon Presentation by Isaacson on Benjamin Franklin, July 22, 2003, C-SPAN
video icon Interview with Isaacson on Benjamin Franklin, October 4, 2003, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Isaacson on Benjamin Franklin's legacy, May 11, 2016, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Isaacson on Einstein, April 12, 2007, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Isaacson on Einstein, November 10, 2007, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Isaacson on Einstein, September 27, 2008, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Isaacson on American Sketches, December 1, 2009, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Isaacson on Steve Jobs, December 13, 2011, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Isaacson on Steve Jobs, September 22, 2012, C-SPAN
video icon Interview with Isaacson on The Innovators, May 30, 2014, C-SPAN
video icon Interview with Isaacson on The Innovators, October 14, 2014, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Isaacson on The Innovators, November 22, 2014, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Isaacson on Leonardo da Vinci, November 18, 2017, C-SPAN
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