Research allowed Bolton to build the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, which became an important center for the study of quasars. Caltech did not spell an end to Bacher's service in Washington. He served two terms as a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, from November 18, 1953, to June 30, 1955, and from December 9, 1957, to December 31, 1959. During his first term he testified on behalf of his old friend at the Oppenheimer security hearing in 1954. During his second, he worked with James L. Fisk and Ernest Lawrence to examine how a Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty could be monitored. Bacher remained chair of the division of physics, mathematics and astronomy at Caltech until 1962, when he was appointed as vice president and provost. He stepped down from the post of provost in 1970 at the age of 65, and became a professor emeritus in 1976. He still did some research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and visited Caltech from time to time. In 1983 he was master of ceremonies at Los Alamos for events commemorating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the laboratory in 1943. Bacher died on November 18, 2004, at a retirement home in Montecito, California. He was survived by his daughter, Martha Bacher Eaton, and son, Andrew Dow Bacher, a nuclear physicist working at Indiana University, his wife Jean having died on May 28, 1994. His papers are in the California Institute of Technology Archives. Notes References External links 1983 Audio Interview with Robert Bacher by Martin Sherwin Voices of the Manhattan Project Annotated bibliography for Robert Bacher from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues Oral History interview transcript with Robert Bacher on 30 June 1966, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives Oral History interview transcript with Robert Bacher on 13 February 1986, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives 1905 births 2004 deaths People from Loudonville, Ohio People from Ann Arbor, Michigan People from Los Alamos, New Mexico American nuclear physicists Manhattan Project people Cornell University faculty California Institute of Technology faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society Presidents of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics Presidents of the American Physical Society