Ralph Gomory

wo years before the 9/11 attacks, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation created a program to study biodefense. Led by President Ralph Gomory, the New York-based nonprofit organization that focuses on science and technology issues gave a $3.5 million grant to the Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies at Johns Hopkins University as part of that effort. "At that time, there were very few people interested in terrorism, or even bioterrorism," said the 74-year-old Gomory.

That changed two years ago. Gomory, who arrived at the Sloan Foundation in 1989 after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60 for senior managers at IBM, is a well-respected researcher and technologist with a knack for figuring out the next big thing in his field. Gomory is a "very creative thinker," said Paula Olsiewski, who oversees the Sloan Foundation's bioterrorism program. "He was prescient."

Gomory's early foray into bioterrorism prevention and preparedness led to establishing connections with people involved in homeland security that would later prove valuable. "After 9/11, many people we knew and supported appeared in various government positions, like D.A. Henderson," says Gomory, referring to the doctor who eradicated smallpox in the wild and served as President Bush's chief bioterrorism adviser from 2001 to 2003. Gomory himself served on the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology during the past three Republican administrations.

Since 9/11, the Sloan Foundation has funded many bioterrorism projects, most notably the Homeland Security Department's ready.gov campaign aimed at helping citizens prepare for a terrorist attack. Now Gomory has thrown his foundation's weight behind the America Prepared Campaign, a private effort organized and led by journalist Steven Brill that aims to educate the public on terrorism preparedness. Gomory, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., who graduated from Williams College and Princeton University in the early years of the Cold War, credits his background in science with teaching him to trust his instincts on terrorism preparedness.