Facts: - prizes: public freedom -lrb- 1963 -rrb- welfare medal -lrb- 1960 -rrb- presidential medal of - death date: 30 november 1967 - field: physics - work institution: u. development office of naval research nsf of cincinnati yale office of scientific research and - birth date: 4 june 1892 - name: alan tower waterman - nationality: us - birth place: cornwall-on-hudson , new york - alma mater: princeton Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of alan tower waterman .
Answer:
alan tower waterman -lrb- june 4 , 1892 -- november 30 , 1967 -rrb- was an american physicist .born in cornwall-on-hudson , new york , he grew up in northampton , massachusetts .his father was a professor of physics at smith college .alan also became a physicist , doing his undergraduate and doctoral work at princeton university , from which he obtained his ph.d. in 1916 .he joined the faculty of the university of cincinnati , and married mary mallon -lrb- sister of h. neil mallon -rrb- there in august 1917 .he later became a professor at yale university , and moved to north haven , connecticut in 1929 .during world war ii , he took leave of absence from yale to become director of field operations for the office of scientific research and development , and the family moved to cambridge , ma .he continued his government work and became deputy chief of the office of naval research .in 1950 , he was appointed as first director of the u.s. national science foundation -lrb- nsf -rrb- .waterman was awarded the public welfare medal from the national academy of sciences in 1960 .he served as director until 1963 , when he retired and was subsequently awarded the presidential medal of freedom .he died in 1967 .alan and mary had six children : alan jr. , an atmospheric physicist , neil , barbara , anne , guy , the well-known climber , and mary .besides his scientific talents , he was an accomplished musician and an avid outdoorsman , and eventually became a licensed maine guide .the crater waterman on the moon is named after him , as is mount waterman in the hughes range of antarctica .since 1975 , the national science foundation has annually issued the alan t. waterman award -lrb- named in waterman 's honor -rrb- to a promising young researcher .