Laban Coblentz
| Laban L. Coblentz | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 21, 1961 Ohio |
| Residence | Aix-en-Provence, France |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Education | M.A., English |
| Alma mater | San Francisco State University |
| Occupation | writer, educator, science policy adviser, international civil servant, entrepreneur |
| Known for | Affiliation with Mohamed ElBaradei, Shirley Ann Jackson, Bernard Bigot, science policy innovation |
| Notable work | The Age Of Deception: Nuclear Diplomacy In Treacherous Times - Collaborated with Mohamed ElBaradei |
| Website | www |
Laban L. Coblentz (born July 21, 1961) is a writer, educator, science policy adviser, international civil servant, and entrepreneur. He is an avid proponent of the use of advanced technology for sustainable development.
Coblentz was raised in a pacifistic and insular Amish Mennonite community in Hartville, Ohio. Although the community as a whole was skeptical of higher education and advanced technology, Coblentz has described his father, Alvin S. Coblentz, as a "self-taught researcher, educator, and 'technologist' of sorts: a watch and clock repairman." A biography of Alvin describes his design of a mechanical device that enabled the operation of an automobile accelerator and brake with a single pedal, compensating for his physical disability and allowing him to get a driver’s license. Coblentz has also spoken of his father's creation, in the mid-1960s, of a functioning radio in a wrist-watch case, an invention that was never brought to market because of Alvin's lack of familiarity with the US patent process. The family of eight subsisted on the $200 per month Alvin earned from publishing a conservative Mennonite periodical, The Fellowship Messenger.
Yet Coblentz says his stimulating home environment shaped him:
Well before I started school, I was reading, writing, and disassembling and reassembling pocket watches on the kitchen table. The same incessant three questions have driven me ever since, whether the challenge facing me was setting a pocket watch mainspring, controlling the innards of a nuclear submarine, streamlining a bureaucratic policy, unlocking the potential of a research university, promoting a biotechnology business concept, or unraveling the riddle of U.S.-Iran relations: "What makes it tick?" "How can we make it work better?" and "How can we explain the answers to those who need to know?" I became fascinated by the power of curiosity, the power of innovation, and the power of narrative.
Despite pressure from his church leaders to be content with a high-school education, Coblentz pushed to attend Malone University, a nearby Quaker college, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Psychology in 1982. At Malone, Coblentz took up journalism and fiction, becoming the editor of the campus newspaper and the literary magazine. He also dabbled in theater – a creative outlet that had been forbidden during his early years – taking leading roles in four consecutive university productions, and writing and directing his first play, The Playground.
Shortly after leaving Malone, Coblentz took another “forbidden” path, enlisting in the United States Navy, a decision that led to excommunication from his Amish Mennonite congregation. From 1983 to 1985 he studied reactor physics, nuclear propulsion engineering and radiochemistry at the Naval Nuclear Power School in Orlando and a small reactor prototype in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. This was his first exposure to advanced technology, a shift in focus that would impact his subsequent research and career. He then spent four years aboard the USS Aspro, a Sturgeon-class nuclear submarine. Coblentz has said that his first acquaintance with a nuclear weapon came via sleeping on one, referring to the makeshift bunks arranged atop the submarine’s torpedo racking system where nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles were stored.
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