The last White House Office of Science and Technology Policy chief was John Holdren. He resigned at the end of the Obama administration, leaving the post vacant.

President Trump has been unable to fill the science adviser post, despite having been in office for over a year now.



The MICROSOFT founder made the surprise revelation that Trump asked him to fill the role during their most recent meeting, speaking in a interview with STAT News.

Gates recalled: "I mentioned: ‘Hey, maybe we should have a science adviser."

Trump then offered the position to Gates, who replied: "That's not a good use of my time."

But Gates admitted that it wasn't clear if that job offer was entirely serious.

"I didn’t put him to the test, whether that was a serious thing or not.

"He probably himself didn’t know if he was serious. It was a friendly thing. He was being friendly.”