In 1957, the United States Atomic Energy Commission appointed Dr Richard G. Hewlett to be the historian of the Atomic Energy Commission.
Upon taking up this post, Hewlett proposed the creation of an historical advisory committee for the AEC.
His proposal was referred to historians James Phinney Baxter III and Samuel Eliot Morison and Nobel Prize–winning physicist Isidor I. Rabi.
These three men recommended the approval of Hewlett's proposal as a means of giving credibility of the AEC Historical Office's work and avoiding self-serving official history.
In cases where a chairman also served as a regular member of the committee, his dates of such service are listed in the alphabetical listing of members.