A

Ira H. Abbott (1906- ) began working for the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in 1929 after graduating from MIT. He wrote many technical reports on aerodynamics and was instrumental in setting up programs in high-speed research, rising to the position of assistant chief of research at Langley in 1945. Transferring to NACA Headquarters in 1948 as assistant director of research (aerodynamics), he was promoted to the post of director, advanced research programs in NASA in 1959 and to that of director, advanced research and technology in 1961. As such, he supervised the X-15, the supersonic transport, the nuclear rocket, and the advanced reentry programs. He retired in 1962. ("Ira H. Abbott," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, Washington, D.C.)

Loren W. Acton (1936- ) earned a B.A. degree from Montana State University in 1959 and a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in 1965. Trained as a solar physicist, Dr. Acton was a Payload Specialist aboard STS-51F/ Spacelab 2. STS-51F carried 13 major experiments in astronomy, astrophysics, and life sciences. In 1985, he was the senior staff scientist with the Space Sciences Laboratory, Lockheed Research Laboratory in Palo Alto, California. See “Acton, Loren,” biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

John G. Adams (1912- ) had been a Republican party official since World War II and had held a succession of government positions as an attorney since 1949. He became counselor and later general counsel to the Department of the Army in 1953 and served until 1955. He was a consultant on organization and management to the Atomic Energy Commission in 1956-1957 and served as director of the bureau of enforcement in the Civil Aeronautics Board, 1958- 1965. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him a member of the Civil Aeronautics Board in 1965, and he served until 1971.

Sherman Adams (1899-1986) had the title of assistant to the president and served as Eisenhower's chief of staff between 1953 and 1958. Previously he had been a member of the House of Representatives (R-NH) between 1945 and 1947 and governor of New Hampshire from 1949 to 1953. Adams resigned from the Eisenhower administration in 1958 following House subcommittee revelations that he had accepted expensive gifts, including a vicuna overcoat, from a textile manufacturer seeking government favors. On his career, see Kenneth E. Shewmaker, "The Sherman Adams Papers," _Dartmouth College Library Bulletin_, 10 (April 1969): 88-92; John E. Wickman, "Partnership for Research," _Dartmouth College Library Bulletin_, 10 (April 1969): 93-97; _Historical Materials in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library_ (Abilene, KS: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, 1989), pp. 8, 48; _New York Times_, 28 October 1986, p. D-28.

Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) was a former mayor of Cologne, Germany, who had been twice imprisoned during the Nazi era. He was chancellor of West Germany from 1949-1963, during which time he did much to consolidate Germany's first effective democratic and republican form of government. He sponsored a Western European union and a close alliance with France and presided over a resurgence of German industry.

Sergey Aleksandrovich Afanasyev (1918-2001) was the first “space minister,” i.e., Minister of General Machine Building from 1965-1983.  During his tenure, Afanasyev oversaw the N1 and Salyut projects.  (Provided by Asif Siddiqi)

Spiro T. Agnew (1918-1996 ) was elected Vice President of the United States in November 1968, serving under Richard M. Nixon. He served as chair of the 1969 Space Task Group that developed a long-range plan for a post-Apollo space effort. The Post­Apollo Space Program: Directions for the Future (Washington, DC: President's Science Advisory Council, September 1969) developed an expansive program that included building a space station, a space shuttle, a lunar base, and a mission to Mars (the latter goal had been endorsed by the Vice President at the time of the Apollo 11 launch in July 1969). This plan was not accepted by the president and only the Space Shuttle was approved for development. Agnew died 17 September, 1996 of lukemia. See Roger D. Launius, "NASA and the Decision to Build the Space Shuttle, 1969-72," The Historian 57 (Autumn 1994): 17-34.

Bruce Michael Alberts (1938 - ) earned an A.B. in biomedical sciences from Harvard College in 1960 and a Ph.D in biophysics from Harvard University in 1965.  Since 1993, he has served as the president of the National Academy of Sciences, and as chairman of the National Research Council.  See Who's Who in America 2000 New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1999.

Edward C. Aldridge, Jr. (1938- ) spent his entire career in the aerospace community as a corporate and governmental official. He served as undersecretary and then secretary of the Air Force in during the Reagan administration. Before then, he was educated at Texas A&M University and Georgia Institute of Technology, and entered the Department of Defense (DOD) as assistant secretary for systems analysis from 1967 through 1972. He then went to LTV Aerospace Corp. for a year and in 1973 was named as Senior Management Associate in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in Washington. Returning the DOD in 1974 he served as assistant secretary for strategic programs until 1976, and moved to private industry until reentering government service with the Air Force in 1981. See "Aldridge, Edward C.," Biographical File, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Anatoliy P. Aleksandrov (1903- ) was a senior member of the of the Soviet Union's Academy of Sciences throughout much of the 1950s and 1960s and served as its president in 1980-1986. A physicist, Aleksandrov was born in the Ukraine and educated at Kiev State University. He was heavily involved in research on the physics of dielectrics and studies of the properties of compounds having high molecular weight. See "Aleksandrov, Anatoliy, P.," Biographical File, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Bruce Alger (1918- ) (R-TX) was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1954 and served for a decade.

Robert F. Allnutt (1935- ) was a longtime NASA employee throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Born in Richmond, Virginia, and educated at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the George Washington University Law School, Allnutt joined NASA in 1960 as a patent attorney. He then worked as a attorney with the Communications Satellite Corporation, and as NASA Assistant General Counsel (Patents). In 1967 he was named as assistant administrator for Legislative Affairs, and worked as a member of the Apollo 13 Accident Review Board. He left NASA in 1983 to become legal counsel to the U.S. Committee for Energy Awareness. Later he became executive vice president for the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. See "Allnutt, Robert F.," Biographical File, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Gordon L. Allott (1907-1989) (R-CO) was elected to the Senate in 1954 and served until 1973.

Milton B. Ames, Jr. (1913- ) earned a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1936 and joined the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory the same year. In 1941 he transferred to NACA Headquarters where he served on the technical staff. In 1946 he became chief of the aerodynamics division. With the establishment of NASA, he became chief of the aerodynamics and flight mechanics research division. In 1960 he assumed deputy directorship of the office of advanced research programs at NASA Headquarters and then directorship of space vehicles in 1961. He retired in 1972. ("Milton B. Ames, Jr.," biographical files, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

William A. Anders (1933- ) was a career United States Air Force officer, although a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.  Chosen with the third group of astronauts in 1963, he was the backup pilot for Gemini 9 and lunar module pilot for Apollo 8.  Anders resigned from NASA and the Air Force (active duty) in September 1969 and became Executive Secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council.  He joined the Atomic Energy Commission in 1973, and became chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1974.  He was named U.S. Ambassador to Norway in 1976.  Later he worked as a Vice-President of General Electric and then as Senior Executive Vice President-Operations, Textron, Inc.  Anders retired as Chief Executive Officer of General Dynamics in 1993, but remained Chairman of the Board. See "Anders, W.A.," biographical file 000082, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC and (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/anders-wa.html).

Clinton P. Anderson (1895-1975) (D-NM) was elected to the House of Representatives in 1940 and served through 1945, when he was appointed secretary of agriculture. He resigned that position in 1948 and was elected to the Senate, where he served until 1973. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989, (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989).

Robert B. Anderson (1910-1989) was secretary of the treasury between 1957 and 1961. A firm believer like Eisenhower in fiscal restraint, he attempted to hold federal spending within narrow limits and to balance the budget. Previously, he had held a number of important government posts in Texas and Washington, including secretary of the Navy, 1953-1954, and deputy secretary of defense, 1954-1955. In 1961 he became a partner with Carl M. Loeb, Rhoades, and Co.

Victor L. Anfuso (1905-1966) (D-NY) served in the House of Representatives 1950-1952, 1954-1962.

Neil A. Armstrong (1930 -   ) was the first person to set foot on the Moon on 20 July, 1969.  He became an astronaut in 1962 after having served as a test pilot with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (1955-1958) and NASA (1958-1962).  He flew as command pilot on Gemini 8 in March 1966 and commander of Apollo 11 in July 1969.  In 1970 and 1971 he was deputy associate administrator for the office of Advanced Research and Technology, NASA Headquarters.  In 1971 he left NASA to become a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati and to undertake private consulting.  See Neil A. Armstrong, et al., First on the Moon:  A Voyage with Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. (Boston:  Little, Brown, 1970); Neil A. Armstrong, et al., The First Lunar Landing:  20th Anniversary/as Told by the Astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, Michael Collins (Washington, DC:  National Aeronautics and Space Administration EP-73, 1989); (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/armstrong-na.html).

Henry H. (Hap) Arnold (1886-1950) was Commander of the Army Air Forces in World War II, and the only air commander ever to attain the five-star rank of general of the armies. He was especially interested in the development of sophisticated aerospace technology to give the United States an edge in the achievement of air superiority and fostered the development of such innovations as jet aircraft, rocketry, rocket-assisted take-off, and supersonic flight. After a lengthy career as an Army aviator and commander that spanned the two world wars, he retired from active service in 1945. See Henry H. Arnold, Global Mission (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949); Flint O. DuPre, Hap Arnold: Architect of American Air Power (New York: Macmillan, 1972); Thomas M. Coffey, Hap: The Story of the U.S. Air Force and the Man Who Built It (New York: Viking, 1982).

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) was born in Petrovichi, Russia and came to the United States in 1923. He became a member of the faculty, in biochemistry, with Boston University but gained his greatest fame as a writer of extremely sophisticated science fiction. He is best known for the Foundation trilogy (1951-1953), as well as I, Robot (1950) and Fantastic Voyage (1966). In all, Asimov published more than 200 books during his live, many of them fiction but also some non-fiction. See "Isaac Asimov" biographical folder, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

J. Leland Attwood (1904- ) was a long-standing official of North American Rockwell, Inc. He began work as an aeronautical engineer for the Douglas Aircraft Corp., in 1930, and moved to North American in 1934. He became assistant general manager in 1938 and in 1941 was named North American's first vice president. He became president in 1948 and served continually until 1970, when he retired. See "J.L. Attwood," biographical folder, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

William S. Augerson  (1929 -   ) was assigned to the Human Factors Section of the NASA Space Task Group in 1958 where he worked on the development of Life Systems for Project Mercury.  In 1945 he joined the U.S. Navy to serve as an electronics technician and the next year entered Bowdoin College where he majored in Physics and English, graduating with honors in 1949.  He continued his education at Cornell University where he earned his M.D. degree in 1955.  Dr. Augerson then entered on active duty in the U.S. Army, interning at Brooke Army Hospital, San Antonio, Texas.  His other posts included Division Surgeon for the 4th Infantry in 1957-58 and Army Liaison Officer for Bioastronautics Research at the U.S. Air Force Aeromedical Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1958.  He would eventually retire from the Army with the rank of General.  See “Gen. Augerson, William S.,” biographical file 000118, NASA Historical Reference Collection, History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Norman R. Augustine (1935- ) was born in Denver, Colorado, and has been longtime a key person in the aerospace industry. He became chairman and CEO of the Martin Marietta Corporation in the 1980s. Previously, he had served as the Under Secretary of the Army, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Development, and as an Assistant Director of Defense Research and Engineering in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In 1990 he was appointed to head the Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program for the Bush administration. This panel produced the Report of the advisory Committee On the Future of the U.S. Space Program (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, December 1990). The study was enormously important in charting the course of the space program in the first half of the 1990s. See Norman R. Augustine, Augustine's Laws (Washington, DC: American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1984), "Norman R. Augustine" biographical folder, NASA Historical Reference Collection.

B

Georgiy Nikolayevich Babakin (1914-1971) was Chief Designer at OKB-301 from 1965-1971 and led the development of early Soviet lunar, Mars, and Venus probes.  (Provided by Asif Siddiqi)

Peter Badgley (1925- ) received a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1951 and was a specialist in geology and tectonics. He served for a time in the 1960s as Chief of the Earth Resources Survey Program within NASA's Space Applications Programs Office and as Chief of Advanced Missions, Manned Space Science Program within NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications. "Badgley, Peter" biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, Wahington, DC.

D. James Baker (1937 - ) served as administrator of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in the Department of Commerce from 1993-2001.  See Who's Who in America 1996 New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1996.

Malcolm Baldridge (1922-1987) served as Secretary of Commerce from 1981 until his death. Who's Who in America, 44^th edition, 1986-1987 (Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who's Who, 1987).

George Ball (1909-1994), served as Under Secretary of State from 1961-1966. Who's Who in America, 1978-1979 (Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1978) and NASA Headquarters Library, Washington, DC.

John A. Barclay (1909- ) became commander of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency on 31 March 1958 after serving as deputy commander since 1 May 1956 under the more famous John B. Medaris. Barclay had been promoted to the rank of brigadier general on 29 September 1955 after a career in the field artillery and ordnance that included command of Picatinny Arsenal from 1954 to 1956.

Vladimir Pavlovich Barmin (1909-1993) was Chief Designer at GSKB Spetsmash and led the development of Soviet missile and launch vehicle launch complexes.  (Provided by Asif Siddiqi)

Richard J.H. Barnes was director of the International Affairs Division of the Office of External Relations at NASA throughout much of the 1980s. He had been a longtime NASA official, first coming to the agency in 1961 to work in international programs. See "Barnes, Richard J.H." biographical folder, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Bodo Bartocha (1928 - ) earned his B.S. in 1951, an M.S. in 1953, and his Ph.D. (inorganic chemisty) in 1956.  He has served as an adjunct professor in the Arizona Research Laboratory, of the University of Arizona, since 1993.  Previous positions include: head, Propellant Branch, U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory, 1958 to 1961; director of research and acting director, Development, Research and Development Management, Propellant Plant, 1961 to 1964; deputy chief scientist, International Research and Development Management, Office of Naval Research, 1964 to 1966; assistant technology director, Advanced Planning and Development, Naval Ordnance Station, 1966 to1967; staff associate and deputy head, Office of Planning and Policy Studies, Policy Analysis, National Science Foundation, 1967 to1970; deputy executive secretary, Executive Council, Management, 1970 to1971; executive assistant to the assistant director, National and International Programs, 1971; and fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science.  See “Bartocha, Bodo” in American Men and Women of Science, 1998-99, 20th Ed. New Providence, NJ:  R. R. Bower, 1998.

Perkins Bass (1912- ) (R-NH) was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1954 and served through 1962.

Jacques Maurice Beckers (1934 - ) earned his Ph.D. from the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, in 1969, and immigrated to the United States in 1962.  He currently holds a position with the National Solar Observatory, Sacramento Peak, in Sunspot, New Mexico.  Other positions include:  senior researcher at the National Solar Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, where he served as director from 1993 to 1998; astrophysicist with the European Solar Observatory, Germany, 1988 to 1993; director, Advanced Development Program, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 1984 to 1988; and director, Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory, 1979 to 1984.  He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Science.  See “Beckers, Jacques Maurice” in Who’s Who in America, 1956, 10th Ed. New Providence, NJ:  Marquis Who’s Who, 1955.

Arnold O. Beckman (1900- ) received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1928 and became an inventor and manufacturer of various analytical instruments. He became Chairman Emeritus of Caltech's Board of Trustees in 1981. Who's Who in America, 1996 (New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1995).

James M. Beggs (1926 - )  President Reagan nominated James Montgomery Beggs, on June 1, 1981, to become the sixth Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  Beggs took his oath of office on July 10, 1981. Prior to his appointment as NASA Administrator, he had been Executive Vice President and a director of General Dynamics Corporation, St. Louis, Missouri. He served with NASA  from 1968 to 1969 as associate administrator, Office of Advanced Research and Technology. From 1969 to 1973 he was Under Secretary of Transportation.  He went to Summa Corporation, Los Angeles, California, as managing director of operations and joined General Dynamics in January 1974.  Before NASA he had also been with Westinghouse Electric Corporation, in Sharon, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, for 13 years.  His resignation from NASA was effective February 25, 1986. Since leaving NASA Mr. Beggs has worked as a consultant.  See "Beggs, James M.," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Page Belcher (1899-1980) (R-OK) was elected to the House of Representatives in 1950 and served through the 92d Congress (1971- 1973).

David E. Bell (1919- ) was budget director for President Kennedy in 1961-1962. A Harvard University-trained economist, Bell had previously been a member of the staff of the Bureau of the Budget and special assistant to the president during the Truman administration before returning to the Harvard faculty during the later 1950s. Between 1962 and 1966 he served as head of AID, and thereafter as vice president of the Ford Foundation. While budget director, Bell was responsible for working with NASA in establishing a realistic financial outlook for Project Apollo. "Bell, David," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Robert L. Bell was director of the security division in NASA's office of business administration in 1960. (Headquarters Telephone Directory, May 1960, NASA Historical Reference Collection).

Rawson Bennett (1905-1968) became an ensign in the U.S. Navy in 1927, earned an M.S. in electronic engineering at the University of California in 1937, and rose through the ranks to become a rear admiral in 1956. He served as chief of naval research in Washington, D.C., from 1956 through 1961 and then became senior vice president and director of engineering for Sangamo Electric Co. in 1961.

Orville George Bentley (1918 - ) earned a B.S. from South Dakota State College in 1942, an M.S. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1947, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1950.  Dr. Bentley served as assistant secretary of agriculture for science and education from 1982 to 1989.  See  Who's Who in America 2000 New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1999.

Georgiy Timofeyevich Beregovoy( 1921-1995) was Director of the Cosmonaut Training Center from 1972-1987. He was also a cosmonaut from 1964-1982 and flew the Soyuz-3 mission in 1968.  (Provided by Asif Siddiqi)

Spencer M. Beresford (1918-1992) was a general counsel for NASA between 1963 and 1973. A Washington lawyer, he served as a naval officer in World War II and the Korean War, but in 1954 he became general counsel for the Foreign Operations Administration. In 1957, he joined the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress and in 1958 and 1959 he was special counsel to the House Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration. He performed a similar duty for the House Committee on Science and Technology, 1959-1962. After completing his assignment at NASA in 1973, Beresford became general counsel for the Office of Technology Assessment. See "Spencer M. Beresford" biographical folder, NASA Historical Reference Collection.

Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beriya (1899-1953) was Soviet security apparatus chief through 1953. He was one of the most feared and sadistic apparatchiks under Stalin.  (Provided by Asif Siddiqi)

Lloyd V. Berkner (1905-1967) was involved in most of the early spaceflight activities of the United States.  Trained as an electrical engineer, he was interested in atmospheric propagation of radio waves, but after World War II became a scientific entrepreneur of the first magnitude.  He was heavily involved in the planning for and execution of the International Geophysical Year in 1957 and 1958, and served in a variety of positions in Washington, DC, where he could influence the course of science policy.  See “Berkner, Lloyd V.,” biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection.

Warren Walt Berning (1920 - ) is a physicist by training but also an expert in meteorology.  He is currently a Senior Scientist at the Physical Science Laboratory of New Mexico State University.  In 1947, he started a career with the Ballistic Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground as a meteorologist, and stayed until 1950.  From 1950 through 1967 he worked as a physicist at Aberdeen.  See “Berning, Warren Walt” in American Men and Women of Science, 1998-99, 20th Ed. New Providence, NJ:  R. R. Bower, 1998.

Charles A. Berry earned a B.A. degree from the University of California Berkeley in 1945, an M.D. from the University of California Medical School in San Francisco in 1947, and an M.A. in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1956.  He began working with NASA in 1958 when he participated in the selection and flight monitoring of the Mercury 7 astronauts.   From 1963 to 1971, Berry served as director of medical research and operations at the Johnson Space Center.  In 1971, Dr. Berry became NASA director for life sciences at NASA Headquarters where he remained until retirement in 1973.  See “Berry, Charles,” biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Hans Bethe (1906- ) was born in Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine. A mathematical prodiby, he received a Ph.D. in physics in 1928 from the University of Munich. After Hitler came to power in Germany, he left for England and then the United States, landing at Cornell University in 1935. A key figure in atomic physics, he was the head of the Los Alamos theoretical division from 1943 to 1945. After having helped develop the atomic bomb, he later became an outspoken advocate of nuclear arms reduction. He won a Nobel Prize in 1967 for his discovery of how stars nourish their nuclear fires. ("Bethe, Hans A." biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.)

Paul F. Bikle (1916-1991) earned a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Detroit in 1939 and was employed by Taylorcraft Aviation Corp. for a year before working for the Air Corps and Air Force as a civilian from 1940 to 1959, both at Wright Field, Ohio, and at the Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California. At Edwards, he rose to the position of technical director of the center. In 1959 he became director of NASA's Flight Research Center, also at Edwards, a position he held until his retirement in 1971. Both with the Air Force and with NASA, he was associated with many major aeronautical research programs from the XB-43, the first jet bomber, through the successful rocket- powered X-15, to wingless lifting bodies that lead to the Space Shuttle and reusable boosters. ("Paul F. Bikle," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

Henry E. Billingsley (1906- ) was appointed as NASA's director of the office of international cooperation in January 1959. Previously he had served in the Navy in World War II and with the Department of State. "Henry E. Billingsley," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Richard M. Bissell (1909-1994) was a CIA official who was the deputy director for plans during the Bay of Pigs incident. He was also involved in various reconnaissance programs such as the U-2 airplane. Central Intelligence Agency History Office, Washington, DC. Evan Thomas, The Very Best Men (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995) and Richard M. Bissell, Reflections of a Cold Warrior, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996).

Anatoli A. Blagonravov (1895-1975) was head of an engineering research institute in the Soviet Union. As Soviet representative to the United Nations' Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) in the early 1960s he was also senior negotiator with NASA's Hugh L. Dryden for cooperative space projects at the height of the Cold War in the early 1960s. He worked in developing infantry and artillery weapons in World War II, and on rockets afterward. See "Blagonravov, A.A.," Biographical File, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Anatoliy Blagonravov (1894-1975) was President of the Academy of Artillery Sciences from 1946-1950 and a public spokesman for Soviet space program.  (Provided by Asif Siddiqi)

Earl Henry ("Red") Blaik (1897-1989) had been a star end on the Army football team before he graduated in 1920. He later became head football coach there in 1941, and in 18 seasons as a coach achieved a 121-33-10 record. He was named coach of the year in 1946 and elected to the National Football Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1964. He became a vice president and director of Avco Corporation, 1959-60, and then director and chairman of its executive committee in 1960.

Clay D. Blair, Jr. (1925- ) had been successively a correspondent for _Time_ and _Life- magazines before becoming associate editor for the _Saturday Evening Post_ from 1957-1961. He later rose through the position of editor in 1963-1964 to become executive vice president and director of Curtis Publishing Co. in the latter year. He was also the author of numerous books about a variety of subjects, including the atomic submarine and the hydrogen bomb.

Hendrik W. Bode (1905-) was vice president of military development and systems engineering at Bell Telephone Laboratories from 1958-1967. He was a research engineer and worked for Bell from 1926 to 1967, when he became a professor at Harvard.

Albert Boggess served as the Hubble Space Telescope project scientist for operations at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in the 1980s. He also served as the project scientist for the International Ultraviolet Explorer spacecraft from its development phase through the first several years of operation, including its January 1978 launch. ("Boggess, Albert." biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.)

Nancy W. Boggess was a scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center working on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) spacecraft in the latter 1980s and early 1990s. Miscellaneous NASA biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Charles E. ("Chip") Bohlen (1904-1974) was a career U.S. foreign service officer and diplomat who served as ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1953-1957; to the Philippines, 1957-1959; and to France, 1962-1968. Among other posts, he was special assistant to the secretary of state for Soviet affairs, 1959-1961.

J. David Bohlin (1939 - ) has been the senior scientific program executive at NASA Headquarters since 1996.  Prior to his current position as chief scientist of the Space Physics Division, from 1990 through 1995,  he served as chief of solar physics from 1978 through 1990.  He started his career in 1970 with the Naval Research Laboratory as an astrophysicist of solar physics.  See “Bohlin, J. David” in American Men and Women of Science, 1998-99, 20th Ed. New Providence, NJ:  R. R. Bower, 1998.

Herman Bondi was Director General of the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) from 1967 through the early 1970s and the organizations transformation into the European Space Agency (ESA). A British citizen, Bondi later served as Science Advisor to the Minister for Energy. "Biography, Foreign Miscellaneous, a-d," file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986) was a world-famous artist who made a name for himself as the creator of several significant space-oriented. From 1944 on, he mostly worked in space art and illustrated numerous books such as Willy Ley's The Conquest of Space and articles such as Wernher von Braun's articles for the Collier's magazine series on space flight in the 1950s. He also illustrated space sets for science fiction films such as Destination Moon (1950). See "Chesley Bonestell," Ad Astra, July/August 1991, p. 9.

Roger M. Bonnet (1938- ) of France became director of scientific programs for the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1983. Previously he had been director of the stellar and planetary laboratory of the French National Scientific Research Center (CNRS) and chair of ESA's Space Science Advisory Committee from 1978 to 1980. See "ESA Names New Scientific Chief," Defense Daily, January 27, 1983, p. 144.

Walter T. Bonney (1909-1975) was NASA's first director of the office of public information (1958-1960). From 1949 to 1958 he had worked for NASA's predecessor organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and before that, for Bell Aircraft Corp. as manager of public relations. From 1960 to 1971, he served as director of public relations for the Aerospace Corp. ("Walter T. Bonney," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

Walter F. Boone was an admiral, who after retiring from the Navy, became the NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Defense Affairs. He held this post until retiring from NASA in 1968. "Boone, Walter F.," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Frank Borman (1928- ) was the commander of the December 1968 Apollo 8 circumlunar flight. He had been chosen as a NASA astronaut in the early-1960s and had been on the Gemini 7 mission in 1965. After leaving the astronaut corps, he became president of Eastern Airlines. See Andrew Chaiken, A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts (New York: Viking, 1994); and Frank Borman, with Robert J. Serling, Countdown: An Autobiography (New York: William Morrow, 1988).

Karel J. Bossart (1904-1975) was a pre-World War II immigrant from Belgium, who was early involved in the development of rocket technology with the Convair Corp. In the 1950s he was largely responsible for the designed the Atlas ICBM booster with a very thin, internally pressurized fuselage instead of massive struts and a thick metal skin. See Richard E. Martin, The Atlas and Centaur "Steel Balloon" Tanks: A Legacy of Karel Bossart (San Diego: General Dynamics Corp., 1989); Robert L. Perry, "The Atlas, Thor, Titan, and Minuteman," in Eugene M. Emme, ed., A History of Rocket Technology (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1964), pp. 143-55; John L. Sloop, Liquid Hydrogen as a Propulsion Fuel, 1945-1959 (Washington, DC: NASA, SP-4404, 1978), pp. 173-77.

Robert R. Bowie (1909- ), was the Deputy Director and then Director of the Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State from 1953-1958, after which he became a consultant to the Department. From 1966-1968, he returned to the State Department to serve as Counselor. Biographical information from the Biographic Register of the Department of State, 1957, the Department of State History Office, Washington, DC.

Ernest W. Brackett joined NASA in 1959 as Director of Procurement, after a lengthy career (1925-1942) as an attorney in Utica, New York, an Army Air Forces officer (1942-1946), a civilian in the Department of the Air Force (1946-1959). He served as Director of NASA Procurement until 1968, during the Apollo era, and was appointed Chair of the Board of Contract Appeals in 1968. Later he served as chair of the Inventions and Contributions Board, before retiring from NASA in 1972. "Brackett, Ernest W.," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Ralph Braibanti joined the Department of State in 1972 and held a number of assignements related to Latin American and East Asian affairs before coming to the Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in 1985. He urrently serves as Director of the Bureau's Space and Advanced Technology Staff. Biographical sketch from Ralph Braibanti, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Willy Brandt (1913-1992) was Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1969-1974. "Brandt, Willy," obituary section, Current Biography Yearbook 1992, p. 628 from obituary, The New York Times, October 9, 1992 p. A23.

Lewis M. Branscomb (1926- ) is a Harvard University-trained physicist who served in a variety of university and public service posts before the chief scientist of the IBM Corp (American Men and Women of Science, 1989-1990 [New York: R.R. Bowker, 1990], p. 692).

Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) was the leader of what has been called the "rocket team," which had developed the German V-2 ballistic missile in World War II.  At the conclusion of the war, von Braun and some of his chief assistants--as part of a military operation called Project Paperclip--came to America and were installed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, to work on rocket development and use the V-2 for high altitude research.  They used launch facilities at the nearby White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico.  Later, in 1950 von Braun's team moved to the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama, to concentrate on the development of a new missile for the Army.  They built the Army's Jupiter ballistic missile, and before that the Redstone, used by NASA to launch the first Mercury capsules.  The story of von Braun and the "rocket team" has been told many times.  See, as examples, David H. DeVorkin, Science With a Vengeance:  How the Military Created the US Space Sciences After World War II (New York:  Springer-Verlag, 1992); Frederick I. Ordway III and Mitchell R. Sharpe, The Rocket Team (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1979); Erik Bergaust, Wernher von Braun (Washington, DC: National Space Institute, 1976); Michael J. Neufeld, Von Braun, Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007); “Wernher von Braun,”(http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/braun.html) accessed 23 October 2006; “Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC),” (http://history.nasa.gov/centerhistories/marshall.htm) accessed 23 October 2006.

Leonid Illyich Brezhnev (1912-1982) was Secretary of Central Committee for defense and space, i.e., head of the space program, from 1957-1960 and 1963-1965.  He was later First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, i.e., effective leader of the Soviet Union, from 1964-1982.  (Provided by Asif Siddiqi)

Styles Bridges (1898-1961) (R-NH) had served as governor of his state, 1935-1937, and was elected to the Senate in 1936. He was during the early years of NASA the ranking Republican member of the Appropriations Committee, a member of the Armed Services Committee and its preparedness investigating subcommittee, as well as the Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee. He was the leader of his party's conservative wing and a strong proponent of military preparedness. Bryce Harlow told Eisenhower in 1958 that Bridges was "a walking 25 votes in the Senate, the most skilled maneuverer on the Republican side" (Quoted in Robert A. Divine, The Sputnik Challenge: Eisenhower's Response to the Soviet Satellite [New York: Oxford University Press, 1993], p. 140).

Geoffrey A. Briggs was director of the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA Headquarters throughout the 1980s. Educated in high energy physics at the University of Virginia, Briggs became involved in the space program in 1967, working t Bellcomm, Inc., and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he was principal investigator on the Mariner Mars 1971 imaging team. He also worked in the Viking Orbiter imaging team and was leader of the Voyager imaging team. "Briggsev, Geoffrey A.," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Wallace R. Brode (1900-1974) was a chemist and scientific consultant who received a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1925 and became a Guggenheim fellow in Europe, 1926-1928. From then until 1948 he was on the chemistry faculty at Ohio State, rising in 1939 to the rank of full professor. He worked with the Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II and became head of the science department, U.S. Naval Ordnance Test Station, Inyokern, CA, 1945-1947. From then until 1958, he served as associate director of the National Bureau of Standards. For the next two years, he was scientific advisor to the secretary of state, following which he became a scientific consultant, also serving on numerous committees advisory boards, etc.

Bernard Brodie (1910-1977) was a well-known political scientist who specialized in studies of Cold War strategy, especially nuclear policy. A Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, he was a member of Project Rand, later the Rand Corp., and prepared numerous studies and books for public policy purposes.

Luigi Broglio was chairman of the Italian National Committee on Space Research. He was also a professor at the Aeronautical Engineering School (Scuola d'Ingegneria Aeronautics) in Rome.

Detlev W. Bronk (1897-1975) was president of the National Academy of Sciences, 1950-1962, and a member of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. A scientist, he was president of Johns Hopkins University, 1949-1953, and Rockefeller University, 1953-1968. ("Bronk, Detlev" biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.)

Arthur B. Bronwell (1909- ) was an electrical engineer who had been a professor at Northwestern University and became president of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute from 1955-1962, then the dean of engineering at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.

Overton Brooks (1897-1961) (D-LA) had been elected to represent his home state in the House to 12 successive terms since 1937. He became chairman of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics in January 1959 and was reappointed to this chairmanship in 1961. "Brooks, Overton," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

George E. Brown, Jr. (1920–1999) (D–CA), served in the House of Representatives from January 3, 1963, to January 3, 1971, and then again from January 3, 1973, to the present. He chaired the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology for a number of years and currently is its ranking minority member. See Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774–1996 Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, Inc., 1997.

Ronald Brown (1941-1996) served as Secretary of Commerce from 1993 until his death in a plane crash. Who's Who in America 1996 (New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1996).

David K. Bruce (1898-1977) was one of the most notable diplomats of this century. He served in World War I and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1921 before turning his attention to farming in 1928. In 1941 he helped to organize the Office of Strategic Services and later became the director of the Economic Cooperation mission, charged with the task of administering the Marshall Plan. He served in several coveted ambassadorial posts, most notably France (1948-1952), West Germany (1957-1959), Great Britain (1961-1969), and NATO (1974-1976). He was also a representative to the Vietnam Peace Conference in Paris (1970-1971) and was liaison officer to Communist China from 1973-1974. See ìBruce, David K.î in John S. Bowman, ed., The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography (Cambridge, England: The Cambridge University Press, 1995).

Wilber M. Brucker (1894-1968), was secretary of the Army between 1955 and 1961. An attorney, he had also held a number of important government positions, including governor of Michigan in 1930-1932, prior to becoming secretary. Brucker had served with the Army in World War I. After leaving federal service Brucker returned to his law practice in Detroit (William Gardner Bell, Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army: Portraits & Biographical Sketches [Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1982], p. 140; New York Times, 29 October 1968, p. 41).

Percival Brundage (1892-1981) was the Director of the Federal Bureau of the Budget during the Eisenhower Administration. He earned an A.B. cum laude from Harvard University in 1914 and joined the New York staff of Price Waterhouse & Company accounting firm immediately after graduation. In 1930 he was made a partner of the firm and was a senior partner when he left to enter government service. He is a past president of the American Institute of Accountants and chairman of the executive committee of the New York Chamber of Commerce. (Current Biography Yearbook: 1957, Marjorie Dent Candee. The H.W. Wilson Company, New York, NY. 1958.)

Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928- ) served as the President Carter's national security adviser from 1977-1981. Who's Who in America 1996 (New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1996).

Edmond C. Buckley (1904-1977) went to work for the NACA at Langley in 1930 after earning his B.S. in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He became chief of the instrument research division in 1943 and was responsible for instrumentation at Wallops Island and at the Flight Research Center at Edwards, California. In 1959 he became assistant director for space flight operations at NASA Headquarters. Two years later, his title changed to director for tracking and data acquisition, and from 1962 to 1968 he was associate administratorfor tracking and data acquisition. He retired in 1969 as special assistant to Administrator James E. Webb. ("Edmond C. Buckley," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

Nikolai A. Bulganin was chairman of the Soviet Council of Ministers, and was heavily involved in the negotiations over freedom of space issue for overflight of territories.

Hugh Bullock (1898- ), son of Calvin Bullock, was an investment banker. He was president and director of several investment funds including Calvin Bullock, Limited, and Bullock Fund, Ltd.

McGeorge Bundy (1919-1996) was a professor of government before serving as the national security adviser to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson from 1961-1966. See Who’s Who in America, 1996 (New Providence, NJ:  Marquis Who’s Who, 1995).

William A.M. Burden (1906-1984) was an aviation consultant of wide experience. He had advised Brown Bros., Harriman & Co., on aviation financing, 1928-1932; headed aviation research for Scudder, Stevens, & Clark, 1932-1939; and directed National Aviation Corp., 1939-1941. In 1942-1943 Burden had served as a special assistant to the secretary of commerce, with supervision of the Civil Aeronautics Authority, and between 1943 and 1947 he had been assistant secretary of commerce for air. Thereafter he was an independent consultant. He served on the National Aeronautics and Space Council from its creation until March 1959, when he resigned to serve as ambassador to Belgium.

Carter L. Burgess (1916- ) was a corporate executive who served as assistant secretary of defense for manpower, personnel, and resources, 1954-1957; president and director of Trans World Airlines, Inc. in 1957; president and director of American Machine & Foundry Co., 1958; its chairman and chief executive officer thereafter.

Arleigh A. Burke (1901- ) was a career naval officer who served as commander of a destroyer squadron and then chief of staff of Task Force 58 during World War II. During the Korean War he was commander of Cruiser Division 5. He was chief of naval operations, 1955-1961, and then retired to become a corporate executive.

George H.W. Bush (1924- ) served as president of the United States between 1989 and 1993. Before that time he had been a diplomat, director of the CIA, and vice president under Ronald Reagan (1981-1989).

Konstantin Davidovich Bushuyev (1914-1978) was Deputy Chief Designer from 1954-1972 and Chief Designer from 1972-1978 at OKB-1 (Korolev) and led all piloted spacecraft projects.  (Provided by Asif Siddiqi)

Vannevar Bush (1890-1974) was one of the most powerful members of the scientific and technological elite to emerge during World War II. An aeronautical engineer on the faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bush lobbied to create and then headed the National Defense Research Committee in 1940 to oversee science and technology in the federal government. Later, its name was changed to the Office of Science Research and Development (OSRD) and Bush used it as a means to build a powerful infrastructure for scientific research in support of the federal government. Although he went to the Carnegie Institution after the war, Bush remained a powerful force in shaping post-war science and technology by serving on numerous federal advisory committees and preparing several influential reports. See David Petechuk, "Vannevar Bush," in Emily J. McMurray, ed., Notable Twentieth-Century Scientists (New York: Gale Research Inc., 1995), pp. 285-88.

C

Charles P. Cabell (1903-1971) was a career officer in the Army Air Corps and later the Air Force, rising to the rank of general in 1958. During World War II he commanded a combat wing in the European theater and later was director of operations and intelligence, Mediterranean Allied Air Forces from 1944-1945. In 1948 he was director of intelligence, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, and from 1953-1962 he served as deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Anthony J. Calio (1936 - ) earned a B.A. in physics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1953.  Calio also did graduate work in physics at the University of Pennsylvania and the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Dr. Calio joined NASA in 1963 and began work at the Electronics Research Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Dr. Calio became director of science and applications at the Johnson Space Center in 1969.  He subsequently moved to the office of space science at NASA Headquarters.  From November 30, 1975, to October 1, 1977, Dr. Calio served as the deputy associate administrator for the office of space science.  On October 1, 1977, Dr. Calio became NASA’s associate administrator for space science and applications where he remained until becoming deputy administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1981.  In 1985, Calio became administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where he remained until 1987 when he departed to work in private industry.   See “Calio, Anthony,” biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Richard L. Callaghan  (1925 -   ) served as NASA’s Assistant Administrator for Legislative Affairs from 1963-1967.  An Army veteran of the World War II European Theatre, he received a B.S. from Georgetown University Foreign Service School in 1950 and an LL.B. from the George Washington University Law School in 1957.  While attending law school, Callaghan worked in various legislative offices in Washington, DC, including that of Montana Senator James E. Murray.  He also served as the staff director of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs from 1955 until he joined NASA in 1962 as Special Assistant to Administrator James E. Webb.  In 1968 he received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for his work in the organization.  See “Callaghan, R. L.,” biographical file 000279, NASA Historical Reference Collection, History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Alastair Graham Walter Cameron (1925 - ) is an astrophysicist/educator.  He received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Canada before coming to the U.S. in 1959, and became a naturalized citizen in 1963.  He was an assistant professor of physics at the University of Iowa, in Ames, from 1952 to1954 and served as senior scientist at the Goddard Institute of Space Studies, in New York, from 1961 to 1966.  Since 1997 he has served as the Donald H. Menzel Professor of Astrophysics at Harvard University.  He is the recipient of the 1983 Distinguished Public Service Medal from NASA, the 1988 J. Lawrence Smith Medal from the National Academy of Sciences, the 1989 Harry H. Hess Medal, the 1994 International Astronomical Union (IUA) Meteorological Society Leonard Medal, and was the 1997 American Astronomical Society (AAS) Russell Lecturer.  Professional memberships include: the National Academy of Sciences, the  American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, the American Astronomical Society, and the International Astronomical Union.  See “Cameron, Alastair Graham Walter,” in Who’s Who in America, 2000, 54th Ed. New Providence, NJ:  Marquis Who’s Who, 1999.

Joseph Campbell (1900- ) worked as an accountant and then comptroller with a couple of private firms from 1924 to 1932, became a partner in another for two years, and then formed his own accounting firm. He became comptroller general of the U.S. in 1954 and remained in that position until 1965.

Richard Charles Canfield (1937 -  )  started his career as a visiting scientist at the High Altitude Observatory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.  He left the Center in 1969.  At the Sacramento Peak Observatory he worked as an astrophysicist from 1970 to 1976, was an associate resident physicist from 1976 to 1980, and a resident physicist from 1980 to 1985.  He has been an astronomer at the University of Hawaii since 1985. Professional memberships include:  the American Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union.  See “Canfield, Richard Charles” in American Men and Women of Science, 1998-99, 20th Ed. New Providence, NJ:  R. R. Bower, 1998.

Claude Canizares (1945- ) is the Bruno Rossi Professor of Experimental Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Director of the Center for Space Research.  He is a principal investigator on NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, leading the development of the High Resolution Transmission Grating Spectrometer for this major space observatory, and is Associate Director of the Chandra X-ray Observatory Center.  He has also worked on several other space astronomy missions, including as Co-investigator on the Einstein Observatory (HEAO-2).  His main research interests are high resolution spectroscopy and plasma diagnostics of supernova remnants and clusters of galaxies, cooling flows in galaxies and clusters, X-ray studies of dark matter, X-ray properties of quasars and active galactic nuclei, and gravitational lenses.  He is a member of the NASA Advisory Council, is chair of the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Associated Universities Inc. and formerly chaired NASA's Space Science Advisory Committee.  Professor Canizares received B.A., A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Harvard University.  He came to MIT as a postdoctoral fellow in 1971 and joined the faculty in 1974 progressing to professor of physics in 1984.  He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Physical Society, a corresponding member of the International Academy of Astronautics and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  Professor Canizares has authored or co-authored more than 135 scientific papers. ("Canizares, Claude R." biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.)

Howard W. Cannon (1912- ) (D-NV) was first elected to the Senate in 1958 and served until 1983.

William Monte Canterbury graduated from West Point in 1934 and was commissioned in the Army Air Corps in that year. He held a number of positions involving research and development before becoming deputy chief of staff, research, engineering in the Air Research and Development Command in 1959-60. He subsequently served in 1960-61 as commander, Air Force Missile Development Center at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, before retiring as a major general to become senior staff scientist, Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. in 1961.

M. Scott Carpenter (1925 -   ) piloted the Mercury 7 mission in 1962, making him the second American to orbit the Earth.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Colorado in 1949, after which he was commissioned in the U.S. Navy.  Carpenter served in the Korean War as a Naval aviator and then served as a test pilot for the Navy from 1954 to 1957.  Two years later he was selected as one of the original seven astronauts to serve in the Mercury program.  Upon completion of his mission, Carpenter took a leave of absence from NASA and participated in the Navy’s SEALAB II program, thus making him the first person to hold both the titles of astronaut and aquanaut.  After retiring from the Navy in 1969, he finished his distinguished career working in the private sector.  Carpenter’s awards include the Navy’s Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and the Collier Trophy.  (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/carpenter-ms.html) accessed 27 September 2006.

George Carruthers won NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1972 for development of the first lunar-based space observatory, which was carried to the surface by the Apollo 16 crew.  A leading African-American astrophysicist, Dr. Carruthers worked at the Naval Research Laboratory's Space Science Division at the time.  He received his Ph.D. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1964 and won national recognition in 1970 when an instrument he developed found molecular hydrogen in interstellar space. In 1977 he went through screening to become a mission specialist astronaut. ("Carruthers, George R." biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.)

James (Jimmy) Carter (1924 - ) was the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981.  He was a naval officer and a businessman before entering politics.  A member of the Georgia State Legislature from 1962 to 1966, he was Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975.  See “Carter, Jimmy,” biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection.

Clifford P. Case (1928-1982) (R-NJ) was a member of the House of Representatives from 1945 to 1953 and was elected to the Senate the following year, serving until 1979.

Francis H. Case (1896-1962) (R-SD) was elected to the House in 1936 and served seven consecutive terms until he was elected to the Senate in 1950 and reelected in 1956.

William Casey (1913-1987) served as chief of secret intelligence in Europe for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. After the war, he became a wealthy businessman. From 1971 to 1975, he served successively as the chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission, Under Secretary of State for economic affairs, and as head of the Export-Import Bank. He also served on the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under President Ford. He was President Reagan's first presidential campaign manager and then served as Reagan's Director of Central Intelligence until his death at the height of the Iran-Contra scandal. "Casey, William," Biographical File, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, Washington, DC.

Emanuel Celler (1888-1981) graduated from Columbia Law School in 1912 and immediately began practicing law in New York City. During World War I, he served as an appeal agent on the draft board. Following the war, he made a successful run for the United States Congress in 1923 and served as a Democratic representative from New York until 1973, for a time as chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee. Following his defeat in 1973, he joined a commission to revise the federalappellate court system and in 1975, returned to his law practice. See ìCeller, Emanuelî in John S. Bowman, ed., TheCambridge Dictionary of American Biography (Cambridge, England: The Cambridge University Press, 1995).

Eugene A. Cernan (1934- ), a career naval aviator, was chosen by NASA to enter the astronaut corps in the third group, in 1963. He served as the pilot of Gemini 9 upon the death of a prime crew member. He was also backup pilot for Gemini 12, backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 7, lunar module pilot for Apollo 10, backup commander for Apollo 14, and commander for Apollo 17 (eleventh American to walk on the Moon). Thereafter he served as Deputy Director of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, before resigning from NASA and the Navy on July 1, 1976, to become Executive Vice President­International, Coral Petroleum, Inc., Houston, Texas. Later he headed the Cernan Corporation in Houston. "Eugene A. Cernan," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

James A. Chamberlin (1915-1981)

Robert H. Charles (1914- ), became a special assistant to the NASA Administrator in 1963, with responsibility for working with industry to accomplish Project Apollo. He was especially involved in the creation of incentive contracting mechanisms at the agency to reward exceptionally performance by contractors. Previously, he had been an executive with the McDonnell Aircraft Corp. After remaining with NASA for a short time, Charles moved to a position as assistant secretary of the Air Force where he was involved in the development of the C-5A total procurement package contract of the mid-1960s. He left that position in 1968 to return to industry. "Biography, NASA Miscellaneous, Ch-Ci," biography files, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar(1910-1995) was an astrophysicist who studied in India before moving to the United States in 1936.  A specialist in the final stages of stellar evolution and white dwarf stars, he won a Nobel Prize in 1983.  NASA named the Chandra X-Ray Observatory after him.  (See David Millar, Ian Millar, John Millar, and Margaret Millar, The Cambridge Dictionary of Scientists (Cambridge, England:  Cambridge University Press, 1996 and http://chandra.harvard.edu/about/chandra.html on the Web). 

Joseph V. Charyk (1920- ) was under secretary of the Air Force at this time (1960-1963) and later returned to aerospace industry, whence he had come, serving as president of Communications Satellite Corporation after 1963.

Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey (1914-1984) was Chief Designer / General Designer from 1955-1984 at OKB-52 and led work on cruise missiles, ICBMs, and spacecraft.  (Provided by Asif Siddiqi)

Boris Yevseyevich Chertok(1912- ) was Deputy Chief Designer from 1956-1991 at OKB-1 (Korolev) and worked on spacecraft control systems.  For more information, please see Chertok's multi-volume memoirs, Rockets and People. (Provided by Asif Siddiqi)

Peter T. Chew worked in the reports section of the office of public information at NASA Headquarters. (Headquarters Telephone Directory, May 1960, pp. 2, 6, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

Benjamin Chidlaw (1900- ) was a career United States Air Force officer. He entered the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1924 as a pilot and progressed through a series of rank until he became chief of the Materiel Division at General Headquarters, Army Air Forces, in 1942. He was deputy commander of the Army Air Forces for the Mediterranean Theater in 1944-1945, and deputy at Air Material Command, 1945-1949. He served as commander of several research and development organizations for the Air Force and retired as a four-star general in 1955.

Talbot Albert Chubb (1923 -  ) is an authority in geophysics and astrophysics.  From 1959 through 1981, he headed the Upper Air Physics branch of the Naval Research Laboratory.   He has been the president of Research Systems, Incorporated, since 1981.  See “Chubb, Talbot Albert” in American Men and Women of Science, 1998-99, 20th Ed. New Providence, NJ:  R. R. Bower, 1998.

John F. Clark (1920 - ),  was an electrical engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory from 1942 to 1958.  His experiences at the Laboratory varied from rocket experiments to measuring the electrical properties of Earth’s atmosphere.   He is an authority in atmospheric and space sciences and applications and joined NASA in 1958 as chief of the Ionospheric Physics program office.  From 1963 to 1965 he served as deputy associate administrator for Space Sciences and Applications at Headquarters.  From 1962 to 1965 he concurrently served as chairman of NASA’s Space Science Steering Committee.  He was director of the Goddard Space Flight Center from 1965 until he retired in 1976.   See “Clark, John F.,” biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection.

William Clark was Ronald Reagan's assistant for National Security Affairs and chair of the Senior Interagency Group (Space) that worked on the decision to develop the Space Station.

Arthur C. Clarke (1917- ) was one of the most well known of science fiction authors. He has also been an eloquent writer on behalf of the exploration of space. In 1945, before the invention of the transistor, Clarke wrote an article in Extraterrestrial Relays describing the possibility of geosynchronous orbit and the development of communication relays by satellite. He also wrote several novels, the most well-known was 2001: A Space Odyssey, based on a screenplay of the same name he prepared for Stanley Kubrick. The movie is still one of the most realistic depictions of the rigors of spaceflight ever to be filmed.

Francis H. Clauser (1913- ) was a leading research aerodynamicist in academia and the aerospace industry until the 1970s. He worked with the Douglas Aircraft Co., 1937-1946, and served as chair of aerospace studies at the Johns Hopkins University, 1946-1960. From there he served in a variety of academic appointments, and from 1969 until retirement in 1980 as the Clark B. Millikin Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the California Institute of Technology.

William P. Clements, Jr. served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1973-1977. He also served as Governor of Texas from 1979-1983 and from 1987-1991. See Department of Defense Key Officials (Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense: Washington, DC, 1995).

William J. Clinton (1946- ) was the 42nd president of the United States.  He earned a B.A. from Georgetown University and a law degree from Yale University, and also studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.  In 1976 he was elected Attorney General of Arkansas, and in 1978 became the youngest Governor of the U.S.  Elected for the presidency in 1992, he served two consecutive terms before leaving office.  (“Clinton, William Jefferson” biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.)

Ansley Johnson Coale (1917- ) received a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1947 and worked in several capacities with the Federal Government in social science and population statistics. He became a professor of economics at Princeton in 1947 and also directed the Office of Population Research between 1959 and 1973. He was especially involved in research associated with the loss of population in nuclear holocaust.

Aaron Cohen

Michael Collins (1930 -   ) served as command module pilot on Apollo 11 in 1969, remaining in lunar orbit while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first two people to walk on the Moon.  Born in Rome, Italy, Collins graduated from high school in Washington, D.C. and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1952.  Collins chose an Air Force career upon graduation from West Point and served as an experimental flight test officer at Edwards Air Force Base in California.  He also piloted the Gemini 10 mission in 1966 during which he successfully rendezvoused and docked with separately launched target vehicles.  His awards include the Presidential Medal for Freedom in 1969 as well as the NASA Exceptional Service medal. (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/collins-m.html) accessed 2 October 2006.

Archie Trescott Colwell (1895-1979) went to work in 1922 as a sales engineer for Steel Products Co. (later Thompson Products, Inc. and then Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge, Inc.--still later, TRW, Inc.) and rose to become vice president in charge of engineering from 1937-1960.

Arthur Holly Compton (1892-1962) earned a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton in 1916 and became physics department chair at Washington University in St. Louis in 1920. He became a professor of physics at the University of Chicago in 1923. In 1927 he and C. T. R. Wilson of England jointly won the Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery and explanation of the wavelength changes in diffused X-rays when they collide with electrons. From 1942-1945, Compton directed the metallurgical laboratory at Chicago, which developed the first self-sustaining atomic chain reaction. He became chancellor of Washington University in 1945 and was a professor of natural history there from 1953 to 1961.

William Congreve (1772-1828) of Great Britain was an artillery officer and inventor who was best known for his work on black powder rockets that could be used for bombardment of enemy fortifications. He based his rocketry on the pioneering work of Indian prince Hyder Ali, who had successfully used them against the British in 1792 and 1799 at Seringapatam. Congreve's rockets were used in the Napoleonic Wars and in the War of 1812 (Frank H. Winter, The First Golden Age of Rocketry: Congreve and Hale Rockets of the Nineteenth Century (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990).

Emerson W. Conlon (1905- ) received an aeronautical engineering degree from MIT in 1929 and spent 12 years in private engineering before joining the aeronautical engineering department at the University of Michigan in 1937. He went on active duty with the Navy in 1942 and later directed the development of the Douglas D-558, a transonic research aircraft. He returned to Michigan as chair of the aeronautical engineering department and remained in that position until 1953, with a year's leave of absence in 1950- 1951 as technical director of the Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center. He spent some years with Fairchild Engine Division and as general manager of Curtiss-Wright's Turbomotor Division before becoming research director of Drexel Institute of Technology in 1958. In 1959-1960 he was on a leave of absence from Drexel to serve as NASA's assistant director for power plants in the office of advanced research programs. (biography in NASA miscellaneous biographical files, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

Silvio O. Conte (1921- ) (R-MA) was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1958 and was reelected to every succeeding Congress through the 101st (1989-1990).

Charles W. Cook served during the 1970s and 1980s as Deputy Under Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Air Force in the Plans, Policy and Operations of Space Systems; in the Office of Secretary of Defense as Director for Defensive Systems; as well as in positions in the Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and various aerospace companies. Since retiring from formal government service in 1988, Cook worked as a consultant to the Institute for Defense Analyses, ANSER, the Defense Science Board, and several other aerospace organizations in areas related to U.S. and foreign space activities.

Donald Clarence Cook (1909-1981) was a government official, lawyer, and businessman who held numerous posts from 1935 to 1945 in the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as staff positions in other agencies and in ConGress before being appointed SEC member in 1949. In 1952 he became chair of the SEC. He joined the American Electric Power Company in 1953, and served as its president between 1962 and 1972, and as its chair from 1971 to 1976 ("Cook, Donald C[larence]," Current Biography 1982, p. 462).

L. Gordon Jr. Cooper (1927-2004) piloted the Mercury 9 mission in 1963, which concluded the operational phase of Project Mercury.  He was commissioned into the Air Force after attending three years at the University of Hawaii.  After serving four years in Munich, Germany, Carpenter came back to the U.S. and earned a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering in 1956 from the Air Force Institute of Technology.  He spent the next three years as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base and was then selected as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts.  After Mercury, Carpenter also served as command pilot of the Gemini 5 mission, thus becoming the first person to make two orbital flights and in the process setting a new space endurance record.  He retired from the Air Force and NASA in 1970 to finish his career working in private industry.  His awards include the Air Force Legion of Merit, the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross Cluster, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and the 1962 Collier Trophy for pioneering piloted spaceflight in the USA.  See “Cooper, L. Gordon, Jr.,” biographical file 376, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC and (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/cooper-lg.html) accessed 2 October 2006.

Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) of Poland symbolized the spirit of scientific inquiry that came to dominate the Renaissance. The son of a prosperous merchant, when his father died Copernicus was raised by his uncle, Lucas Watzelrode, the Bishop of Ermland. He was educated at the University of Cracow, where he excelled at mathematics, and at the University of Bologna in Italy, where he began to study astronomy. Copernicus developed complex models of movement for the Earth and other planets around the Sun. His "Heliocentric Solar System" concept gained acceptance slowly, but a century after his death was accepted as the norm for the scientific community (Edward Rosen, "Nicolaus Copernicus," Dictionary of Scientific Biography [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971], 3:401-402.)

France Cordova (1947 -  ) earned a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a Ph. D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology.  From 1979 to 1989, Cordova served as Staff Scientist in the Earth and Space Science Division at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.  She subsequently became Deputy Group Leader of the Space Astronomy and Astrophysics Group at Los Alamos.  Cordova left Los Alamos to become a professor at Pennsylvania State University and later became head of the astronomy and physics department.  She was on extended leave from her post and Pennsylvania State University while serving as NASA chief scientist from 1993 to 1996.  See “Cordova, Dr. France” biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.           

John J. Corson (1905-1990) had been a management consultant with McKinsey & Co., since 1951, remaining there until 1966. Glennan contracted with McKinsey & Co. for a series of studies. These included: "Organizing Headquarters Functions," 2 volumes, December 1958; "Financial Management--NASA-JPL Relationships," February 1959; "Security and Safety--NASA-JPL Relationships," February 1959; "Facilities Construction--NASA-JPL Relationships," February 1959; "Procurement and Subcontracting--NASA-JPL Relationships," February 1959; "NASA-JPL Relationships and the Role of the Western Coordination Office," March 1959; "Providing Supporting Services for the Development Operations Division," January 1960, on the transfer of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency to NASA; "Report of the Advisory Committee on Organization," October 1960; "An Evaluation of NASA's Contracting Politics, Organization, and Performance," October 1960. All are in the T. Keith Glennan, Correspondence Files, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Edgar B. Cortright (1923- ) earned an M.S. in aeronautical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1949, the year after he joined the staff of Lewis Laboratory. He conducted research at Lewis on the aerodynamics of high-speed air induction systems and jet exit nozzles.  In 1958, he joined a small task group to lay the foundation for a national space agency. When NASA was created, he became chief of advanced technology at NASA Headquarters, directing the initial formulation of the agency's meteorological satellite program, including projects Tiros and Nimbus.  He became assistant director for lunar and planetary programs in 1960, Cortright directed the planning and implementation of such projects as Mariner, Ranger, and Surveyor. He later became deputy director, then deputy associate administrator for space science and applications in the next few years, then (1967) deputy associate administrator for manned space flight.  He became director of the Langley Research Center in 1968, a position he held until 1975, when he went to work for private industry.  He became president of Lockheed (California) in 1979. ("Edward M. Cortright" biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

Laurence C. Craigie (1902-1994), was a career Air Force officer, and the first U.S. military jet pilot in 1942 when he flew the Bell XP-59. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy a West Point, in 1923 he went into the Army Air Corps and became a pilot. In World War II was served in a variety of weapons development programs, as well as in a combat role in North Africa and Corsica. After the war, he directed the Air Force's research and development programs, serving as USAF deputy chief of staff for development, 1951-1954, and commander of Allied Air Force in Southern Europe before his retirement following a heart attack in 1955. See "Lieut. Gen. Laurence Craigie, 92; First Military Jet Pilor for the U.S., New York Times, March 1, 1994.

Alan Cranston (1914- ) (D-CA) served in the U.S. Senate from 1969-1991.

Albert Scott Crossfield (1921- ) learned to fly with the Navy during World War II. He became an aeronautical research pilot with the NACA in 1950, flying the X-1 and D558-II rocket planes and other experimental jets. From 1955 to 1961 he was the chief engineering test pilot for North American Aviation, Inc. The first man to fly at twice the speed of sound (Mach 2) in the D558-II in 1953, Crossfield reached Mach 2.11 and an altitude of 52,341 in the first powered flight of the X-15 in 1959. His last flight in the X-15 apparently occurred on 6 December 1960. ("Albert Scott Crossfield," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

John W. ("Gus") Crowley, Jr. (1899-1974) joined the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in 1921 after earning his mechanical engineering degree from MIT the year before. He became head of the research department at Langley in 1943, then transferred to the NACA's Washington headquarters in 1945 to become acting director of research there. He assumed the post of associate director for research in 1945, and when NASA replaced the NACA, he became director of aeronautical and space research. He retired in 1959. ("John W. Crowley, Jr.," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

Walter Cunningham (1932 -    ) was in the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963 and served as the lunar module pilot in the Apollo 7 mission, the first piloted flight test of the third generation United States spacecraft.  After graduating from Venice High School in California, he joined the Navy in 1951 and began flight training the following year.  In 1953, Cunningham joined a Marine squadron where he served on active duty until 1956.  He then went on to earn both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Physics at UCLA in 1960 and 1961, respectively.  After receiving his Master’s, Cunningham was employed as a physicist by the Rand Corporation where he worked on problems with the Earth’s magnetosphere as well as projects for the Department of Defense.  As an astronaut, he played a key role in all aspects of piloted space flight including training, planning, system design, public relations, and program management.  Cunningham then completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1974 and attained senior executive positions in several highly successful businesses over the course of the following decades.  (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/cunningham-w.html) accessed 2 October 2006.

Malcolm R. Currie (1927- ) was trained in physics and electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, served in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1947. After military service he returned to school to complete his Ph.D. In 1954 he joined Hughes Research Laboratories, eventually serving as director, before becoming vice president of Hughes Aircraft from 1964 to 1969. He then worked for Beckman Instruments, Inc., but in 1973 President Nixon appointed him Director of Defense Research & Engineering in the Department of Defense, where he served until returning to Hughes in 1977. "Currie, Dr. Malcolm R.," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Robert Cutler (1895-1974) was a lawyer and banking executive. He practiced law in Boston from 1922-1942 and then became president and director of the Old Colony Trust Co., 1946-1953, and its chairman for the next several years. In 1960-1962 he served as executive director of the Inter-American Development Bank.

D

Emilio Quincy Daddario (1918- ) (D-CT) was first elected to Congress in 1958 and served until 1971.

General John R. Dailey, USMC (Ret.)

Joseph John Dantone Jr. (1942 -  ) earned a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy in 1964 and an M.S. in aerospace engineering and material management from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1971.  He served as deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office from 1994 to 1996.  He also served as director of the Defense Mapping Agency from 1996 to 1997 and as director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency from 1997 to 1998.  See Who's Who in America 2000 New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1999.

Edward E. David, Jr. (1925- ) served as science advisor to President Richard M. Nixon in 1970 and then as director of the Office of Science and Technology. Previously he had served between 1950 and 1970 as executive director of research of Bell Telephone Laboratories. For a discussion of the President's Science Advisory Committee see Gregg Herken, Cardinal Choices: Science Advice to the President from Hiroshima to SDI (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Robert James Davis (1929 -   ) is an authority on stellar astronomy, and is currently an astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory.  At Harvard University he earned an A.B. in 1951, an A.M. in 1956, and a PH.D. (astronomy) in 1960.  See “Davis, Robert James” in American Men and Women of Science, 1998-99, 20th Ed. New Providence, NJ:  R. R. Bower, 1998.

Merton E. Davies (1917- ) was educated at Stanford University and worked, 1940-1948, at the Douglas Aircraft Co., and since 1948 at the Rand Corp. He served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Surprise Attack Conference in Geneva in 1958; and on the imaging teams of Mariner 6 and 7 in 1969, Mariner 9 in 1971, and Voyager in 1977.

Melvin S. Day (1923- ) earned a B.S. in chemistry from Bates College in 1943 and worked in private industry for a year before serving in the Army from 1944-1946 at Oak Ridge as a laboratory foreman. He joined the Atomic Energy Commission at Oak Ridge in 1947 and rose through various positions to become chief of the technical information service there in 1958. The same year he transferred to Washington to become assistant chief of the AEC technical information service. He became director of the office before joining NASA in 1960 as deputy director of the office of technical information and educational programs. From 1962-1967 he headed the scientific and technical information division for NASA before becoming successively deputy assistant administrator for technology utilization (1966) and acting assistant administrator for technology utilization (1969). In 1970 he left NASA to head the office of scientific information in the National Science Foundation. ("Melvin S. Day," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

Kurt H. Debus (1908-1983) earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering (1933), an M.S. (1935) and Ph.D. (1939) in electrical engineering, all from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany. He became an assistant professor at the university after receiving his degree. During the course of World War II he became an experimental engineer at the A-4 (V-2) test stand at Peenemünde (see entry for Wernher von Braun), rising to become superintendent of the test stand and test firing stand for the rocket. In 1945 he came to the United States with a group of engineers and scientists headed by von Braun. From 1945-1950 the group worked at Fort Bliss, Texas, and then moved to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. From 1952-1960 Debus was chief of the missile firing laboratory of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. In this position, he was located at Cape Canaveral, Florida, where he supervised the launching of the first ballistic missile fired from there, an Army Redstone. When ABMA became part of NASA, Debus continued to supervise missile and space vehicle launchings, first as director of the Launch Operations Center and then of the Kennedy Space Center as it was renamed in December 1963. He retired from that position in 1974 See "Debus, Kurt H.," biographical file 000443, NASA Historical Reference Collection, History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Smith J. DeFrance (1896-1985) was a military aviator with the Army's 139th Aero Squadron during World War I, then earned a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1922 before beginning a career with the NACA and NASA. He worked in the flight research section at Langley Aeronautical Laboratory and designed its 30-by-60-foot wind tunnel, the largest ever built until that time (1929-1931). He directed the research in that tunnel and designed others as well before becoming director of the new Ames Aeronautical Laboratory in 1940. He remained its director until his retirement in 1965. During that time, the center built 19 major wind tunnels and conducted extensive flight research, including the blunt-body research necessary for returning spacecraft from orbit to the earth's atmosphere without burning up. ("Smith J. DeFrance," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection; Elizabeth A. Muenger, _Searching the Horizon: A History of Ames Research Center, 1940-1976_ [Washington, DC: NASA SP-4304, 1985], esp. pp. 12-14, 67-68, 131-132.)

James R. Dempsey (1921- ) was manager of the Astronautics Division for Convair in San Diego, California, from 1957-1958 and then became vice president of the Convair division, 1958-1961. In the latter year, his title became president, General Dynamics Astronautics. He remained in that position until 1965. ("J.R. Dempsey," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

John Deutch (1938- ) served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1994-1995 and then as Direcotr of Central Intelligence from 1995-1997. He received a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also served as that school's dean of science and provost. "Deutch, John M.," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, Washington, DC.

Thomas Digges was an astronomer and mathematician who modified Dante's medieval conceptions of the universe in his Description of the Caelestiall Orbes (1576), adopting a Copernican view that placed the Sun in the center of the universe.

C. Douglas Dillon (1909- ) was under secretary of state, 1958- 1959, and secretary of the treasury, 1960-1965.

Everett Dirksen (1896-1969) (R-IL) served in the U.S. Senate from 1951 to 1969, and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1933-1949. He served as the Republican leader in the Senate from 1959 until 1969 (Current Biography 1969, p. 465).

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was the creator of Mickey Mouse and several other animated characters. In 1955 his weekly television series aired the first of three programs related to spaceflight. The first of these, "Man in Space," premiered on Disney's show on March 9, 1955 with an estimated audience of 42 million. The second show, "Man and the Moon," also aired in 1955 and sported the powerful image of a wheelike space station as a launching point for a mission to the Moon. The final show, "Mars and Beyond," premiered on December 4, 1957, after the launching of Sputnik I (obituary in New York Times, December 16, 1966, p. 1).

Thomas J. Dodd (1907-1971) (D-CT) received his law degree from Yale in 1933 and served in the Justice Department's civil rights section, 1938-1945, then as a chief trial counsel in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg in 1945-1946. He began the practice of law in Hartford in 1947 and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1953-1957. He was elected to the Senate in 1957 and served until 1971 but was defeated for a third term in 1970 after the Senate censured him in 1967 for financial irregularities.

Charles J. Donlan (1916 -   ) served the United States government for nearly 38 years in NACA and NASA.  After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from MIT in 1938, he joined the research staff of NACA’s Langley Aeronautical Laboratory where he worked to improve aircraft design, stability, and control.  In 1958 Donlan was appointed Associate Director of the NASA Space task Group at Langley to conduct Project Mercury.  Three years later he became Associate Director of Langley until 1967 when he was made Deputy Director of the facility.  The following year he was transferred to NASA Headquarters to become the Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight.  In addition to this, he was Acting Director of the Space Shuttle Program from 1970 until 1973.  Donlan retired from NASA in 1976 and then worked as a consultant for the Institute for Defense Analysis where he studied military uses for the Shuttle for the next twelve years.  His awards include the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership.  See “Donlan, Charles J.,” biographical file 000481, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Allen Frances Donovan (1914- ) was an accomplished aeronautical engineer who worked for several aeronautical firms between 1936 and 1946, and headed the aeronautical mechanics department at Cornell University 1946-1955. He later became a corporate executive with the Aerospace Corp., serving as senior vice president, technical, 1960-1978. He served also on several government advisory boards, including the President's Science Advisory Committee, 1959-1968.

James H. Doolittle (1896- ) was a longtime aviation promoter, air racer, Air Force officer, and aerospace research and development advocate. He had served with the U.S. Army Air Corps between 1917 and 1930, and then was manager of the aviation section for Shell Oil Co. between 1930 and 1940. In World War II, Doolittle won early fame for leading the April 1942 bombing of Tokyo, and then as commander of a succession of air units in Africa, the Pacific, and Europe. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in 1944. After the war he was a member of the Air Force's Scientific Advisory Board and the President's Scientific Advisory Committee. At the time of Sputnik he was chair of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and the USAF Scientific Advisory Board. In 1985 the Senate approved his promotion in retirement to four-star general. (General James H. (Jimmy) Doolittle with Carroll V. Glines, _I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography_ [New York: Bantam Books, 1991]; Carroll V. Glines, _Jimmy Doolittle: Daredevil Aviator and Scientist_ [New York: Macmillan, 1972]; "James H. Doolittle," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

Walter R. Dornberger (1895-1980) was Wernher von Braun's military superior during the German rocket development program of World War II. He oversaw the effort at Peenemunde to build the V-2, fostering internal communication and successfully advocating the program to officials in the German army. He also assembled the team of highly talented engineers under von Braun's direction and provided the funding and staff organization necessary to complete the technology project. After World War II Dornberger came to the United States and assisted the Department of Defense with the development of ballistic missiles. He also worked for the Bell Aircraft Co. for several years, helping to develop hardware for Project BOMI, a rocket-powered spaceplane. See Walter R. Dornberger, V-2, trans. by James Cleugh and Geoffrey Halliday (New York: Viking, 1958), and Gerald L. Borrowman, "Walter R. Dornberger, " Spaceflight 23 (April 1981): 118-19.

James H. Douglas, Jr. (1899-1988), was secretary of the Air Force between 1957 and 1959 and deputy secretary of defense, 1959- 1961. Trained as an attorney, Douglas practiced most of his career in Chicago but served as fiscal assistant secretary of the treasury, 1932-1933, and undersecretary of the Air Force, 1953- 1957, prior to becoming secretary of the Air Force. At the conclusion of the Eisenhower administration, Douglas rejoined his old law firm, Gardner, Carton, Douglas, Chilgren & Waud.

William Gould Dow (1896-2000) was an emeritus professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan.  During his tenure he was responsible for creating and organizing 13 laboratories and research units, including Space Physics Research, Plasma Engineering, and Cooley Electronics.  He also served the panel of scientists who helped form NASA in the late 1950s.   See “Dow, William Gould,” biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection.

Charles Stark Draper (1901-1987) earned his Ph.D. in physics at MIT in 1938 and became a full professor there the following year. In that same year, he founded the Instrumentation Laboratory. Its first major achievement was the Mark 14 gyroscopic gunsight for Navy antiaircraft guns. Draper and the lab applied gyroscopic principles to the development of inertial guidance systems for airplanes, missiles, submarines, ships, satellites, and space vehicles, notably those used in the Apollo moon landings. (John Noble Wilford, "Charles S. Draper, Engineer: Guided Astronauts to the Moon," New York Times, 27 Jul. 1987, p. 2; Donald MacKenzie, Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance [Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990], esp. pp. 64-94; C. Stark Draper, "The Evolution of Aerospace Guidance Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1935-1951: A Memoir," Essays on the History of Rocketry and Astronautics, R. Cargill Hall, ed. [Washington, D.C.: NASA Conf. Pub. 2014, 1977], Vol. II, pp. 219-252).

Russell C. Drew (1931- ) has been an influential physicist who served in the U.S. Navy from 1953 through 1973, and spent more of his career working on nuclear submarine ballistic missile programs. He also served as assistant to the President's Science Advisor, 1966-1972, and director of the staff of the President's Space Task Group. His last assignment, as a naval captain, was as the head of the Office Naval Research (London). Thereafter he served as the director of the Science and Technology Policy Office of the National Science Foundation, 1973-1976, and in several capacities in the aerospace industry since 1976.

Roscoe Drummond was a journalist and editor with the Washington bureau of the _New York Herald Tribune_ Syndicate, serving as chief of the bureau between 1953 and 1955, and as a syndicated columnist into the 1960s.

Hugh Latimer Dryden (1898-1965) was a career civil servant and an aerodynamicist by discipline who had also begun life as something of a child prodigy.  He graduated at age 14 from high school and went on to earn an A.B. in three years from Johns Hopkins (1916).  Three further years later (1919) he earned his Ph.D. in physics and mathematics from the same institution even though he had been employed full-time in the National Bureau of Standards since June 1918.  His career at the Bureau of Standards, which lasted until 1947, was devoted to studying airflow, turbulence, and particularly the problems of the boundary layer--the thin layer of air next to an airfoil that causes drag.  In 1920 he became chief of the aerodynamics section in the Bureau.  His work in the 1920s on measuring turbulence in wind tunnels facilitated research in the NACA that produced the laminar flow wings used in the P-51 Mustang and other World War II aircraft.  From the mid-1920s to 1947, his publications became essential reading for aerodynamicists around the world.  During World War II, his work on a glide bomb named the Bat won him a Presidential Certificate of Merit.  He capped his career at the Bureau by becoming its assistant director and then associate director during his final two years there.  He then served as director of the NACA from 1947-1958, after which he became deputy administrator of NASA under T. Keith Glennan and James E. Webb.  See Richard K. Smith, The Hugh L. Dryden Papers, 1898-1965 [Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Library, 1974] and “Dr. Hugh L. Dryden” (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Biographies/dryden.html) accessed 23 October 2006.

Lee A. DuBridge (1901- ), a physicist with a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin (1926), became director of the radiation laboratory at MIT after an academic career capped to that point by a deanship at the University of Rochester, 1938-1941. He was president of the California Institute of Technology between 1946 and 1969, when he resigned to serve as science advisor to Richard M. Nixon. He had been involved in several governmental science advisory organizations before taking up his formal White House duties in 1969 and serving in that capacity until 1970. ("Lee A. DuBridge," biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection).

Allen W. Dulles (1893-1969), brother of President Eisenhower's more famous secretary of state, he served as director of the CIA from 1953 to 1961. Miscellaneous other agencies biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

John Foster Dulles (1888-1959) served as secretary of state under President Eisenhower, 1953-1959. Miscellaneous other agencies biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Louis G. Dunn (1908-1979), born in South Africa, earned a B.S. (1936), two M.S.s--in mechanical engineering (1937) and aeronautical engineering (1938)--and a Ph.D. (1940) from Caltech and then joined the faculty there. He became assistant director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1945-1946 and its director from 1947-1954, presiding over its early program in rocketry leading up to the development of the Sergeant missile. He left JPL to take over the beginning Atlas missile project for the recently-formed Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation. He remained there through 1957 as associate director and then director and vice president of the guided missile research division, before becoming executive vice president and general manager, then president, and finally chairman of the firm's Space Technology Laboratories. He left the firm in 1963 to assume various management positions for Aerojet-General Corporation. Besides the Atlas (built by General Dynamics), he played a key role in developing the Thor (McDonnell Douglas), the Titan and Minuteman missiles (Martin Marietta). (Clayton R. Koppes, _JPL and the American Space Program: A History of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory_ [New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1982], pp. 31-32, 63-64; "Louis G. Dunn," industry miscellaneous biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

Richard B. Dunn (1927 -  ) earned a B.M.E. from the University of Minnesota in 1949, an M.S. in 1950 and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1961.  He is an authority on astronomy and mechanical engineering and currently is a physicist at the National Solar Observatory, Sunspot, New Mexico.   See “Dunn, Richard B.” in American Men and Women of Science, 1998-99, 20th Ed. New Providence, NJ:  R. R. Bower, 1998.

John R. Dunning (1892-1975), was a physicist who conducted early experiments in nuclear fission that helped to lay the groundwork for the development of the atomic bomb. He later became the Dean of the School of Engineering, Columbia University (obituary in New York Times, August 28, 1975, p. 36).

Andrea K. Dupree (1939 -   ) is currently the associate director for solar and stellar, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University.  She has served as the senior astrophysicist for the Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory since 1979.  She received her B.A. from Wellesley College, in 1960, and her Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard in 1968.  She was the 1972 Phillips Lecturer for Haverford College, and was awarded the 1973 Bart J. Bok Prize by Harvard University.  Her professional experiences include:  research fellow for the Harvard College Observatory; research associate; senior research associate for astronomy and astrophysics; member of the space and Earth science advisory board, NASA; member, Space Science Board, National Academy of Sciences; lecturer, Harvard University; and member, executive committee, American Association for the Advancement of Science.  While at the Observatory she produced a report entitled “Interaction Between Solar Physics and Astrophysics.”  Professional memberships include:  the American Astronomical Society, vice president in 1988; the International Astronomical Union (IAU); the Committee on Space Research; and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  See “Dupree, Andrea K.” in American Men and Women of Science, 1998-99, 20th Ed. New Providence, NJ:  R. R. Bower, 1998.

Frederick C. Durant III (1916- ) was heavily involved in rocketry in the United States during the period between the end of World War II and the mid-1960s. He worked for several different aerospace organizations, including Bell Aircraft Corp.; Everett Research Lab; the Naval Air Rocket Test Station; and the Maynard Ordnance Test Station. He later became the director of astronautics for the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. In addition, he was an officer in several spaceflight organizations. These included the American Rocket Society (president 1953); International Astronautical Federation (president 1953-1956); and National Space Club (governor 1961).

Henry C. Dworshak (1894-1962) (R-ID) was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1938 and served there from 1939 to 1946, when he was elected to the Senate, where he remained through 1962.

Updated April 17, 2008
Steven J. Dick, NASA Chief Historian
Steve Garber, NASA History Web Curator
For further information E-mail histinfo@hq.nasa.gov