Bradford W. Parkinson

Bradford W. Parkinson (2003)

Bradford Wells Parkinson (born February 16, 1935 in Madison , Wisconsin ) is an American aerospace engineer , university professor , business manager and former Colonel in the US Air Force , who is considered the father of the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Life

Military career and development of GPS

After graduating from the Breck School in Minneapolis in 1952, he began studying engineering at the US Naval Academy , graduating in 1957 with a Bachelor of Science (BS Engineering). He then joined the US Air Force and then completed postgraduate studies in aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which he completed in 1961 with a Master of Science (MS Aeronautics). In 1966 he finally earned a Philosophiae Doctor (Ph.D.) from Stanford University in aeronautics and astronautics . In the following years he was not only awarded the Bronze Star in 1969 , but also the Air Medal.

In 1973 he was appointed director of the United Military Program for the Coordination of Applied Navigational Systems at the United States Department of Defense . This program thus summarized the developments of navigation systems that had previously been carried out separately by the branches of the US Navy and the US Air Force as well as other services.

Parkinson was responsible for the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS), a coordinated field of 24 satellites that sent and received signals from earth stations and mobile receivers, and enabled military targeting with an accuracy of ten meters.

He was last promoted to colonel while serving in the military and completed his military service in the US Air Force in 1978.

University professor and business manager

After retiring from active military service, he first became a lecturer in mechanical engineering at Colorado State University in 1978 , but switched to the private sector in 1979 , where he was Vice President for Space Systems at Rockwell Automation , the world's largest, specialized manufacturer of automation, until 1984 - and information solutions for industrial production. He was also Vice President of Intermetrics between 1980 and 1984.

He then became a lecturer in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University in 1984, before holding a professorship in aeronautics and astronautics there from 1989 to 2002 . He has also been a member of The Aerospace Corporation's Board of Directors since 1997 .

Parkinson's has been honored several times for his contributions to the invention and application of GPS, namely in 1997 with Roger Easton with the Magellanic Premium of the American Philosophical Society , in 2003 with Ivan A. Getting with the Charles Stark Draper Prize , in 2004 with the Medal of Honor from American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), in 2012 with the Eduard Rhein Prize and in 2016 with the Marconi Prize . For 2018 he was awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor , for 2019 the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering .

On September 21, 2002 the asteroid (10041) Parkinson was named after him.

Parkinson, who is also a member of the Royal Institute of Navigation and the National Academy of Engineering , was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2004 .

Publications

Parkinson also published his thoughts and experiences on the Global Position System in the following books:

• An Approach Guidance System for Side-Firing Tactical Aircraft (1970, co-authors Edward J. Bauman and Jack C. Henry)
• The Global Positioning System: Theory and Applications (1996, co-author James Spilker )

Web links and sources

• Bradford W. Parkinson in the nndb (English)