Robert Seamans

Robert Seamans (left) with Wernher von Braun and President John F. Kennedy on November 16, 1963 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

Robert Channing Seamans, Jr. (born October 30, 1918 in Salem , Massachusetts - † June 28, 2008 ) was an American politician who was both Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and United States Secretary of the Air Force was.

Life

After attending school in Lenow , he studied engineering at Harvard University and graduated in 1939 with a Bachelor of Science (BS Engineering). He completed a subsequent postgraduate course in aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1942 with a Master of Science (MS Aeronautics).

He then mainly dealt with guided missiles and aeronautics and was initially a lecturer , assistant professor and associate professor at the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at MIT and project manager in the laboratory for automation technology at MIT between 1941 and 1955 . During this time he also earned a Doctor of Science degree in automation technology at MIT in 1951 . Most recently he was chief engineer of Project Meteor and then director of the flight control laboratory.

In addition, Seamans was between 1948 and 1959 member of various technical committees of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor organization of NASA. In 1955 he moved to the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), where he was not only head of the aerospace systems laboratory, but also chief systems engineer of the aerospace systems department. In 1958 he became chief engineer of the main missile electronics and control division of RCA in Burlington . In addition to this activity, he was initially a consultant from 1957 to 1959 and then from 1959 to 1962 a member of the Science Council of the US Force .

In 1960 he joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where he was first Associate Administrator and as such was responsible for research and development programs, field laboratories, assembly and launch pad systems and a worldwide network of tracking stations. In addition to this activity, he was an associate advisor to the Science Council of the US Air Force between 1962 and 1967.

From December 21, 1965 to January 5, 1968, Seamans was Deputy Administrator of NASA and retained many of his previous administrative duties in this capacity. At the same time he was from 1966 to 1969 US representative in the advisory group for space research and development of NATO .

After leaving NASA, he was first in March 1968. visiting professor at MIT before he obtained there in July 1968 Jerome Clarke Hunsaker - professor took over.

On February 15, 1969, US President Richard Nixon appointed him Secretary of the Air Force. He held this office until May 1973.

He was then President of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) between May 1973 and December 1974 , before becoming Administrator of the new Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). Shortly before its dissolution on October 1, 1977, he returned as a professor at MIT back and was from 1978 to 1981 Dean of the local engineering Sciences Faculty (MIT School of Engineering). He was then elected Chairman of The Aerospace Corporation's Board of Trustees.

honors and awards

Robert Seamans was also involved in numerous organizations such as the scientific association Sigma Xi , American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Astronautical Society (AAS), American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (member since 1964), American Philosophical Society (member since 1975), National Space Club, Foreign Policy Association, National Academy of Engineering (NAE), International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He was also a member of the board of directors of Harvard University.

He has received several awards for his scientific and political achievements, including the Naval Ordnance Development Award (1945), Lawrence Sperry Award from the AIAA (1951), Godfrey L. Cabot Aviation Award from the Royal Aero Club (1965), Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy (1968) and two NASA Distinguished Service Medals (1965 and 1969). After becoming an Honorary Fellow of the AIAA, Fellow of AAS and Trustee of the National Geographic Society in July 1969 , he also became a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in January 1970 in recognition of “his achievements in the application of electronics in command and control problems and for the direction of space programs ”.

He also received honorary doctorates from Rollins College , New York University and Norwich University.

Publications

• Aiming At Targets. The autobiography of Robert C. Seamans, Jr. , 1996
• Project Apollo. The Tough Decisions , Monographs in Aerospace History No. 37, 2005

Web links

• Biography on the US Air Force homepage
• Biography on the NASA homepage
• Robert Seamans in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Homepage of NASA