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Homer Newell and the Origins of Planetary Science in the United States

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Exploring the Solar System

Abstract

The rise of planetary science as a recognized discipline became possible with the launch of the first planetary probes in the late 1950s and early 1960s.1 In the United States, from the beginning of the Space Age until 1967, this effort blossomed at NASA under the leadership of a quiet former mathematics professor named Homer E. Newell Jr. who came to the American space agency from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). There, he had worked on upper atmosphere research using sounding rockets since the end of World War II, and then filled an important role as science coordinator for the Vanguard Earth satellite program of the late 1950s. He joined NASA less than a week after it opened its doors in 1958, as assistant director for space sciences in the new agency’s Office of Space Flight Development (OSFD).2

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Notes

  1. Most of the material in this chapter is from John D. Ruley, “The Professor on the Sixth Floor: Homer E. Newell, Jr. and the Development of U.S. Space Science,” MS thesis, University of North Dakota, 2006.

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  1. John D. Ruley
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Roger D. Launius

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© 2013 Roger D. Launius

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Ruley, J.D. (2013). Homer Newell and the Origins of Planetary Science in the United States. In: Launius, R.D. (eds) Exploring the Solar System. Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137273178_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137273178_2

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-44514-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-27317-8

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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