Mary Sherman Morgan

Mary Sherman Morgan (Nov 4, 1921 – August 4, 2004), was a U.S. rocket fuel scientist credited with the invention of the liquid fuel Hydyne in 1957, which allowed the United States to redeem its technological reputation after an earlier disastrous, and highly publicized, satellite launch attempt failure.^[1] Three months earlier, the Soviet Union had launched Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite, into Earth orbit.

The successful launch of the rocket fueled by Morgan's creation carried the United States' first satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit, thus allowing the country to enter into an unofficial Space Race with the Soviet Union, as part of the Cold War.

Early life and education

The second youngest of six children, Mary Sherman was born to Michael and Dorothy Sherman on their farm in Ray, North Dakota.

When she was old enough to attend school, her father refused to enroll her, reasoning that he needed her help on the farm. In addition, a river divided their farm from the schoolhouse, which he claimed was too dangerous for her to cross. Eventually the State of North Dakota intervened and gave her a horse, which she rode across the river to get to school each morning.^{[citation needed]} More than two years behind the other students, Sherman quickly caught up academically to her peers, and then surpassed them. In 1939 she graduated as her high school’s valedictorian.

Sherman had dreamed of attending college—a goal few young people in Ray, North Dakota achieved.^{[citation needed]} For several years she had contemplated a career as a chemist. With Ray’s grade school teacher retiring, many people pressured her to forgo college, and take the job as Ray’s new school teacher. On the night of her graduation, she ran away from home, catching a bus to Minot. The next day she enrolled at North Dakota's Minot State University as a chemistry major.^{[citation needed]}

Career

By the end of Sherman's freshman year, World War II had broken out. Sherman, who had become pregnant, decided to move to Ohio and move in temporarily with an aunt. After giving birth to a daughter, she gave the child up for adoption to her cousin Mary Hibbard and her husband, who had one child of their own and had been unable to have any more.^{[citation needed]}

As a result of the war, the United States soon developed a shortage of chemists and other scientists. A local employment recruiter heard that Sherman had some experience with chemistry, and offered her a job at a local factory in Cleveland. He would not tell her what product the factory made, or what her job would be—only that she would be required to obtain a 'top secret' security clearance. Short on money, she decided to take the job even though it would mean having to postpone her college education.^[2]

After spending the war years designing explosives for the military, she applied for a job at North American Aviation, and was employed in their Rocketdyne Division, in Canoga Park, California.^[1] Soon after being hired, she was promoted to Theoretical Performance Specialist, a job that required her to mathematically calculate the expected performance of new rocket propellants.^[1] Out of nine hundred engineers, she was the only woman, and one of the few without a college degree.^[2]

While working at North American Aviation, she met her future husband, George Richard Morgan, a Mechanical Engineering graduate from Caltech. Together they had four children—George, Stephen, Monica and Karen.^[2]

Space race era

In 1957 the Soviet Union and the United States had set a goal of placing satellites into Earth orbit as part of a worldwide scientific celebration known as the International Geophysical Year.^[3] In this endeavor the United States effort was called Project Vanguard.^[3] The Soviet Union successfully launched the Sputnik satellite on October 4, 1957, an event followed soon after by a very public and disastrous explosion of a Vanguard rocket. Public pressure forced^{[citation needed]} U.S. politicians to allow a former German rocket scientist, Wernher von Braun,^[4] to prepare his Redstone/Jupiter C rocket for an orbital flight. When von Braun’s team members discovered that their rocket would not be powerful enough to reach orbit, they awarded a contract to North American Aviation's Rocketdyne Division to come up with a more powerful fuel.^[5]

Due to her expertise and experience with new and exotic rocket propellants, Mary Sherman Morgan was placed in charge of the contract. The result was a new invention, Hydyne, a propellant that succeeded in launching America’s first satellite, Explorer I, into orbit on January 31, 1958.^[2]

Despite its importance at the time, Hydyne was never again used in a U.S. rocket.^[6]

Death

Though she was fascinated by science and chemistry, her first passion was the card game bridge.^[2] She played in numerous tournaments during her lifetime, winning many. So obsessed was she about the game that shortly before her death she said, “My only regret in life is that I didn’t play more bridge.”^[2]

Mary Sherman Morgan died on August 4, 2004, as a result of complications related to emphysema.

Popular culture

Mary Sherman Morgan was the subject of a biographical stage play written by her son, George Morgan. The play, "Rocket Girl", was produced by Theater Arts at California Institute of Technology (TACIT), directed by Brian Brophy, and premiered at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California on November 17, 2008.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Lerner, Preston, "Soundings: She Put The High In Hydyne". Air & Space Smithsonian Magazine, March 2009, Vol.23, No.6, pp.10, ISSN 0886-2257.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Morgan, George. America's First Lady of Rocketry, Caltech News, California Institute of Technology, Vol.42, No.1.
3. ^ ^{a b} Dickson, Paul: “Sputnik, The Shock of the Century”. Walker & Company. 2001
4. ^ Bob Ward: “Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun”. Naval Institute Press, 2005
5. ^ Robert S. Kraemer & Vince Wheelock: “Rocketdyne: powering humans into space”. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. 2006, (pgs 43–44)
6. ^ NASA. The Mercury-Redstone Project, p. 3-2, 4-42.

External links

• Rocket Girl Celebrates Smash World Premiere At Caltech In Pasadena
• TACIT (Theater Arts at CIT). [1]
• Brophy, Brian; Filmography. [2]

Persondata
Name	Sherman Morgan, Mary
Alternative names
Short description	American
Date of birth	November 4, 1921
Place of birth	Ray, North Dakota
Date of death	August 4, 2004
Place of death	Simi Valley, California