Robert Seamans

Infobox Engineer


image_width = 150px
caption = Seamans, Wernher von Braun and President John F. Kennedy at Cape Canaveral
name = Robert Seamans
nationality =
birth_date = October 30, 1918
birth_place = Salem, Massachusetts
death_date = death date and age|2008|6|28|1918|10|30
death_place = Beverly, Massachusetts
education = Harvard University (1939 or 1940)
spouse = Eugenia Merrill
parents = Pauline and Robert Seamans
children = Robert Channing Seamans III
discipline =
institutions = NASA
practice_name =
significant_projects = Apollo
significant_design =
significant_advance =
significant_awards =

Robert Channing Seamans, Jr. (October 30, 1918 – June 28, 2008) was a NASA Deputy Administrator and MIT professor.

Birth and education

He was born in Salem, Massachusetts to and Pauline and Robert Seamans. His great-great-grandfather was Otis Tufts. Seamans attended Lenox School, in Lenox, Massachusetts; earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Harvard University in 1939 or 1940; a Master of Science degree in Aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1942; and a Doctor of Science degree in Instrumentation from MIT in 1951. Seamans also received the following honorary degrees: Doctor of Science from Rollins College (1962) and from New York University (1967); Doctor of Engineering from the Norwich Free Academy (1971), from the University of Notre Dame (1974), and from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1974.

Early career

From 1941 to 1955 he held teaching and project positions at MIT during which time he worked on aeronautical problems, including instrumentation and control of airplanes and missiles. Positions that he held at MIT included: Instructor (1941-1945), Assistant Professor (1945-1950), and Associate Professor (1950-1955), Department of Aeronautical Engineering; Project Engineer, Instrumentation Laboratory; Chief Engineer, Project Meteor; and Director, Flight Control Laboratory. Seamans joined the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1955 as Manager of the Airborne Systems Laboratory and Chief Systems Engineer of the Airborne Systems Department. In 1958, he became Chief Engineer of the Missile Electronics and Controls Division at RCA in Burlington, Massachusetts.

NACA and NASA career

From 1948 to 1958, Seamans also served on technical committees of NASA's predecessor organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. He served as a consultant to the Scientific Advisory Board of the United States Air Force from 1957 to 1959, as a Member of the Board from 1959 to 1962, and as an Associate Advisor from 1962 to 1967. He was a National Delegate, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (NATO) from 1966 to 1969.

In 1960, Seamans joined NASA as Associate Administrator. In 1965, he became Deputy Administrator, retaining many of the general management-type responsibilities of the Associate Administrator and also serving as Acting Administrator. During his years at NASA he worked closely with the Department of Defense in research and engineering programs and served as Co-chairman of the Astronautics Coordinating Board. Through these associations, NASA was kept aware of military developments and technical needs of the Department of Defense and Seamans was able to advise that agency of NASA activities which had application to national security.

Post-NASA career

In January 1968 he resigned from NASA to become a visiting professor at MIT and in July 1968 was appointed to the Jerome Clarke Hunsaker professorship, an MIT-endowed visiting professorship in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, named in honor of the founder of the Aeronautical Engineering Department. During this period with MIT, he was also a consultant to the Administrator of NASA.

In 1969 he became Secretary of the United States Air Force, serving until 1973. Seamans was also president of the National Academy of Engineering from May 1973 to December 1974, when he became the first administrator of the new Energy Research and Development Administration. He returned to MIT in 1977, becoming dean of its School of Engineering in 1978. In 1981 he was elected chair of the board of trustees of Aerospace Corp.

He died on June 28, 2008 in Beverly, Massachusetts at age 89.cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=R. C. Seamans Jr., NASA Figure, Dies at 89 |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/science/space/03seamans.html |quote=Robert C. Seamans Jr., NASA’s nuts-and-bolts manager of the Apollo moon-landing program, who later served as secretary of the Air Force and then as the first administrator of the federal energy research agency, died Saturday at his home in Beverly Farms, Mass. He was 89. |publisher=New York Times |date=July 3, 2008 |accessdate=2008-07-03 ]

Legacy and honors

*There is a tall ship named Robert C. Seamans (ship). In the HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon", Seamans was played by Dann Florek.

References

* R. C. Seamans, Jr. [http://history.nasa.gov/monograph37.pdf "Project Apollo: The Tough Decisions"] . Monographs in Aerospace History Number 37. NASA SP-2005-4537, Washington, D.C., 2005.
* R. C. Seamans, [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4106/sp4106.htm "Aiming At Targets: The Autobiography Of Robert C. Seamans, Jr."] , Memoirs Unlimited, c1994.
* [http://www.af.mil/history/person.asp?dec=&pid=123006525 Air Force History Page on Dr. Robert C. Seamans]