Bryan Lewis Allen (born October 13, 1952) is an American self-taught
hang glider
Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...
pilot and bicyclist. He achieved fame when he piloted (and provided the human power for) the two aircraft that won the first two
Kremer prizes
The Kremer prizes are a series of monetary awards, established in 1959 by the industrialist Henry Kremer.
Royal Aeronautical Society Human Powered Flight Group
The Royal Aeronautical Society's "Man Powered Aircraft Group" was formed in 1959 b ...
for human-powered flight: the ''
Gossamer Condor
The MacCready ''Gossamer Condor'' was the first human-powered aircraft capable of controlled and sustained flight; as such, it won the Kremer prize in 1977. Its design was led by Paul MacCready of AeroVironment, Inc.
Design and development
...
'' (1977; the first human-powered aircraft that met the specified criteria of the first Kremer prize) and ''
Gossamer Albatross
The ''Gossamer Albatross'' is a human-powered aircraft built by American aeronautical engineer Dr Paul B MacCready's company AeroVironment. On June 12, 1979, it completed a successful crossing of the English Channel to win the second Kremer ...
'' (1979; the first human-powered aircraft to cross the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
). He later set world distance and duration records in a small pedal-powered blimp named
"White Dwarf."
Biography
Allen graduated from
Tulare Union High School
Tulare Union High School () is a public school for secondary education in Tulare, Tulare County, California, United States. This high school is part of the Tulare Joint Union High School District, along with Tulare Western High School and Missi ...
in
Tulare, California
Tulare ( ) is a city in Tulare County, California. The population was 68,875 at the 2020 census. It is located in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, eight miles south of Visalia and sixty miles north of Bakersfield. The city is named for th ...
. He then attended the
College of the Sequoias
College of the Sequoias (COS) is a public two-year community college in Visalia, California. The college is named for the Giant Sequoia trees native to the nearby Sierra Nevada mountain range.
History
College of the Sequoias was originally esta ...
, and
Cal State Bakersfield
California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB, Cal State Bakersfield, or CSU Bakersfield) is a public university in Bakersfield, California. It was established in 1965 as Kern State College and officially in 1968 as California State College Bake ...
.
, he is employed by the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States.
Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...
in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
I ...
, working as a software engineer in the area of Mars exploration.
The care and feeding of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Ground Data System (GDS)
(2005), NASA Technical Reports Server, Allen et al. authors
References
External links
"Martian" bio for Bryan Allen
Bryan Allen's home page
1952 births
Living people
NASA people
American aviation record holders
{{Aviation-bio-stub