James Hart Wyld (September 10, 1912 – December 3, 1954) was an American

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and

rocket scientist Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

. James Hart Wild was born on September 10, 1912 in New York City. Recognizing him as a child prodigy, his parents hired private tutors and sent him to the Harvey prep school in Hawthorne, New York, the Salisbury boarding school in Connecticut, and Princeton University. He completed his

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1935. Wyld's interest in rocketry began in 1934, with the reading of

David Lasser David Lasser (March 20, 1902 – May 5, 1996) was an American writer and political activist. Lasser is remembered as one of the most influential figures of early science fiction writing, working closely with Hugo Gernsback. He was also heavily in ...

's book, ''Conquest of Space'', and reports from the Cleveland Rocket Society of early rocket engine experiments. He learned of the American Interplanetary Society (later renamed the

American Rocket Society The American Rocket Society (ARS) began its existence on , under the name of the American Interplanetary Society. It was founded by science fiction writers G. Edward Pendray, David Lasser, Laurence Manning, Nathan Schachner, and others. Pendray ...

), and applied for membership in March 1935. The society's engines were based on early designs of the German rocket society

Verein für Raumschiffahrt ''Verein'' is a German word, sometimes translated as ''union'', ''club'' or ''association'', and may refer to: * ''Eingetragener Verein'' (e. V.), a registered voluntary association under German law * Swiss Verein, a voluntary association under Sw ...

, but Wyld was unhappy with the German water-bath cooling scheme then used. He was more impressed with a 1933 regeneratively cooled engine developed by Harry Bull, of Syracuse, NY, and work by

Eugene Saenger Eugene Saenger (March 5, 1917 – September 30, 2007)Thomas H. Maugh"Eugene Saenger, 90; pioneer in radiation research"''Los Angeles Times'', October 6, 2007 was an American university professor and physician. A graduate of Harvard University, ...

in Austria. With help from a couple professors, he began his own designs, calculations and experiments at Princeton. In 1936 he developed the concept of a regeneratively cooled liquid rocket motor, which he named M-15. This uses a double-hulled rocket nozzle that allows the rocket fuel to circulate as a coolant. A version of this rocket motor was tested by the American Rocket Society on December 10, 1938 at New Rochelle, New York. The design produced a thrust of 90 pounds force (400 N) that lasted for 13 seconds, and the steel chamber and nozzle were successfully protected by the design. This cooling design became the basis of all modern liquid-propellant rocket motors. In 1941 he helped to found Reaction Motors, Inc., serving as secretary and research director. This was the first commercial rocket company in the United States, and it was sponsored by the Navy. RMI's first Navy contract produced an engine capable of 1,000 pounds force (4,000 N) in 1942, and it was employed for

JATO JATO (acronym for jet-assisted take-off) is a type of assisted take-off for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets. The term ''JATO'' is used interchangeably with the (more specific ...

. Today this engine is on display at the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

. By 1943, his engines had achieved 3400 pounds thrust. His 6000C-4 engine, producing 6000 pounds of thrust was contained in the

Bell X-1 The Bell X-1 (Bell Model 44) is a rocket engine–powered aircraft, designated originally as the XS-1, and was a joint National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics– U.S. Army Air Forces–U.S. Air Force supersonic research project built by Be ...

rocket plane, which was the first manned vehicle to break the sound barrier. The improved 8000C engine powered the

MX-774 The RTV-A-2 Hiroc (high-altitude rocket) was a product of the United States' first effort to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The project was named MX-774. The project was canceled in 1947, but leftover funds were used to bu ...

rocket, built by

Karel Bossart Karel Jan Bossart (February 9, 1904 – August 3, 1975) was an innovative rocket designer and creator of the Atlas ICBM. His achievements rank alongside those of Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolev. But as most of his work was for the United ...

. After 1947, he worked on concepts for atomic rocket propulsion. He served on the Atomic Energy Commission, in 1950. Wyld died from a heart ailment on December 3, 1954, at

Pompton Lakes, New Jersey Pompton Lakes is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 11,097,AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

James H. Wyld Memorial Award was named for him. * The crater Wyld on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

is named after him.

Notes

More details at: http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=34 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wyld, James Hart 1912 births 1953 deaths 20th-century American engineers People from Pompton Lakes, New Jersey Engineers from New Jersey Princeton University alumni Rocket scientists Members of the American Rocket Society