John Wistar Simpson (25 September 1914 – January 4, 2007) was an electrical engineer, who made significant contributions to the development of the nuclear energy.

Biography

He was born in 1914 in

Glenn Springs, South Carolina Glenn Springs is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States located at a spring (hydrosphere), spring. It was first ...

. He joined Westinghouse in 1937 and, earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

in 1941. He was a close associate of Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, known as the father of the nuclear Navy. Simpson took a two-year leave of absence from Westinghouse in 1946 to work at

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...

where they applied nuclear energy to the generation of power. When he returned to Westinghouse he became responsible for research and development of nuclear energy generation at the

Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory is a U.S. Government-owned research and development facility in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, that works exclusively on the design and development of nuclear power for the U.S. Navy. It was one ...

. He was deeply involved in the design and construction of the first submarine atomic power plant in the USS ''Nautilus'' (SSN-571). In the late 1950s, he organized the Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory, with a federal contract to build a

nuclear thermal rocket A nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) is a type of thermal rocket where the heat from a nuclear reaction, often nuclear fission, replaces the chemical energy of the propellants in a chemical rocket. In an NTR, a working fluid, usually liquid hydrog ...

. It was successfully tested, but sidelined by NASA’s Gemini program. He was elected to the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

in April, 1966. He was awarded the

IEEE Edison Medal The IEEE Edison Medal is presented by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) "for a career of meritorious achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering, or the electrical arts." It is the oldest medal in this fi ...

in 1971 "For sustained contributions to society through the development and engineering design of nuclear power systems." Simpson received in 1982 the Walter H. Zinn Award from the

American Nuclear Society The American Nuclear Society (ANS) is an international, not-for-profit organization of scientists, engineers, and industry professionals that promote the field of nuclear engineering and related disciplines. ANS is composed of three communities: ...

. He also was a Fellow of the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operat ...

, and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the

Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineering A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

and the Atomic Industrial Forum. Simpson was the author of several nonfiction books including ''Nuclear Power from Underseas to Outer Space''. "The author is grateful to John W. Simpson and to the American Nuclear Society for permission to reprint excerpts from Nuclear Power from Undersea to Outer Space by John W. Simpson, copyright 1995 by the American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, Illinois." He died on January 4, 2007, in Hilton Head.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, John W. 1914 births 2007 deaths American electrical engineers Swanson School of Engineering alumni Fellow Members of the IEEE Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering IEEE Edison Medal recipients 20th-century American engineers