Richard Schwartz is an American aerospace engineer known for his work in satellite technologies which made possible the development of modern global positioning systems (

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

). He was a recipient of the 2019

Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, also known as the QEPrize, is a global prize for engineering and innovation. The prize was launched in 2012 by a cross-party group consisting of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and Ed Miliband, then Prime M ...

Education and early life

Schwartz was born and raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and attended high school at Brooklyn Tech. He graduated from Cooper Union with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1957, and eventually earned an MBA at

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...

in 1972.

Career and important contributions

After graduation in 1957, Schwartz went to work at the

Rocketdyne Rocketdyne was an American rocket engine design and production company headquartered in Canoga Park, in the western San Fernando Valley of suburban Los Angeles, in southern California. The Rocketdyne Division was founded by North American Avia ...

division of North American Aviation, which eventually became part of

Rockwell International Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial products. R ...

. During his time at Rockwell he was involved in the development of rocket propulsion systems and the space shuttle

Orbiter A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to spaceflight, fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth ...

program, as well as other projects connected with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

. Schwartz was Rockwell’s GPS Satellite Program Manager and was part of the team that provided the Block I satellites, i.e., the first GPS satellites. He became President of Rocketdyne in 1983, but eventually left to become President of Hercules Aerospace Co. in 1989. He then served as President and CEO of Alliant Techsystem from 1995 to 1999.

Awards and honors

Schwartz received a NASA Public Service Award in 1972, and was named to the

Space Foundation The Space Foundation is an American nonprofit organization whose mission is to advocate for all sectors of the global space industry through space awareness activities, educational programs, and major industry events. It was founded in 1983. Lo ...

's Space Technology Hall of Fame in 1998 in recognition of his contributions to GPS technology. He shared the 2019 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering with Hugo Fruehauf, Bradford Parkinson, and James Spilker Jr. for their work in the development of GPS satellites which could endure radiation and remain in service for extremely long times.

References

External links

*https://cooper.edu/engineering/news/impact-cooper-interview-richard-dick-schwartz-me57#:~:text=He%20led%20the%20development%20of,Certificate%20of%20Appreciation%20(1973). *https://cooper.edu/events-and-exhibitions/events/gps-originator-richard-schwartz-me-57-talks-about-his-work-qeprize {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Richard American aerospace engineers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people