Eugene M. Emme
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Eugene Morlock Emme (3 November 1919 – 24 June 1985) was an American air force pilot during World War II (1939–1945) who became a pioneering historian of aviation, and then the first historian of NASA's aerospace program.


Life

Eugene Emme was born on 3 November 1919 in Evanston, Illinois. He graduated from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa in 1941. Before the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor he was a CPT pilot. After the United States joined the war he became a
naval aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-based a ...
. He served in the Pacific theater. In 1948 he transferred to the
United States Air Force Reserve The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commiss ...
. In 1949 Emme received his Ph.D. in Modern European History from the University of Iowa. He became a member of the civilian faculty of the
Air University (United States Air Force) Air University is a professional military education university system of the United States Air Force. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award master's degrees. Organization ...
in 1949. He was a pioneer in oral history, and interviewed
Lord Dowding Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, (24 April 1882 – 15 February 1970) was an officer in the Royal Air Force. He was Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and is generally ...
of the British Royal Air Force, Field Marshal Erhard Milch at
Landsberg Prison Landsberg Prison is a penal facility in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west-southwest of Munich and south of Augsburg. It is best known as the prison where Adolf Hitler was held in 1924, a ...
in 1952, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1958 he moved to
Battle Creek, Michigan Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, Michigan, Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek River, Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle C ...
, as project director in the operations research office of the
Office of Civil Defense The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) was an agency of the United States Department of Defense from 1961–64. It replaced the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization. The organization was renamed the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency on May 5, 197 ...
. Emme became NASA's first historian in 1959. As a pioneer in aerospace history he advocated solid research and documentation. Emme had to address the challenges of obtaining solid support within NASA for historical research while developing scholars who would establish the basis for documenting and interpreting aerospace history, a new discipline that would largely rely on material from NASA programs. In 1962 Emme arranged for the annual Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) meeting to have a special session on the history of rocketry. This led to '' Technology and Culture'' devoting its entire Fall 1963 issue to rocketry. The papers were republished in 1964 as ''The History of Rocket Technology''. In 1965 Emme published ''A History of Space Flight'', aimed at younger readers. The book lays out the timeline of developments in rocket and satellite technology from ancient times, with many photographs. It explains the vehicles' scientific purpose, technology, objectives and performance. It is a valuable reference tool with a useful bibliography. However, the book added little information that was not already publicly available, and avoided discussion of controversies such as the decision by President John F. Kennedy to ignore his advisers and send a manned flight to the moon. Emme became co-chair of the history committee of the International Academy of Astronautics, and in this role attended congresses in Paris, Warsaw, Madrid, Constance, Vienna and Moscow. He was a member of the
Reserve Officers Association The ROA (d/b/a Reserve Organization of America) is a professional association of commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers, former officers, enlisted and spouses of the uniformed services of the United States, primarily with the Reserve an ...
, Air Force Historical Foundation,
Air Force Association The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit, professional military association for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, its declared mission is " ...
and Society for the History of Technology. Emme retired from the Ready Reserve as a colonel in 1972. He retired from NASA in 1978. Emme was a member of the Marvin Methodist Church of Silver Spring, Maryland near Washington, D.C. He died of cancer on 24 June 1985 at the Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and three children.


Legacy

Emme was influential in encouraging SHOT historians to work in the areas of aeronautical and space technology, and in ensuring that NASA's historians undertook solid research and documentation of the history of that institution. He established the history committees of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Astronautical Society, the International Academy of Astronautics and the National Rocket Club (now the
National Space Club The National Space Club is a non-profit corporation in the US which contains representatives of industry, government, educational institutions and private individuals in order to enhance the exchange of information on astronautics, and to relay th ...
). It was through his efforts that the National Space Club set up its Goddard Historical Essay Award. The Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Awards are named in Emme's honor. They recognize outstanding English-language books that advance public understanding of astronautics.


Publications

Publications include: * * * * * * * Emme wrote many other books for NASA and the History Series of the American Astronautical Society.


Notes


Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emme, Eugene Morlock 1919 births 1985 deaths American historians of science 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II