George H. Ludwig was the former chief research scientist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's satellite systems and director of operations for the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

. He played a key role in adapting solid-state scientific research instruments for America's first satellites:

Explorer I Explorer 1 was the first satellite launched by the United States in 1958 and was part of the U.S. participation in the International Geophysical Year (IGY). The mission followed the first two satellites the previous year; the Soviet Union ...

, II, and III. He wrote a book, and provided audio/oral history with the Transistor Museum.

Goddard Space Flight Center

Upon completing his doctorate in 1960, from the University of Iowa, Dr. Ludwig joined the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD as chief of the new fields and particles instrumentation section. The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) was established on May 1, 1959, as NASA's first space flight center and research laboratory. Its first 157 employees were transferred from the United States Navy's

Project Vanguard Project Vanguard was a program managed by the United States Navy Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), which intended to launch the first artificial satellite into low Earth orbit using a Vanguard rocket. as the launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral ...

, but continued their work at the

Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological ...

in Washington, D.C., while the center was under construction. Dr. Ludwig served as Project Scientist for NASA's

Orbiting Geophysical Observatory Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (OGO) Program of NASA refers to the six satellites launched by the United States that were in use from September 1964 to 1972, designed to study the Earth's magnetosphere. The satellites successfully studied th ...

1, 3 and 5, nicknamed "Street-Car", which carried more than 60 instruments to conduct a wide variety of space science investigations.

NOAA

In 1972, Dr. Ludwig joined the

, which was created in 1970. Over the next ten years working in Washington D.C. and Boulder, Colorado, he directed the design, construction, and check-out of the

Television Infrared Observation Satellite TIROS, or Television InfraRed Observation Satellite, is a series of early weather satellites launched by the United States, beginning with TIROS-1 in 1960. TIROS was the first satellite that was capable of remote sensing of the Earth, enabli ...

TIROS-N/NOAA polar-orbiting satellite system and many of the evolutionary improvements to the

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), operated by the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service division, supports weather fo ...

(GOES) system.

NASA

Dr. Ludwig returned to NASA as the Assistant Chief Scientist, NASA, Washington DC. He directed a critical examination of NASA space research data management. He retired in 1984.

Consulting and writing

Dr. Ludwig led efforts to define the data and information systems for the Global Change Research Program and early-Earth Observing System. In 2004, on James Van Allen Day, in celebration of Dr. Van Allen's 90th birthday celebration, Dr. Ludwig presented a lecture on his contributions with the Iowa Group in the 1950s. He finished the book, ''Opening Space Research; Dreams, Technology, and Scientific Discovery'', published by American Geophysical Union, shortly before his death.

Death

George H. Ludwig, 85, died of prostate cancer January 22, 2013, at his home in Winchester, Virginia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ludwig, George H. 1927 births 2013 deaths University of Iowa alumni NASA people