John Joseph Martin (October 19, 1922 – August 7, 1997 ) was educated as a mechanical engineer, receiving a Ph. D. from

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

in 1951. He joined

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F ...

in 1951 and moved to the

Bendix Corporation Bendix Corporation is an American manufacturing and engineering company which, during various times in its existence, made automotive brake shoes and systems, vacuum tubes, aircraft brakes, aeronautical hydraulics and electric power systems, av ...

in 1953. In 1960, he joined the

Institute for Defense Analyses The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) is an American non-profit corporation that administers three federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) – the Systems and Analyses Center (SAC), the Science and Technology Policy Institute ...

. While on sabbatical at the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

Farnborough, Hampshire Farnborough is a town in northeast Hampshire, England, part of the borough of Rushmoor and the Farnborough/Aldershot Built-up Area. Farnborough was founded in Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name is ...

, Martin wrote "Atmospheric Reentry". This book became the first and arguably the best in the open literature about designing reentry vehicles. Sir

Michael James Lighthill Sir Michael James Lighthill (23 January 1924 – 17 July 1998) was a British applied mathematician, known for his pioneering work in the field of aeroacoustics and for writing the Lighthill report on artificial intelligence. Biography J ...

, who was Martin's host at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, wrote the foreword to Martin's book. In 1969, Martin served as a science advisor to the US President. During 1973-1974 Martin served as an Associate Deputy Director at the Central Intelligence Agency and later as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Air Force. In 1984, Martin became an Associate Administrator at NASA.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, John Joseph NASA people 20th-century American engineers 1922 births 1997 deaths United States Air Force civilians Carter administration personnel Purdue University alumni Bendix Corporation people