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Theodore Paul Wright (May 25, 1895 – August 21, 1970), also known as T. P. Wright, was a
He was born in
Wright, Theodore Paul (1895-1970)
Harvard Square Library
Cornell Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Theodore Paul 1895 births 1970 deaths Cornell University faculty American aerospace engineers 20th-century American educators Lombard College alumni 20th-century American engineers
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
aeronautical engineer
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is sim ...
and educator.
Biography
He was born in Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The city is northwest of Peoria. At the 2010 census, its population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County and the principal city of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical ...
on May 25, 1895. His father was the economist Philip Green Wright and his brothers were the geneticist Sewall Wright
Sewall Green Wright FRS(For) Honorary FRSE (December 21, 1889March 3, 1988) was an American geneticist known for his influential work on evolutionary theory and also for his work on path analysis. He was a founder of population genetics alongsi ...
and the political scientist Quincy Wright
Philip Quincy Wright (December 28, 1890 – October 17, 1970) was an American political scientist based at the University of Chicago known for his pioneering work and expertise in international law, international relations, and security studies. ...
. He graduated from Lombard College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served in World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
In 1936, he published an important paper entitled "Factors affecting the costs of airplanes" which describes what is known as '' Wright's law'' or experience curve effects. The paper describes that "we learn by doing" and that the cost of each unit produced decreases as a function of the cumulative number of units produced.
He served as administrator of the Civil Aeronautics Administration during 1944–1948. When President Truman announced Wright’s resignation as Administrator of Civil Aeronautics on January 16, 1948, the ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported that Wright felt he could not continue in office at a salary of $10,000 per year ().
He served as Cornell University's vice president in charge of research from 1948 to 1960 and served as acting president of Cornell University in 1951. He died on August 21, 1970.
Awards
* Wright Brothers Medal (1930) *Honorary Doctorate from Knox College (1937) * Daniel Guggenheim Medal (1945)See also
*Learning curve
A learning curve is a graphical representation of the relationship between how proficient people are at a task and the amount of experience they have. Proficiency (measured on the vertical axis) usually increases with increased experience (the ...
* Experience curve effects
References
External links
Wright, Theodore Paul (1895-1970)
Harvard Square Library
Cornell Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Theodore Paul 1895 births 1970 deaths Cornell University faculty American aerospace engineers 20th-century American educators Lombard College alumni 20th-century American engineers