Carl Atwood Wiley (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 1985) was an American mathematician and engineer. He is most widely known as the originator of the

solar sail Solar sails (also known as light sails and photon sails) are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large mirrors. A number of spaceflight missions to test solar propulsion and navigation have been p ...

concept as well as the inventor of synthetic aperture radar.

Career

Wiley's research work began at the Air Force Aircraft Radiation Lab at

Wright Field Wilbur Wright Field was a military installation and an airfield used as a World War I pilot, mechanic, and armorer training facility and, under different designations, conducted United States Army Air Corps and Air Forces flight testing. Loca ...

in 1941. In 1942 he discovered the

piezoelectricity Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word ''p ...

of Barium titanate, for which he later was awarded a patent. In 1949 he went to work for as the engineer-in-charge of Goodyear Aerophysics. It was during this time he invented synthetic aperture radar in 1951, patented as "Pulsed Doppler Radar Methods and Means," #3,196,436. That same year Wiley posited the idea of solar sails in a science fiction story published in ''

Astounding Science Fiction ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...

'' magazine entitled ''Clipper Ships of Space'' (originally titled ''Are the Clipper Ships gone forever?''). Wiley wrote his story under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Russel Saunders, an in-group reference to Russel–Saunders coupling not unlike J.J. Coupling, itself a reference to

angular momentum In physics, angular momentum (rarely, moment of momentum or rotational momentum) is the rotational analog of linear momentum. It is an important physical quantity because it is a conserved quantity—the total angular momentum of a closed syst ...

. Seven years later

Richard L. Garwin Richard Lawrence Garwin (born April 19, 1928) is an American physicist, best known as the author of the first hydrogen bomb design. In 1978, Garwin was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributing to the application ...

developed the first technical specifications for a solar sail. Robert L. Forward credited Wiley for the genesis of the idea in Forward's 1990 patent. Wiley's research and manuscripts for the story are now housed in the

Eaton collection The Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy, formerly known as the J. Lloyd Eaton Collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Utopian Literature, is "the largest publicly accessible collection of science fiction, fantasy, horror a ...

. In 1953 he left Goodyear to found his own company, Wiley Electronics in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

until it was bought out in 1962. Following that Wiley worked for

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 ...

and its successor,

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 ...

where he worked on various radar projects including LOCO, SINCO, VOLPHASE, and VOLFRE. In 1978 he went to work at

Hughes Aircraft Company The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other produ ...

where he eventually retired as a chief scientist in the technology division of Hughes' Space and Communications Group. In 1985,

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

awarded Wiley their Pioneer Award.

References

1918 births 1985 deaths Antioch College alumni Ohio State University alumni Science fiction academics People from Princeton, New Jersey Writers from New Jersey 20th-century American mathematicians Synthetic aperture radar {{US-mathematician-stub

Career

See also

References