Folks, I just wanted to share this obituary of my great uncle Edward van
Driest who died on January 1st. He was one of the top scientists responsible
for the Appolo project to the moon. His accomplishments and degrees are just
fascinating! He was not an employee or related to Cletrac, but his brother - my grandfather - Howard was Experimental Engineer.
Blake
http://www.legacy.com/ivdailybulletin/L ... Id=3001085 (http://www.legacy.com/ivdailybulletin/LegacySubPage2.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=3001085)
Dr. Edward R. Van Driest
VAN DRIEST-Dr. Edward R. Van Driest, PH.D. & SC.D. Dr. Edward R. Van Driest, a well-known rocket scientist and professor, died January 1, 2005, near Placerville, California. Dr. Van Driest was born on September 16, 1913, in Cleveland, Ohio. He received a B.S. degree
from the Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, an M.S. degree from the University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. in 1940 from the California Institute of Technology. At Cal Tech, he studied under Professor von Karman in the areas of aerodynamics and boundary layer transition.
During World War II, he taught at Cornell University, the University of Connecticut, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He taught aerodynamics and thermodynamics at MIT until 1947 when he went to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland under a fellowship. There, he studied under ex-German physics and rocket scientists like Professor Ackeret and received a Sc.D. He
joined North American Aviation's Missile Division in Downey, California, where he was Director of Space Sciences Laboratories and designed large rockets and missiles. Subsequently, he was employed by The RAND Corporation and was a professor at the University of Southern California and at California State University, Long Beach, until his retirement. He was the author of numerous scientific papers and had personal Air Force OSR and ARPA contracts during his entire professional and academic career of 50 years. In 1942, he married Marie Claire Lang who preceded him in death in 1975. Dr. Van Driest lived in Whittier (Friendly Hills) and then Marina Del Rey, California, before moving to his daughter's home near Placerville, California. He is survived by a son, Reggie Van Driest, and a daughter, Claire Marie Winger, and a grandson, Jonah Winger. Another son, James, preceded him in death in 1979. A Memorial service and Interment will be this Thursday, January 6th, 2005 at 3:00 P.M. at Rose Hills Memorial Park, 3888 S. Workman Mill Road. in Whittier,
California.
Published in the Whittier Daily News from 1/5/2005 - 1/6/2005.