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Bert R. Bulkin

Bertram (Bert) R. Bulkin
Bulkin Bert legacy photo about 1989.jpg
Bert Bulkin in front of Hubble Space Telescope assembly, 1989
Aeronautical Engineer
Nationality American
Born (1929-07-20)July 20, 1929
Brooklyn, New York
Died March 10, 2012(2012-03-10) (aged 82)
Lodi, California
Awards Pioneer of Space Technology (CIA; 1985)
Distinguished Public Service Award (NASA; March 21, 1991)
Lodi Hall of Fame

Bertram Raoul Bulkin (July 20, 1929 – March 10, 2012) was an American aeronautical engineer who participated in the first United States photo-reconnaissance satellite programs and is best known for his role in building the Hubble Space Telescope.

Bulkin was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of David Bulkin and Anne Clara Strauss, both immigrants. He was named after Berel Reven Bulkin, a paternal uncle from the Kiev area of Ukraine. After residing briefly in Springfield, Massachusetts, he and his family returned to Brooklyn, where he attended P.S. 197, an elementary school. Bulkin was graduated from John Marshall High School (Los Angeles, California) in 1946 at age 16. He then attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. During his time at UCLA, he took a summer job with what was then called Lockheed's Advanced Development Projects facility, also known as the Skunk Works, located in Burbank, California.

Bulkin began his career as a detail draftsman for Lockheed'sSkunk Works in Burbank, incorporating sketches of electrical or other systems into master blueprints for airplanes. Between 1951 and 1959, he contributed to electrical and armament systems design on programs including the P-2 Neptune and the Electra. In February 1954, he filed for a patent for an internally illuminated knob that could be used as part of an onboard aircraft warning system; that patent was granted in December 1956. By 1957, he was working as a design engineer. He then took a job with Hiller Helicopters in Palo Alto, California, which provided cover for the then-classified Corona program, the first U.S. photo-reconnaissance satellite. In support of that program, he and William Williamson from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designed a SECOR (Sequential Correlation of Range) spacecraft based on the OSCAR (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio) model. Bulkin's colleagues also credited him with proposing the use of ping-pong balls to cool the interior of one satellite module. Corona lore includes the story of another colleague stopped by the California Highway Patrol while driving from the Bay Area to a launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base, unable to explain the cases of ping-pong balls he was transporting in the back of his Ford Thunderbird.


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