Homer E. Newell, Jr.

Homer Edward Newell Jr. (March 11, 1915 – July 18, 1983) was a mathematics professor and author who became a powerful United States government science administrator—eventually rising to the number three position at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In the early 1960s, he either controlled or influenced virtually all non-military unmanned space missions for the free world.

Newell was born March 11, 1915 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He was educated in the public schools, graduating at the top of his class from Holyoke High in 1932. In a 1980 interview, he recalled that his interest in science arose from his grandfather Arthur J. Newell, who had an extensive private library where Newell found books on astronomy and chemistry. Arthur also provided the money for his grandson's university education at Harvard University, where he graduated with a 1936 Bachelor of Arts in Math, and a 1937 Master of Arts in Teaching. He applied for a scholarship to pursue a Doctorate in Math, but Harvard did not award it. Instead, he completed his education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which awarded him a Math Ph.D. in 1940 with Rudolf Langer as thesis advisor.

From 1940 to 1944, Newell was an instructor, and then assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland. During World War II he also worked as a Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) ground instructor in air navigation, taught engineering classes for military cadets, and briefly taught astronomy. The additional work for the CAA and military ended in 1944, and Newell, who was unhappy as a professor, applied for positions at several organizations doing military research. He was offered a contract position at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)'s communications security section in 1944, and later that year became an NRL employee. In 1945, the communications security section became the rocket sonde section. Newell became successively head of the theoretical analysis subsection, associate head of the section, and by 1947 headed the section; which performed upper atmosphere research using rockets including German-built V2s, US-built Aerobees and eventually NRL's own Viking; mostly launched from the White Sands Missile Range.

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