Preston Bassett

Preston Rogers Bassett (March 20, 1892 – April 30, 1992) was an inventor, engineer, and pioneer in instruments for aviation.

Preston Rogers Bassett was born in Buffalo, New York, son of urban planner Edward Murray Bassett and Annie Preston Bassett. Geologist Isabel Bassett Wasson was his sister. He received an A.B. from Amherst College in 1913 and attended the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1913-1914. He received two honorary degrees, an M.A. and a D.Sc., from Amherst College, and an honorary LLD from Adelphi College. He married Jeanne Reed Mordorf in 1919 and had four children. Jeanne Reed Mordorf was born November 1, 1893 in Trenton, NJ, graduated from Vassar College in 1915. They were married in Brooklyn May 24, 1919. Their home from 1925-1952 was 104 Broadway, Rockville Center, NY.

Bassett worked for the Sperry Gyroscope Company for his whole career, where he rose from research engineer (1914) to Chief Engineer (1929), Vice-President in Charge of Engineering (1932), General Manager (1944), and President (1945-1956). He was also Vice President of the merged Sperry Corporation (1950-1957). He held 35 patents awarded between 1920 and 1937, including several for improved high-intensity carbon arc lights used in anti-aircraft searchlights and movie projectors. He helped Albert A. Michelson use arc light and gyroscope technology to measure the speed of light at Mount Wilson in June, 1924. He also developed the first soundproofing systems for airplanes and worked closely with Sperry founder Elmer Ambrose Sperry on several flight instruments based on gyroscopes, especially the gyrocompass, crucial to flying safely at night and in bad weather. The first blind landing (now called an instrument landing) was made by aviation pioneer Jimmy Doolittle in 1929 using Sperry instruments.

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