Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr.
| Robert H. Lawrence Jr. | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| USAF Astronaut | |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. October 2, 1935 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | December 8, 1967 (aged 32) Edwards Air Force Base, California, U.S. |
|
Other occupation
|
Test pilot |
|
Bradley University, B.S. 1956 Ohio State University, Ph.D. 1965 |
|
| Rank | Major, U.S. Air Force |
|
Time in space
|
None |
| Selection | 1967 USAF MOL Group 3 |
| Missions | None |
|
Mission insignia
|
None |
Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. (October 2, 1935 – December 8, 1967), (Major, USAF), was a United States Air Force officer and the first African-American astronaut.
Lawrence was born October 2, 1935, in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Haines Elementary School and, at the age of 16, he graduated in the top 10 percent from Englewood High School in Chicago, in 1952. At the age of 20, he graduated from Bradley University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. At Bradley, he distinguished himself as Cadet Commander in the Air Force ROTC and received the commission of second lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve Program.
At the age of 21, he was designated as a U.S. Air Force pilot after completing flight training at Malden Air Force Base, Missouri.
At 22, he married Barbara Cress, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Henry Cress of Chicago. By the time he was 25, he had completed an Air Force assignment as an instructor pilot in the T-33 training aircraft for the German Air Force.
In 1965, Lawrence earned a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Ohio State University. His doctoral thesis was "The Mechanism Of The Tritium Beta Ray Induced Exchange Reaction Of Deuterium With Methane and Ethane In The Gas Phase."
...
Wikipedia