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| Science & Technology |
| Dean Everett Wooldridge,co-founder of TRW, dies at 93 |
| 2006-09-25 |
| Dean Everett Wooldridge, a physicist who co-founded aerospace giant TRW Inc. and helped develop the United States' intercontinental ballistic missile, died of pneumonia Wednesday at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 93. The "W" in TRW, Wooldridge was an aerospace pioneer who in retirement became a self-educated expert in neurology, publishing two books -- "The Machinery of the Brain" and "The Machinery of Life" -- that became required reading at many graduate schools. But Wooldridge was best known for his partnership with Simon Ramo, the "R" in TRW, in creating a company that revolutionized missile technology and helped propel the nation's high-tech weapons development during the early years of the Cold War. In 1957, Time magazine placed the two on its cover, declaring them the "face of a new age," while also calling them an unlikely pair. Ramo was described as flamboyant and prone to speak impulsively, letting his thoughts bounce around, while Wooldridge, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, looked and acted like a professor; calm and introspective. Despite their different personalities, the two California Institute of Technology classmates collaborated in developing the nation's most complex weapon systems, including the intercontinental ballistic missile, and helped usher in the space age. The son of an independent oil broker, Wooldridge was born in Chickasha, Okla., and graduated from high school at age 14 before receiving a master's degree from the University of Oklahoma at 20. In 1936, at 23, Wooldridge received a Ph.D. in physics at Caltech. Wooldridge immediately went to work at Bell Laboratories in New York, the pre-eminent research center at the time. By 1946, Wooldridge was chief of Bell's physical electronics department. But within months, he decided to head west. Wooldridge joined Ramo, his former Caltech classmate who had set up a 10-man electronics section at Hughes Aircraft Co. Wooldridge and Ramo developed an electronic fire-control system for the Air Force that became a standard for fighter aircraft. They developed the Falcon air-to-air missile, but at the height of their success both decided to walk out and form their own company, Ramo-Wooldridge. The first headquarters of Ramo-Wooldridge was a one-room office in Los Angeles with a card table, chair, telephone and rented typewriter. "When we started, we thought that maybe, if we were wildly successful, we might eventually have a staff of 150 people," Ramo said. Before it was acquired by Northrop Grumman Corp. in 2001, TRW had grown to about 70,000 workers. In 1958, Ramo-Wooldridge merged with its financial backer, Thompson Products, and the company was eventually renamed TRW. Wooldridge was named president with Ramo as an executive director focused on technology development. But just four years later, at age 49, Wooldridge retired and completely divorced himself from aerospace. A TRW historical document said that Wooldridge "never really wanted to be a businessman anyway" and didn't like "mundane tasks as cost-cutting." Well-off financially from TRW stocks, Wooldridge spent the next 10 years traveling with his wife before delving deeply into educating himself on neurology. |
| Posted by:john |