Louis Dunn facts for kids
Louis Gerhardus Dunn (1908-1979) was a brilliant engineer from South Africa. He played a very important part in building early American missiles and launch vehicles. These are the powerful rockets that send things into space.
Studying at Caltech
Louis Dunn went to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This famous school is in Pasadena, California. He earned both his first degree and his advanced degrees there. He studied aeronautical engineering. This means he learned how to design and build aircraft and spacecraft.
At that time, Caltech had a special place called the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory. It was a top research center for airplanes. A very important scientist named Theodore von Kármán was in charge of it. By 1943, Dunn had become a teacher at Caltech. He also became a U.S. citizen.
Leading the Jet Propulsion Lab
In the 1940s, von Kármán and another scientist named Frank Malina started doing rocket research. They began using the name Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for their projects. In 1945, Malina hired Dunn to be the assistant director of JPL.
When Malina left, Dunn became the acting director. Then, in 1947, he was officially named the director of JPL. He stayed in this important job until 1954. After Dunn left, William Hayward Pickering took over as JPL director. Pickering had worked with Dunn on the Corporal missile project.
Working on Missiles
After leaving JPL, Dunn went to work for the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation. This company later became part of TRW. There, he led the program for the Atlas missile. This was a very important missile for the United States.
In 1963, he moved to another company called Aerojet General. Louis Dunn passed away at his home in Mountain Ranch, California, on August 13, 1979.
