JOHN V. BECKER, NASA

John Becker is widely regarded as the father of the X-15, having served as the leader of the Langley researchers who defined the general concept of a hypersonic research airplane.

John Vernon Becker was born in 1913 in Albany, New York. He earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering (aero option) in 1935 and a master of science degree in aero engineering in 1936, both from New York State University. He joined the NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory as a junior aeronautical engineer in 1936.-^

Becker served as head of the 16-foot high-speed wind-tunnel branch from 1943 until 1947 and chief of the Compressibility Research Division from 1947 through 1957. During this time Becker contributed to the design and understanding of the Bell X-1, Bell X-2, Douglas X-3, the Century Series fighters, and the XB-70, in addition to his work on the X-15. In 1958 Becker became the division chief of the Aero-Physics Research Division, a position he held until his retirement in 1974. During that time he contributed to the X-20 Dyna-Soar and various lifting-reentry vehicles that led to the Space Shuttle, Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, as well as Project FIRE, Sprint, the hypersonic cruise vehicle, the hypersonic research engine, and others. After he retired from NASA, Becker was a consultant for the General Applied Sciences Laboratory, Burns and Roe, and the NASA Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology.

Becker authored over 50 research papers in addition to numerous technical journal articles. In 1955, New York University cited Becker as one of its 100 outstanding graduates from the College of Engineering. He received the Sylvanus Reed Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) for 1960, and received other AIAA awards in 1961, 1968, and 1973. Becker delivered the 3rd Eugen Sanger Memorial Lecture at the Deutsch Geaellschaft Fur Luftfahrforschung, Bonn, Germany, in December 1968.-15