HUGH L. DRYDEN, NASA

Hugh Latimer Dryden was born 2 July 1898 in Pocomoke City, Maryland. He earned his way through Johns Hopkins University, completing the four-year bachelor of arts course in three years and graduating with honors. Influenced by Dr. Joseph S. Ames, who for many years was chairman of the NACA, Dryden undertook a study of fluid dynamics at the Bureau of Standards while taking graduate courses at Johns Hopkins. In recognition of his laboratory work, the university granted him a doctor of philosophy degree in 1919.[12]

Dryden became head of the bureau’s aerodynamics section in 1920. With A. M. Kuethe, in 1929 he published the first of a series of papers on the measurement of turbulence in wind tunnels and the mechanics of boundary-layer flow. He advanced to chief of the Mechanics and Sound Division of the Bureau of Standards in 1934, and in January 1946 became assistant director. Six months later he became associate director.

In 1945 Dryden became deputy scientific director of the Army Air Forces Scientific Advisory Group. In 1946 he received the nation’s second highest civilian decoration, the Medal of Freedom, for "an outstanding contribution to the fund of knowledge of the Army Air Forces with his research and analysis of the development and use of guided missiles by the enemy."

In 1947 Dryden resigned from the Bureau of Standards to become director of aeronautical research at the NACA. Two years later the agency gave him additional responsibilities and the new title of director. Dryden held this post until he became deputy administrator of the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. The National Civil Service League honored Dryden with the Career Service Award for 1958. He served as the deputy administrator of NASA until his death on 2 December 1965.