| 1 | Name: | Dr. Simon Ramo | |
| Institution: | TRW Inc.; University of Southern California | ||
| Year Elected: | 1971 | ||
| Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 103. Engineering | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1913 | ||
| Death Date: | June 27, 2016 | ||
Simon Ramo is recognized as a statesman and executor of high technology. He co-founded two Fortune 500 companies, one of which (TRW) was an enormously successful defense electronics firm that designed the American intercontinental ballistic missiles. He provided technical advice and systems analysis to the first Air Force ballistic missile program which produced the Thor, Alas, and Titan missiles in a five to six-year time period. Dr. Ramo had advised presidents, Cabinet members and Congress on questions of defense and scientific policy and has published a dozen books on subjects ranging from technology to tennis. Born in Salt Lake City in 1913, he earned a Ph.D. magna cum laude from the California Institute of Technology in 1936. Prior to working in defense, he served as a research engineer at the General Electric Corporation, where he attained worldwide recognition as a pioneer in microwave technology and developed GE's electron microscope. By the end of World War II, he held 25 patents in electronics. Dr. Ramo served on the National Science Board. He was the recipient of a special citation of honor from the United States Air Force for his role as the leading civilian in the Air Force's ballistic missile program. He had also been awarded the National Medal of Science and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was inducted into the Business Hall of Fame, and his texts on science, engineering and management have been translated into many languages and are used in universities throughout the world. In January 2008 he joined the faculty of the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering as a presidential chair and professor of electrical engineering. He received his last patent, for a computer-based learning invention, at age 100. Simon Ramo died June 27, 2016, at age 103 at his home in Santa Monica, California. | |||