Hugh Latimer Dryden

Biography

Early life and education

Dryden was born in Pocomoke City, Maryland, the son of Samuel Isaac and Nova Hill Culver Dryden, and was named after a popular local Methodist clergyman. During the financial panic of 1907, his father lost his job and the family moved to Baltimore, Maryland.

As a student, Dryden excelled in mathematics. He graduated from Baltimore City College, a high school, at the age of 14, and was the youngest student ever to graduate from that school. He was awarded the Peabody Prize for excellence in mathematics. With a scholarship, he was admitted to Johns Hopkins University and graduated with honors after only three years. He earned a M.S. in physics in 1916. His thesis was titled, "Airplanes: An Introduction to the Physical Principles Embodied in their Use."

Career

In 1918, Dryden joined the National Bureau of Standards, becoming an inspector of gauges. With the help and influence of Dr. Joseph S. Ames, he obtained a transfer to the bureau's Wind Tunnel division, and began taking graduate courses in fluid dynamics to complete his Ph.D. In 1919 at the age of 20, he was awarded his degree in physics and mathematics from Johns Hopkins University, the youngest person ever to have received a doctorate from that institution. His thesis was on the "Air Forces on Circular Cylinders".

In 1920 Dryden was appointed the director of the Aerodynamics Division of the National Bureau of Standards, a newly created section. Collaborating with Dr. Lyman J. Briggs, he performed studies of airfoils near the speed of sound. He also performed pioneering aerodynamics research on the problems of airflow, turbulence, and especially the boundary layer phenomenon. His work contributed to the design of the wings for the P-51 Mustang, as well as other aircraft designed during World War II.

By 1934, Dryden was appointed the bureau's Chief of the Mechanics and Sound Division, and in 1939 he became a member of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).

With the start of World War II, Dryden served in an advisory capacity to the Air Force. He led the development of the "Bat", a radar-homing guided bomb program that was successfully employed in combat in April, 1945 to sink a Japanese destroyer.

After the war, Dryden became the Director of Aeronautical Research for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1946. While at the NACA he supervised the development of the North American X-15, a rocket plane used for research and testing. He also established programs for V/STOL aircraft, and studied the problem of atmospheric reentry.

He held the position of Director of NACA, NASA's predecessor, from 1947 until October 1958. In addition he served on numerous government advisory committees, including the Scientific Advisory Committee to the President. From 1941 until 1956 he was editor of the Journal of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences. After NACA became NASA, he became the deputy director of that organization, serving until his death.

After John Glenn's orbital flight, an exchange of letters between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev led to a series of discussions led by Dryden and Soviet scientist Anatoli Blagonravov. Their talks in 1962 led to the Dryden-Blagonravov agreement, which was formalized in October of that year, the same time the two countries were in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The agreement was formally announced at the United Nations on December 5, 1962. It called for cooperation on the exchange of data from weather satellites, a study of the Earth's magnetic field, and joint tracking of the U.S. Echo II balloon satellite. Unfortunately, as the competition between the two nation's crewed space programs heated up, efforts to further cooperation at that point came to an end. They would be revived in 1969 by NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine and led to the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.