George Edward Pendray
Encyclopedia
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
s and spaceflight
Spaceflight
Spaceflight is the act of travelling into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft which may, or may not, have humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the Russian Soyuz program, the U.S. Space shuttle program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station...
.
Early life
Pendray was born in Omaha, NebraskaOmaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, to John Hall Pendray and his wife, Louisa Wolfe. He grew up in Niobrara County, Wyoming. and attended the University of Wyoming
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...
, graduating in 1924. He then went to Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he received his Master of Arts degree in 1925. Two years later, he married Leatrice M. Gregory. They had three daughters: Guenever, Elaine, and Lynette.
Middle life
Pendray became an editor at the New York Herald-Tribune after completing his graduate work at Columbia University. He remained at the Tribune for seven years. A science fiction enthusiast, he applied that interest as a science editor for Literary DigestLiterary Digest
The Literary Digest was an influential general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.-History:...
from 1932 to 1936 . He was next hired at Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company
Westinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is a nuclear power company, offering a wide range of nuclear products and services to utilities throughout the world, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation and control and advanced nuclear plant designs...
as assistant to the president. One of his responsibilities was public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
in advance of the 1939 New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
. He created what he called a "time capsule
Time capsule
A time capsule is an historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future people and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians...
", to preserve everyday items in a sealed container for future historians. Pendray also created the word laundromat for Westinghouse.
Career
Pendray's primary employment was in public relations; however, he always was interested in rocketry. He was an early experimenter with liquid propulsion rockets. Pendray was a contemporary of Robert H. GoddardRobert H. Goddard
Robert Hutchings Goddard was an American professor, physicist and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, which he successfully launched on March 16, 1926...
, whose papers he later edited with Goddard's widow. Pendray and his associates worked on the beginnings of rocket development and technology, which led to his founding of the American Interplanetary Society (ARS) in 1930. This organization is now the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is the professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA was founded in 1963 from the merger of two earlier societies: the American Rocket Society , founded in 1930 as the American Interplanetary Society , and the Institute...
(AIAA), and awards the "G. Edward Pendray Award" in recognition of his achievements.
Later life
Pendray helped develop the Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Center at the California Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
and the Guggenheim Laboratories
Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory
The Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology , was a research institute created in 1926, at first specializing in aeronautics research. In 1930, Hungarian scientist Theodore von Kármán accepted the directorship of the lab and emigrated to the United States. Under...
at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. He also assisted in developing the Guggenheim Institute of Flight Structures at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. In 1958 he was a consultant to the Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. Pendray helped in the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
His first wife died of cancer 1971. He married Annice D. Crema the following year.
G. Edward Pendray died in Cranbury, New Jersey in 1987 at the age of 82.
Positions
- Reporter Laramie, WyomingLaramie, WyomingLaramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....
Republic Boomerang, 1923-24
- New York Herald-Tribune reporter, 1925–30, picture editor, 1930–32, science editor, 1932–33
- Co-founder of Pendray and Company, a public relations firm, 1945-47. Senior partner, 1948–70
- Science editor for Literary DigestLiterary DigestThe Literary Digest was an influential general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.-History:...
writing science fiction stories, 1933–36
- Assistant to the president of Westinghouse Electric CompanyWestinghouse Electric CompanyWestinghouse Electric Company LLC is a nuclear power company, offering a wide range of nuclear products and services to utilities throughout the world, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation and control and advanced nuclear plant designs...
, 1936–45
- Public relations counsel to over 100 corporations and organizations among some being Great Northern Paper CompanyGeorgia-PacificGeorgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is one of the world's leading manufacturers and distributors of tissue, pulp, paper, packaging, building products and related chemicals. As of Fall 2010, the company employed more than 40,000 people at more...
, Westinghouse Electric Company, American Machine & Foundry Company, Harry F. Guggenheim Foundation, the World BankWorld BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, the American Automobile AssociationAmerican Automobile AssociationAAA , formerly known as the American Automobile Association, is a federation of 51 independently operated motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a not-for-profit member service organization with more than 51 million members. AAA provides services to its members such as travel, automotive,...
, the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim FoundationDaniel and Florence Guggenheim FoundationThe Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation is located at 950 Third Avenue in Manhattan.New York, NY 10022.-History:The Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation was founded in 1924.Between 1930 and 1941 the foundation financed Robert H. Goddard...
, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, Toronto-Dominion Bank of CanadaToronto-Dominion BankThe Toronto-Dominion Bank , is the second-largest bank in Canada by market capitalization and based on assets. It is also the sixth largest bank in North America. Commonly known as TD and operating as TD Bank Group, the bank was created in 1955 through the merger of the Bank of Toronto and the...
, Canadian Westinghouse, International Bank for Reconstruction and DevelopmentInternational Bank for Reconstruction and DevelopmentThe International Bank for Reconstruction and Development is one of five institutions that compose the World Bank Group. The IBRD is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by World War II. Now, its mission has expanded to fight...
, American Electric PowerAmerican Electric PowerAmerican Electric Power is a major investor-owner electric utility in various parts of the United States. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S...
, Brookhaven National Laboratories, and Stanford Research InstitutionStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
Education
- Jireh College, Wyoming 1917.
- University of WyomingUniversity of WyomingThe University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...
, graduated in 1924.
- Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, MA degree, 1925.
- Doctor of Laws, University of WyomingUniversity of WyomingThe University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...
, 1943.
Work
Pendray sometimes used the pen namePen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
"Gawain Edwards"; however, he usually wrote under his own name. He wrote articles and fiction for many magazines.
- The Earth Tube, 1929
- A Rescue From Jupiter, 1932
- Men, Mirrors and Stars, 1935
- Book of Record of the Time Capsule, 1938
- City Noise, 1940; with Esther Goddard
- The Coming Age of Rocket Power, 1945
- Rocket Development 1948; co-editors Robert Goddard and Esther Goddard.
- The Guggenheim Medalists, 1964
- The Papers of Robert H. Goddard, 3 volumes, 1970; co-edited with Esther Goddard.