of the United States Navy
who directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of Naval Reactors
. In addition, he oversaw the development of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the world's first commercial pressurized water reactor
used for generating electricity.
Rickover is known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy", which as of July 2007 had produced 200 nuclear-powered submarines
, and 23 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and cruisers, though many of these U.S.
The tools of the academic designer are a piece of paper and a pencil with an eraser. If a mistake is made, it can always be erased and changed. If the practical-reactor designer errs, he wears the mistake around his neck; it cannot be erased. Everyone sees it.
The academic-reactor designer is a dilettante. He has not had to assume any real responsibility in connection with his projects. He is free to luxuriate in elegant ideas, the practical shortcomings of which can be relegated to the category of "mere technical details." The practical-reactor designer must live with these same technical details. Although recalcitrant and awkward, they must be solved and cannot be put off until tomorrow. Their solution requires manpower, time and money.
Yet it is incumbent on those in high places to make wise decisions and it is reasonable and important that the public be correctly informed. It is consequently incumbent on all of us to state the facts as forthrightly as possible.
:Address delivered to US Naval Post Graduate School (16 March 1954)
It is said that a wise man who stands firm is a statesman, and a foolish man who stands firm is a catastrophe.