Dr. James King Jr. has been appointed Deputy Assistant Laboratory Director, Office of Technical Divisions of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL Director Dr. Lew Allen has announced.
The appointment was effective Jan. 4, 1988. Dr. King, 54, native of Columbus, Ga., and now resident of Pasadena, joined JPL in 1961 as senior scientist in chemistry.
From October 1981 to the present Dr. King was manager of the Space Science and Applications Program in the Office of Technology and Space Program Development where he was responsible for strategic and technical planning leading to new flight missions for JPL.
While in that capacity, Dr. King was for two years on leave of absence and worked for NASA, first as Director of Shuttle Environmental Effects and later as Director of the Upper Atmospheric Research Program in the Office of Space Science.
Dr. King has done research on the interaction of gases with solid surfaces, effects of ionizing radiation of gases and the use of ion cyclotron resonance to study the reactions between ions and molecules.
During the academic years 1984-85, while on leave from JPL, Dr. King was Visiting Professor of Chemistry at Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga. where he helped Morehouse and other colleges in the Atlanta University Center, establish program in Atmospheric Sciences.
He received his B.S. degree from Morehouse College in chemistry and mathematics; his M.S. from California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Cal., in 1955, and his doctorate in chemistry and physics in 1958. While at Caltech he worked as research assistant in charge of the chemical separation of radioactive materials.
He is listed in the 1967 edition of "The Outstanding Young Men of America," the 1975 edition of "The Current Blackman, 1970," and the 1970-1974 editions of "Who's Who in the West."
Dr. King is past chairman of the Pasadena Community Development Committee and is member of the board of directors of the Pasadena Child Guidance Clinic, member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. King is the father of two children.
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