Dr. William H. Pickering (1910-2004)

Bill Pickering served the longest term as a Director of JPL. Into his 90s, he was very active and continued to receive national and international recognition.

Pickering was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on December 24, 1910. By 1936, he had received a Bachelor of Science, two Masters of Science and a Ph.D. in Physics from Caltech. He joined the Caltech faculty and by 1946 was Professor of Electrical Engineering. During World War II, he conducted research on the absorption properties of cosmic rays with Dr. Robert A. Millikan and investigated Japanese balloon warfare techniques for the Army Air Corps.

Pickering was invited to JPL in 1944 on the basis of his experience designing telemetering devices. He was named chief of JPL's Remote Control Section and by 1949, headed the Corporal and Sergeant missile programs. In 1954, he succeeded Louis G. Dunn as Director. During his 22 year tenure as JPL Director, Explorer I (the first US satellite) was launched, and JPL was transferred to NASA and charged with robotic exploration of the moon and planets. The Ranger missions brought back the first close-up high resolution pictures of the Moon and several Surveyors soft-landed there. JPL sent missions to Mercury, Venus and Mars and gravity assist was used for the first time. Viking Orbiters were designed and plans for Voyager's Grand Tour were underway. Pickering retired from JPL in 1976.

After leaving JPL, he directed the Research Institutes of Saudi Arabia's University of Petroleum and Minerals, established the Pickering Research Corporation for space related projects, and in 1983, established Lignetics, Inc. to manufacture wood pellets from wood waste for use in home heating. Among the numerous awards he received are NASA's Distinguished Service Medal and the National Medal of Science.

Dr. Pickering passed away on March 15, 2004.

Publications

Control and Telemetering for Corporal E, Pickering, W. H. JPL Progress Report No. 4-15, May 15, 1945.
Control Performance of Rounds 1 and 3 of Corporal E, Parks, R. J. and W. H. Pickering, JPL Progress Report No. 4-58, February 25, 1948.
Corporal Guidance and Control, Pickering, W. H. and Parks, R. J., JPL Progress Report No. 4-128, December 14, 1950.
Evaluation of Electronic Systems for the Determination of a Missile Trajectory, Reedy, P. H. and W. H. Pickering, JPL Progress Report No. 18-2, January 18, 1950.
External Instrumentation for NAMTC : the Instrumentation Problem, Pickering, W. H. and J. A. Young, JPL Progress Report No. 10-2, June 6, 1947.
External Instrumentation for NAMTC : Timing and Communication, Pickering, W. H. and J. A. Young, JPL Progress Report No. 10-3, June 6, 1947.
External Instrumentation for NAMTC : Optical Tracking Equipment, Pickering, W. H. and J. A. Young, JPL Progress Report No. 10-5, June 26, 1947.
External Instrumentation for NAMTC : Reduction of Data, Pickering, W. H., JPL Progress Report No. 10-7, August 11, 1947.
External Instrumentation for NAMTC : the Radio and Radar Tracking Problem, Pickering, W. H. and J. A. Young, JPL Progress Report No. 10-6, August 14, 1947.
External Instrumentation for NAMTC : Recommendations, Pickering, W. H. and J. A. Young, JPL Progress Report No. 10-9, August 20, 1947.
Field-Test Summary of Round 5 of the Ordcit Test Vehicle RTV-G-2, Meeks, P. J., Pickering, W. H., R. F. Rose, and R. B. Rypinski, JPL Progress Report No. 4-126, August 11, 1950.
The Grand Tour, Pickering, W.H., American Scientist, Vol. 58, No. 2, pp. 148-155, March-April 1970.
History of Ordnance Research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1 June 1953 through 31 December 1954, Pickering, W. H., JPL Publication No. 45, May 1, 1955.
Man in Space, Pickering, W. H., JPL External Publication No. 494. (Published in Vistas in Astronautics, Vol. II, Second AFOSR Astronautics Symposium jointly Sponsored by AFOSR and SAE; Society of Automotive Engineers Inc., New York, N. Y., 1959.)
Mariner IV Mission To Mars (Part II), Pickering, W. H., et al, JPL Technical Report No. 32-782. (Reprinted from Astronautics and Aeronautics, Vol. 3, No. 10, October 1965, pp. 20-43)
Naval Air Missile Test Center Range Extension: General Considerations, Pickering, W. H. and P. H. Reedy, JPL Progress Report No. 18-1, November 1, 1949.
Naval Air Missile Test Center Range Instrumentation: Electronic Ship-Location Systems, Reedy, P. H. and W. H. Pickering, JPL Progress Report No. 18-6, May 24, 1950.
Naval Air Missile Test Center Range Instrumentation: Proposed Interim Solution for the Intercept Problem, Reedy, P. H. and W. H. Pickering, JPL Progress Report No. 18-5, January 23, 1950.
Preliminary Cost Estimate of External Instrumentation for NAMTC, Pickering, W. H., F. W. Lehan, and J. A. Young, JPL Progress Report No. 10-1, December 1, 1946.
Report on Visits to British Guided-Weapon Activities, August 1953, Pickering, W. H., JPL Publication No. 34, August 30, 1954.
Results of the IGY Satellite Program, Pickering, W. H., JPL External Publication No. 574. (Published in Proceedings of the National Electronics Conference, October 1958.)
Some Practical Considerations in Technology Transfer, Pickering, W. H., AAS (American Astronautical Society) Science and Technology Book Series, Vol. 29, pp. 39-46, 1972.
Stardust on the Bar : Space Fallout in Criminalistics, Pickering, W. H.. Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 227-232, April 1974.
Study of the Upper Atmosphere by Means of Rockets, Pickering, W. H., JPL Publication No. 8, June 20, 1947.
The United States Satellite Tracking Program, Pickering, W. H., JPL External Publication No. 518. (Published as Geophysical Monograph No. 2, American Geophysical Union, July 1958.

On September 1, 1954 Dr. William H. Pickering became Director of JPL, after serving as head of the Guided Missile Electronics Division. At a gathering of JPL managers, Pickering was given a congratulatory "bouquet" wishing him good luck in his new position. Looking on in amusement are (left to right) Jack Froelich, head of the Guided Missile Engineering Division; Cliff Cummings, head of the Guidance Systems Section; and an unidentified employee.

On January 5, 1962, NBC broadcast part one of “Threshold to Outer Space”, in which Dr. Pickering and Lunar Program Director Cliff Cummings presented information about JPL’s current and future space exploration activities to NBC moderator John Chancellor. Pickering is shown at a rehearsal in building 179.

William Pickering, James Van Allen, and Wernher von Braun hold up a model of Explorer 1 at an early-morning news conference, several hours after the announcement that it had become the first American satellite to achieve Earth orbit.

Dr. Pickering was Director of JPL longer than any other man to hold that position. He led JPL through many challenges, including the failure of several Ranger spacecraft. Under his leadership, JPL also had many successes: Explorer, Pioneer, Mariner, Rangers 7-9, Surveyor, and Viking

Pickering 1976 Retirement Celebration Button.