Rocket Scientist
William Pickering was an electrical engineer and physicist working in the heart of the United States' military and space rocket programme during the cold war.
Born in Wellington in 1910, Pickering attended Havelock School in Marlborough, and later Wellington College. In 1929 after a year at Canterbury University College, he transferred to California Institute of Technology in the United States to complete his formal education in electrical engineering. However, influenced by Robert A Millikan, he soon transferred to the physics department and graduated in 1936 with a PhD in physics.
Under the direction of Millikan Pickering's professional career began shortly afterwards when he started work as a cosmic ray researcher, specialising in telemetry. He soon became Professor of electrical engineering and spent World War II teaching electronics to navy officers.
Toward the end of the war, Pickering's telemetry expertise became highly sought after. He was offered a part time role at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Over the next five years, he established a telemetry and remote control research group at JPL. This eventually became a full time position when he got the job of managing the development of United States' first guided missile.
In 1954, Pickering took over as director of JPL, a position he retained until 1976, making him the longest JPL director to date. Cold War tensions during Pickering's years as director made him increasingly anxious to move the lab away from weapons manufacturing and join the space race. He soon got his chance.
On 31 January 1958, less than four months after the Russians launched Sputnik, Pickering and his team at JPL followed with Explorer I. Launched from Cape Canaveral, the satellite was set off on a Jupiter-C rocket. The success and speed with which the team had achieved the venture saw all the lab's projects transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
From 1958 onwards, Pickering's team concentrated on NASA's unmanned space-flight program. During Pickering's tenure at JPL, several satellite missions from Explorer III, Pioneer and the Ranger and Surveyor missions to the moon all made the space program a success. During the period, JPL became the primary institution for planetary exploration and the only NASA centre managed by an educational institution.
In 1976, at the time of Pickering's retirement as JPL director, the Voyager missions were about to launch on tours of the outer planets and Viking I was on its way to land on Mars. Despite having retired from JPL, Pickering continued his research work, setting up a new research institute in Saudi Arabia and later forming the Lignetics Group with which he remained involved until his death in 2004.
