Simon Ramo

Simon Ramo (1913-2016) was an American engineer and businessman who played a central role in developing the United States' intercontinental ballistic missile program during the 1950s, work that earned him recognition as a father of the American ICBM effort. Ramo had earlier contributed to microwave and electron-optics technology at General Electric before co-founding Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation with Dean Wooldridge in 1953, a company that took on systems engineering and technical direction of the Air Force's Atlas, Titan and Thor missile programs. Ramo-Wooldridge later merged with Thompson Products to become TRW Inc., a major aerospace and defense contractor. Ramo's systems-engineering methods, developed to manage the enormous complexity of missile and space programs, influenced the management of later American space projects, and he continued to write and consult on science and technology policy for decades afterward.