In article ,
Gernot Hassenpflug writes:
"ArtKramr" == ArtKramr writes:

Subject: Inventor of "Window" dies From: "ian maclure"
Date: 9/2/2004 4:53 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

On Thu, 02 Sep 2004 22:40:47 +0000, teekaynospa wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the death this week of Fred
L Whipple, reportedly the inventor of "Window" (aluminum
strips cut to a length designed to confuse radar).

Indirectly, he probably saved a good number of lives in WWII.
His main claim to fame was as an astronomer.



ArtKramr Not to me it wasn't.

Due to window, he probably saved many from becoming fiery meteors,
similar in apperance to the icy comets he made his life's work. I was
hoping it was the inventor of 'Windows' that died, but OK, too bad....


He was also the inventor of the "Meteor Bumper" or "Whipple Shield" ,
which is used by manned adn unmanned spacecraft to protect against
micrometoeroid collision damage.
And, off the top of my head, he was the last survivor of the Collier's
Magazine team that charted a plausible manned space program in the
early 1950s, which was a key feature in priming the general public for
the idea that space exploration wasn't something for the far future.

He kept working right up until the end - at the age of 92, he was one
of the Investigators on the CONTOUR probe.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster