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GPS Pioneer Ivan A. Getting Passed Away

Coronado, Calif./October 11, 2003/Satnews/ GPS pioneer, Dr. Ivan A. Getting, 91, died in his sleep at his home in Coronado, California, October 11, 2003.   Getting was founding president of Aerospace Corp. a non-profit corporation based in El Segundo, Calif. providing research and development services for the Department of  Defense and other government agencies.  Getting, a physicist and electrical engineer was largely responsible for the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS) that is now universally used. He won the prestigious Charles Stark Draper Prize awarded by the National Academy of Engineering for his contributions to the development of GPS technology.

Getting was born in New York City and grew up in Pittsburgh. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, where he earned a doctorate in astrophysics in 1935.

During World War II, he worked at MIT on the microwave radar systems used to down 95 per cent of the V-1 bombs flown against England. He then taught at MIT and later joined Raytheon, where he oversaw development of the Sparrow III and Hawk missile systems.

In the 1950s, Getting was part of a Navy-sponsored panel that recommended development of the submarine-based ballistic missile now known as the Polaris.  His work in Air Force guidance and navigation systems led  him to conceive the concept of GPS.  He founded Aerospace Corp. in 1960 and served as its President till his retirement in 1977.

His co-receipient of the Draper prize, Brad Parkinson, who led a group of engineers who designed and put into operation in 1977 the constellation of GPS satellites, largely credits Getting for making GPS possible through his advocacy and leadership efforts.

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