Getting’s contributions, at best, are limited to supporting the GPS program, and as such, he shouldn’t be credited as being its inventor. However, Easton’s son, Richard, has vehemently argued that Dr. Interesting read: Why is China messing with our GPS coordinates? Getting says, “The conclusion of the Director of Defense Research & Engineering (DDRE) was that a single system was required and that it should be based on the Air Force/Aerospace concept called GPS and developed by the Air Force with cooperation from all three services.” Getting proposed a three-dimensional, time-difference-of-arrival position-finding system for navigation and by his own admission, “one of the proposals put forth by The Aerospace Corporation… was essentially what is now the GPS.” While acknowledging that the Navy had already developed a very good space navigation system when this proposal was put forward to the Department of Defense, Dr. Getting for his work on “the design of GPS, on its operational value, and on planning, negotiation, and reaching agreements with all the system’s stakeholders was critical to its becoming a reality.ĭr. More specifically, the Academy credits Dr. This founding president of The Aerospace Corporation is also recognized by the American National Academy of Engineering who awarded him the Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering in 2003 for the “concept and development of the GPS”. Getting for pressing forward “the concept of using an advanced system of satellites to allow the calculation of exquisitely precise positioning data for rapidly moving vehicles, ranging from cars to missiles.” Who were they? Let’s find out… Ivan Getting In fact, in 2004, two other people were inducted into the Hall of Fame for championing the development of GPS technology. However, it wasn’t until 2010 that National Inventors Hall of Fame recognized Easton’s efforts in the creation of the GPS. The honor was bestowed in recognition of “extensive pioneering achievements in spacecraft tracking, navigation, and timing technology that led to the development of the NAVSTAR-Global Positioning System.” In 2004, Easton received the United States National Medal of Technology and Innovation from then-President George W. Even today, these features are vital in any modern GPS. A Cold War scientist, Easton worked on technology to track satellites like the Soviet Union’s Sputnik before fathering a time-based navigational concept called TIMATION which utilized passive ranging, circular orbits, and space-borne high precision clocks synchronized to a master clock. This former head of Naval Research Laboratory’s space applications branch was the brain behind several engineering applications and technologies that enabled the development of the GPS. At least four different people have been acknowledged to be clearly associated with the invention of this revolutionary technology which was ultimately developed by the US Department of Defense to assist the military forces.Īlso read: What would happen if GPS failed? Roger L. It has slowly and steadily crept into our cars, ships, aeroplanes, cameras, construction equipment, agricultural machinery, laptops, and of course, smartphones.Īnd yet, there is a lack of consensus over who should be credited with its creation. GPS has become such an indispensable part of modern life that we have almost become dependent on it. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is one of them. The history of science is riddled with inventions whose ownership is hotly disputed. Thomas Edison’s name comes to mind when someone says ‘light bulb,’ but it was Humphry Davy who showed for the first time how light can be cast by passing an electric current through a platinum strip. That Alexander Graham Bell did not invent the telephone could be proven in court 113 years after the original inventor Antonio Meucci died.
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