Editing Robert Seamans

{{Infobox engineer
|image                = Seamans,_von_Braun_and_President_Kennedy_at_Cape_Canaveral_-_GPN-2000-001843.jpg
|image_width          = 150px
|caption              = Seamans, [[Wernher von Braun]] and President John F. Kennedy at [[Cape Canaveral]]
|name                 = Robert C. Seamans Jr.
|nationality          = American
|birth_name           = Robert Channing Seamans Jr.
|birth_date           = October 30, 1918
|birth_place          = [[Salem, Massachusetts]], U.S.
|death_date           = {{death date and age|2008|6|28|1918|10|30}}
|death_place          = Beverly, Massachusetts, U.S.
|education            = Harvard University, B.S. (1939 or 1940)<br>MIT, M.S. 1942, Sc.D. 1951
|spouse               = Eugenia Merrill
|parents              = Pauline and Robert Seamans
|children             = Katharine Arlaud Seamans Padulo, Robert Channing Seamans III, Joseph Seamans, May Seamans Baldwin, Daniel Merrill Seamans
|discipline           =
|institutions         = [[NASA]]
|practice_name        =
|significant_projects = [[Apollo program|Apollo]]
|significant_design   =
|significant_advance  =
|significant_awards   =
}}'''Robert Channing Seamans Jr.''' (October 30, 1918 &ndash; June 28, 2008) was a [[NASA]] Deputy Administrator and MIT professor.

==Birth and education==
He was born in [[Salem, Massachusetts]], to Pauline and Robert Seamans. His great-great-grandfather was [[Otis Tufts]].<ref name=nytobit/> Seamans attended Lenox School, in [[Lenox, Massachusetts]]; earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Harvard University in 1939 or 1940;<ref name=nytobit/> a Master of Science degree in Aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1942; and a Doctor of Science degree in [[Instrumentation]] from MIT in 1951. Seamans also received the following honorary degrees: Doctor of Science from [[Rollins College]] (1962) and from New York University (1967); Doctor of Engineering from the Norwich Academy (1971), from the University of Notre Dame (1974), and from [[Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute]] (RPI) in 1974.

==Early career==

From 1941 to 1955 he held teaching and project positions at MIT during which time he worked on aeronautical problems, including instrumentation and control of airplanes and missiles. Positions that he held at MIT included: Instructor (1941–1945), Assistant Professor (1945–1950), and Associate Professor (1950–1955), Department of Aeronautical Engineering; Project Engineer, Instrumentation Laboratory; Chief Engineer, Project Meteor; and Director, Flight Control Laboratory.

Seamans joined the [[Radio Corporation of America]] (RCA) in 1955 as Manager of the Airborne Systems Laboratory and Chief Systems Engineer of the Airborne Systems Department. In 1958, he became Chief Engineer of the Missile Electronics and Controls Division at RCA in Burlington, Massachusetts.

==NACA and NASA career==

From 1948 to 1958, Seamans also served on technical committees of NASA's predecessor organization, the [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics]]. He served as a consultant to the Scientific Advisory Board of the United States Air Force from 1957 to 1959, as a Member of the Board from 1959 to 1962, and as an Associate Advisor from 1962 to 1967. He was a National Delegate, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (NATO) from 1966 to 1969.

In 1960, Seamans joined NASA as Associate Administrator. In 1965, he became Deputy Administrator, retaining many of the general management-type responsibilities of the Associate Administrator and also serving as Acting Administrator. During his years at NASA he worked closely with the Department of Defense in research and engineering programs and served as Co-chairman of the Astronautics Coordinating Board. Through these associations, NASA was kept aware of military developments and technical needs of the Department of Defense and Seamans was able to advise that agency of NASA activities which had application to national security.

==Post-NASA career==

In January 1968 he resigned from NASA to become a visiting professor at MIT and in July 1968 was appointed to the [[Jerome C. Hunsaker Visiting Professor of Aerospace Systems|Jerome Clarke Hunsaker professorship]], an MIT-endowed visiting professorship in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, named in honor of the founder of the Aeronautical Engineering Department. During this period with MIT, he was also a consultant to the Administrator of NASA.

In 1969 he became [[Secretary of the United States Air Force]], serving until 1973. Seamans was also president of the National Academy of Engineering from May 1973 to December 1974, when he became the first administrator of the new [[Energy Research and Development Administration]]. He returned to MIT in 1977, becoming dean of its School of Engineering in 1978. In 1981 he was elected chair of the board of trustees of Aerospace Corp.

He died on June 28, 2008 in Beverly, Massachusetts, at age 89.<ref name=nytobit>{{cite news |first= Dennis|last= Hevesi|title=R. C. Seamans Jr., NASA Figure, Dies at 89  |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/science/space/03seamans.html |quote=Robert C. Seamans Jr., NASA’s nuts-and-bolts manager of the Apollo moon-landing program, who later served as secretary of the Air Force and then as the first administrator of the federal energy research agency, died Saturday at his home in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts. He was 89. |publisher=New York Times |date=July 3, 2008 |accessdate=2008-07-03}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Seamans married Eugenia Merrill on June 13th, 1942 in [[Beverly Farms, Massachusetts]]. He had three sons (Robert III, Joseph and Daniel) and two daughters (Katharine Padulo and May Baldwin). Seamans also had 11 grandchildren.<ref name=nytobit/>

==Legacy and honors==
*In 2001, the [[Sea Education Association]] named their new sailing research ship ''[[Robert C. Seamans (ship)|SSV Robert C. Seamans]]'', in honor of their former Chairman and Trustee.<ref name="Our Ships">{{Cite web|title = About SEA Ships|url = http://www.sea.edu/ships_crew|website = |accessdate = 2015-07-31|publisher = Sea Education Association}}</ref>
*In the HBO miniseries ''[[From the Earth to the Moon (TV miniseries)|From the Earth to the Moon]]'', Seamans was played by [[Dann Florek]].
*His last TV interview is featured in the Discovery Science Channel Series [[Moon Machines]] episode on the Apollo guidance and navigation system, recorded in the autumn of 2007 and first broadcast shortly after his death in the summer of 2008.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* R. C. Seamans Jr. [http://history.nasa.gov/monograph37.pdf ''Project Apollo: The Tough Decisions'']. Monographs in Aerospace History Number 37. NASA SP-2005-4537, Washington, D.C., 2005.
* R. C. Seamans, [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4106/sp4106.htm ''Aiming At Targets: The Autobiography Of Robert C. Seamans Jr.''], Memoirs Unlimited, c1994.
*[http://archive.is/20121212204301/http://www.af.mil/information/heritage/person.asp?dec=&pid=123006525 Air Force History Page on Dr. Robert C. Seamans]

{{NASAdepadmin}}

{{Wikipedia|Robert Seamans}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seamans, Robert}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:American aerospace engineers]]
[[Category:American engineers]]
[[Category:Engineering educators]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty]]
[[Category:Deputy Administrators of NASA]]
[[Category:Systems engineers]]