Jet Propulsion Laboratory (U.S.). Office of the Director.

William H. Pickering was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on December 24, 1910. After one year at the University of New Zealand, he entered Caltech in 1929. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1932, his Master of Science degree in Physics in 1933, and his Doctorate in Physics in 1936, all from Caltech. After graduation, he joined the Caltech faculty, becoming a full professor of electrical engineering in 1946.

Pickering joined JPL in 1944. He was named chief of the Remote Control Section. Beginning in 1949, Pickering headed the Corporal and Sergeant missile programs, and in 1954 he succeeded Louis Dunn as Laboratory Director. In November 1957, JPL and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency were directed to prepare and orbit an artificial satellite, in the wake of the launching of Sputnik, and the failure of the American Vanguard satellite. Explorer 1, the first U.S. artificial satellite, was launched on January 31, 1958.

In December 1958, JPL was transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). JPL was assigned the responsibility for the robotic exploration of the Moon and planets. Under Pickering's direction, JPL supervised the Ranger missions returning the first close-up, high-resolution pictures of the lunar surface; he also supervised the Surveyor soft-landers on the moon; the Mariner missions to Mars and Venus; and the first gravity assist mission to Mercury, via Venus. JPL also designed the Viking Orbiters to Mars and designed and built the Voyager spacecraft for their mission to the outer planets.

After Pickering's retirement from JPL in 1976, he directed the Research Institutes of Saudi Arabia's University of Petroleum and Minerals. In 1978, he returned to California and established the Pickering Research Corporation for space related projects. In 1983, he formed Lignetics, Inc., to manufacture wood pellets from wood waste.

Charles H. Terhune, Jr., was born in 1916 in Dayton, Ohio. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 1938, and received an Aeronautical Engineering degree from Caltech in 1940.

In 1939, shortly after receiving his Army Air Corps pilot wings, he participated in early tests of bullet-proof fuel tanks for aircraft, and was associated with development of the first jet aircraft for the Army Air Forces in the early 1940s. During World War II, Terhune participated in combat missions from the Philippines to Okinawa. After World War II, he served various positions involving guided missile development in the Air Force. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1959. General Terhune retired from the armed forces with a rank of Air Force Lieutenant General in 1969.

General Terhune was named JPL Deputy Director, assuming his duties July 19, 1971, succeeding Admiral John E. Clark. General Terhune served as Acting Lab Director for four momths after the resignation of Bruce Murray, until General Lew Allen assumed the position of Director on October 1, 1982. Terhune retired as JPL Deputy Director in December 1983.

Bruce C. Murray was born November 30, 1931, in New York City. He earned a doctorate in Geology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1955. Murray joined the Caltech faculty in 1960, and became a full Professor of Planetary Science and Geology at Caltech in 1969.

Dr. Murray was a member of the Mars Television Teams on Mariners 4, 6, 7 and 9, and was the Television Team leader for the Mariner 10 flyby of Venus and Mercury. He was named Director of JPL on June 23, 1975, officially succeeding William H. Pickering on April 1, 1976.

During Murray's administration at JPL, the Voyager spacecraft were launched and reached Jupiter and Saturn, Seasat was launched, and the Galileo and Magellan programs were approved by Congress. Dr. Murray resigned as Lab Director in June 1982. He has remained active in space research. In 1979 he was a co-founder of The Planetary Society, and he became the Society's President on the death of Carl Sagan in 1997. Murray was a member of the scientific teams of the Russian Phobos '88 mission, the Russian Mars 96 and the U.S. Mars Global Surveyor missions, and the U.S. New Millennium Mars Microprobe Team.