John D. Anderson


John D. Anderson Jr. is the Curator of Aerodynamics at the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Biography

John D. Anderson Jr. was born on October 1, 1937 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He enrolled at the University of Florida in Gainesville in approximately 1953. In 1959, he earned a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering with high honors. In 1959, he was hired by the United States Air Force to become a Task Scientist at the Aerospace Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. He stayed in that position until 1962, when he enrolled at The Ohio State University in Columbus under fellowships from the National Science Foundation and NASA. In 1966, Anderson earned his Ph.D. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Ohio State. That same year, he joined the United States Naval Ordnance Laboratory in White Oak, Maryland, becoming the Chief of the Hypersonic Group.
In 1973, Anderson joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, becoming Chairman of the Department of Aerospace Engineering. He became Professor of Aerospace Engineering in 1980, serving in that capacity until 1999, when he retired and was named Professor Emeritus, he also served as an affiliate member of the History Department at UMD. In the year 2000 was established by the A. James Clark School of Engineering joint with the Department of Aerospace Engineering the John Anderson Scholarship Fund in his honor.
He is currently the Curator of Aerodynamics at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.

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