Virginia Tower Norwood
Norwood in 1950
Born
Virginia Tower

(1927-01-08)January 8, 1927
New York City, U.S.
DiedMarch 26, 2023(2023-03-26) (aged 96)
Topanga, California, U.S.
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (BS)
Occupations
  • Aerospace Engineer
  • inventor
  • physicist
Known for
  • Contribution to Landsat Program
  • "The Mother of Landsat"
Spouses
  • Larry Norwood
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1947, divorced)​
  • Maurice Schaeffer
    ​
    (died 2010)​
Children3

Virginia Tower Norwood (January 8, 1927 – March 26, 2023) was an American aerospace engineer, inventor, and physicist.[1] She was best known for her contribution to the Landsat program,[2] having designed the Multispectral Scanner[3][4] which was first used on Landsat 1. She has been called "The Mother of Landsat" for this work.[5]

Early life and education

Virginia Tower was born on January 8, 1927, at Fort Totten in New York City,[6] the eldest daughter of Eleanor Monroe and John Vogler Tower.[7] He was an Army officer, had a master's degree in physics, and later taught at Carnegie Tech. Her mother was skilled in mathematics and languages and studied independently.[6] Her father actively encouraged young Virginia's interest in physics and mathematics; he gave her a slide rule when she was nine years old, and helped to develop her mathematical skills.[7][8] The family moved around with her father's military career, living in Panama, Oklahoma, and Bermuda.[7] Once military families were sent back to the American mainland following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, she was a pupil at five high schools. In 1943, her guidance counselor in high school suggested she become a librarian due to her intelligence, but she was much more interested in numbers than words.[9]

Norwood was accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a partial scholarship in 1944.[3] She was graduated in 1947 with a degree in mathematical physics.[3]

While working at the United States Army Signal Corps in New Jersey, she took engineering classes through a Rutgers University extension programme.[3]

Career

A year after graduation from MIT she was hired by the U.S. Army Signal Corps Laboratories in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. She began working on weather radar. While there, she designed a radar reflector for weather balloons before progressing to work on microwave antenna design.[3]

After five years at the Signal Corps she moved to Los Angeles and began working for Hughes Aircraft Company. She worked there for 36 years on a range of projects that included antenna design, communications links, optics, and the Landsat scanners.[3] During that period she designed the microwave transmitter that Surveyor 1 used to transmit data and images back to earth.[2]

Norwood designed a six-band multispectral scanner for use on the first Landsat mission. Due to mission constraints the prototype was revised to use only four bands.[3] The Multispectral Scanner, as it was known, was carried on Landsat 1. An improved seven band version, known as the Thematic Mapper was later included on Landsat 4.[10]

Norwood retired in 1989.[2] A biographical article published by NASA in 2020 referred to her as "The Mother of Landsat".[3]

Patents

Norwood filed and held three patents. Two of them are a radar reflector designed to track weather balloons and a novel folded tracking antenna.

  • US patent 2746035A, Virginia T Norwood, "Radar reflector", issued 1956-05-15 
  • US patent 3143737A, Virginia T Norwood, "Folded sigma-shaped dipole antenna", issued 1964-08-04 

Awards

In 1979, Norwood received the William T. Pecora Award.[11] The award recognizes achievements in the scientific and technical remote sensing community, as well as contributions leading to successful practical applications of remote sensing. The award is sponsored jointly by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.[12]

In 2021, Norwood was given an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award [13][1] by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, the highest honour that society bestows on any individual.[14]

Norwood was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in February 2023.[15]

Personal life

Virginia Tower married Lawrence Russell Norwood, her third-semester calculus instructor and the president of the MIT mathematics club. They married on the day after she completed her bachelor's degree in mathematics.[7] They had three children before divorcing. She went on to marry Maurice Schaeffer (d. 2010).[9][6]

Norwood died at her home in Topanga, California, on March 26, 2023, at age 96.[6][16]

References

  1. 1 2 "Virginia T. Norwood, Engineer Responsible for First Landsat Multispectral Scanner, Receives 2021 ASPRS Lifetime Achievement Award". Landsat Science. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Dragoon, Alice (June 29, 2021). "The woman who brought us the world". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on July 4, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rocchio, Laura (August 7, 2020). "Virginia T. Norwood: The Mother of Landsat". Landsat Science. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  4. ↑ Pennisi, Elizabeth (September 10, 2021). "Meet the Landsat pioneer who fought to revolutionize Earth observation". Science. 373 (6561): 1292. doi:10.1126/science.acx9080. S2CID 239215521.
  5. ↑ Radde, Kaitlyn (March 31, 2023). "Virginia Norwood, a pioneer in satellite land imaging, dies at age 96". NPR. Retrieved April 2, 2023. When asked if she liked the nickname Mother of Landsat, she told NASA: 'Yes. I like it, and it's apt. I created it; I birthed it; and I fought for it.'
  6. 1 2 3 4 Murphy, Brian (March 30, 2023). "Virginia Norwood, pioneered Earth imagery as 'mother of Landsat,' dies at 96". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 McClain, Dylan Loeb (April 12, 2023). "Virginia Norwood, 'Mother' of Satellite Imaging Systems, Dies at 96". The New York Times. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Virginia T. Norwood: The Mother of Landsat | Landsat Science". landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov. August 7, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
  9. 1 2 "The woman who brought us the world". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  10. ↑ "The Multispectral Scanner System". Landsat Science. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  11. ↑ "William T. Pecora List of Recipients". USGS. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  12. ↑ "William T. Pecora Award". USGS. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  13. ↑ "2021 Award Winners". ASPRS. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award". ASPRS. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  15. ↑ "National Academy of Engineering Elects 106 Members and 18 International Members". National Academy of Engineering. February 7, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023. Norwood, Virginia, manager (retired), Earth Resources Requirements NASA Systems Division, Hughes Aircraft Co., Topanga, Calif. For the original design and implementation of radar multispectral satellite systems forming the basis for Earth-observing Landsat missions.
  16. ↑ "Bidding Farewell to Virginia T. Norwood, the Mother of Landsat | Landsat Science". landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov. March 29, 2023. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
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