In 1931 Herrick began corresponding with rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard. Goddard was a physicist whose ultimate goal was manned and unmanned space travel. Herrick asked if he should work in this new field which he named astrodynamics. Herrick said that Goddard had the vision to encourage him "to anticipate the basic problems of space navigation." As early as 1936, he had developed a plan for using mathematics and celestial mechanics to solve such problems. Two decades later America had the navigational methods needed to fly Earth satellites and to travel to the Moon and back.[2]
In the late 1940s, Herrick began a one year course at UCLA on rocket navigation. In his mimeographed text book titled Rocket Navigation, copyright 1948-1951, he reworked the classical formulas of celestial mechanics to be more useful in the space age. In the early 1950s the enrollment in this course was around 6, but after Sputnik (1957), it was made a night class and the enrollment jumped to around 35, mostly local aeronautical engineers.
One of the world's foremost leaders in celestial mechanics[who?] gave this reminiscence of Herrick: “If he had a fault, it was that he was a perfectionist. His opus magnus [sic] on celestial mechanics and Astro-Dynamics[3] which grew naturally from his lectures, was undoubtedly delayed ten years in its eventual publication by this fault. If every detail was not entirely up to his self-imposed standard, it could not pass muster. He strove to imbue in his students this same critical attitude towards their work. Sam will be remembered as one who strove assiduously for the things in which he believed.” [citation needed]. More details of the life and work of this descendant of the poet Robert Herrick are to be found in the Journal: Quarterly Journ. Roy. Astron. Soc., Vol. 16, p. 321 - 322 written by his colleague Donald Sadler.
Referencesedit
^Dallas, Sarterios S.; Keesey, Michael S. W. (August 1974). "In memoriam Samuel Herrick (1911–1974)". Celestial Mechanics (10): 2–3. doi:10.1007/BF01261874. S2CID 124527177.
^"Samuel Herrick Papers 1930-1974". Retrieved June 21, 2019.
^Samuel Herrick, Astrodynamics: Orbit determination, perturbation theory, integration; vol.1, University of Wisconsin - Madison. (1971)
External linksedit
University of California Samuel Herrick, Engineering; Astronomy: Los Angeles
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samuel, herrick, astronomer, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, samuel, herrick, astronomer, news, news. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Samuel Herrick astronomer news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2010 Learn how and when to remove this template message Samuel Herrick May 29 1911 March 20 1974 was an American astronomer who specialized in celestial mechanics and made important studies preceding the development of manned space flight Life editHerrick was born in Madison County Virginia in 1911 1 In 1931 Herrick began corresponding with rocket scientist Robert H Goddard Goddard was a physicist whose ultimate goal was manned and unmanned space travel Herrick asked if he should work in this new field which he named astrodynamics Herrick said that Goddard had the vision to encourage him to anticipate the basic problems of space navigation As early as 1936 he had developed a plan for using mathematics and celestial mechanics to solve such problems Two decades later America had the navigational methods needed to fly Earth satellites and to travel to the Moon and back 2 In the late 1940s Herrick began a one year course at UCLA on rocket navigation In his mimeographed text book titled Rocket Navigation copyright 1948 1951 he reworked the classical formulas of celestial mechanics to be more useful in the space age In the early 1950s the enrollment in this course was around 6 but after Sputnik 1957 it was made a night class and the enrollment jumped to around 35 mostly local aeronautical engineers One of the world s foremost leaders in celestial mechanics who gave this reminiscence of Herrick If he had a fault it was that he was a perfectionist His opus magnus sic on celestial mechanics and Astro Dynamics 3 which grew naturally from his lectures was undoubtedly delayed ten years in its eventual publication by this fault If every detail was not entirely up to his self imposed standard it could not pass muster He strove to imbue in his students this same critical attitude towards their work Sam will be remembered as one who strove assiduously for the things in which he believed citation needed More details of the life and work of this descendant of the poet Robert Herrick are to be found in the Journal Quarterly Journ Roy Astron Soc Vol 16 p 321 322 written by his colleague Donald Sadler References edit Dallas Sarterios S Keesey Michael S W August 1974 In memoriam Samuel Herrick 1911 1974 Celestial Mechanics 10 2 3 doi 10 1007 BF01261874 S2CID 124527177 Samuel Herrick Papers 1930 1974 Retrieved June 21 2019 Samuel Herrick Astrodynamics Orbit determination perturbation theory integration vol 1 University of Wisconsin Madison 1971 External links editUniversity of California Samuel Herrick Engineering Astronomy Los Angeles nbsp nbsp nbsp This United States astronomer article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Samuel Herrick astronomer amp oldid 1169429596, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
