The Whippersnapper

Abstract

Pat Hyland is one of those people who are referred to as larger than life. He died in 1992 at the age of 95, having lived in a world where gals were gals and alcohol had yet to be banished from the corporate boardroom. In his time, he made some spectacular mistakes, succeeded spectacularly, and knew and influenced the “great and the good.” By 1958, he was running (and rescuing) the Hughes Aircraft Company, operating, so he recalls, an open-door policy through which any of his staff could walk. Through that door, one morning, walked Harold Rosen and Donald Williams.

I remember that when we were working towards Telstar, Harold Rosen and some colleagues came to visit. He was arguing for a geosynchronous satellite and putting forward every reason he could think of. I thought he was a whippersnapper, that he was just saying anything he could to get support.... He turned out to be an inspired electrical and mechanical designer.

—John Pierce to author, speaking about Harold Rosen on October 2, 1995.

Looking back, you have to admire them.

— Robert Davies, chief scientist at Ford Aerospace, formerly with Philco, in an interview with the author.