Full Details
Gawain Edwards
| Full Name: | George Edward Pendray |
| Born: | May 19, 1901 Omaha, Nebraska, USA |
| Died: | September 5, 1987 Cranbury, New Jersey, USA |
| Occupation: | Author, Public Relations, Foundation Executive |
| Nationality: | American |
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Biography
George Edward Pendray was an American public relations counselor, author, foundation executive, and an early advocate of rockets and spaceflight.
Pendray was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to John Hall Pendray and his wife, Louisa Wolfe. He grew up in Niobrara County, Wyoming. and attended the University of Wyoming, graduating in 1924. He then went to Columbia University, where he received his Master of Arts degree in 1925. Two years later, he married Leatrice M. Gregory. They had three daughters: Guenever, Elaine, and Lynette.
Pendray became an editor at the New York Herald-Tribune after completing his graduate work at Columbia University. He remained at the Tribune for seven years. A science fiction enthusiast, he applied that interest as a science editor for Literary Digest from 1932 to 1936 . He was next hired at Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company as assistant to the president. One of his responsibilities was public relations in advance of the 1939 New York World's Fair. He created what he called a "time capsule", to preserve everyday items in a sealed container for future historians. Pendray also created the word laundromat for Westinghouse.
Pendray's primary employment was in public relations; however, he always was interested in rocketry. He was an early experimenter with liquid propulsion rockets. Pendray was a contemporary of Robert H. Goddard, whose papers he later edited with Goddard's widow. Pendray and his associates worked on the beginnings of rocket development and technology, which led to his founding of the American Interplanetary Society [which was renamed the American Rocket Society (ARS)] in 1930. This organization is now the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and awards the "G. Edward Pendray Award" in recognition of his achievements.
Pendray helped develop the Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Center at the California Institute of Technology and the Guggenheim Laboratories at Princeton University. He also assisted in developing the Guggenheim Institute of Flight Structures at Columbia University. In 1958 he was a consultant to the Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration of the United States House of Representatives. Pendray helped in the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Works in the WWEnd Database
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