George Low was born near Vienna, Austria, to Artur and Gertrude George Low, who had a prosperous manufacturing business, and was educated in private schools in Switzerland and England.
16 Facts About George Low
2.
In 1943, George Low graduated from Forest Hills High School in Forest Hills, New York, and entered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he joined the Delta Phi fraternity.
3.
George Low then worked at Convair in Fort Worth, Texas, as a mathematician in an aerodynamics group.
4.
George Low returned to RPI late in 1948 and received his Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1950.
5.
George Low worked as the head of the Fluid Mechanics Section and chief of the Special Projects Branch.
6.
George Low specialized in experimental and theoretical research in the fields of heat transfer, boundary layer flows, and internal aerodynamics.
7.
George Low made many significant contributions to early human spaceflight, including setting NASA long-range plans, testifying before Congress, speaking to the media, and presenting at industry conferences.
8.
George Low was considered "the original moon zealot" at NASA and pushed for a lunar landing as NASA's long-range goal as part of the Goett Committee in 1959.
9.
George Low pushed for industry studies for a lunar landing and announced the Apollo program to the world in July 1960 at NASA's first industry planning conference, and he wrote the lunar landing feasibility study that served as the background report for John F Kennedy's decision to establish a lunar landing goal by the end of the 1960s.
10.
In February 1964, George Low transferred to NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, and served as Deputy Center Director.
11.
George Low created and chaired the Configuration Control Board, which had as its purpose to monitor technical changes that could inadvertently affect some other part of the complex Apollo system, thereby helping assure future mission safety.
12.
Flight Director Glynn Lunney has suggested that George Low "brought the [Apollo] program out of despair and brought it into the sunlight".
13.
George Low became NASA deputy administrator in December 1969, serving with Administrators Thomas O Paine and James C Fletcher.
14.
George Low served as acting administrator after Paine's resignation and is credited with helping to save the agency after the Nixon White House rejected Paine's expensive and unacceptable budget requests in the early 1970s.
15.
George Low held that position until his death in 1984.
16.
In 1949, George Low married Mary Ruth McNamara of Troy, New York.