“The “Nerdy” Engineer” By: Jessica Roberts, Wagner College ’16
During a 60 minutes interview in 2005, Neil Armstrong said “I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work.” (Launius, 2012). The world knows Neil for when his left foot stepped down onto the lunar surface of the moon on July 20, 1969. (Bizony, 2012). This was a defining moment that changed the lives of people not only nationally but globally as well. It proved that Americans could achieve the unimaginable and that nothing was impossible during a time of war. But what people tend to forget is that Neil Armstrong is much more than the first man to walk the moon and rather a brilliant engineer, pilot, and professor.
Passion:
Neil developed an early childhood passion for aviation after his father took him to an air show in Cleveland (Launius, 2012). Ironically, he received his pilot license at the age of 15 before he obtained his driver license. Born on August 5, 1930 near Wapakoneta, Ohio, he was a small town boy who worked his way to the top through hard work and humility. (Sokolove, 2006)
Three Accomplishments:
1) One of Neil’s greatest accomplishments was his daring combat flying during the Korean War totaling 78 missions and 121 hours in the air, most of which were in January 1952. He received the Air Medal for first 20 combat missions and a Gold Star for the next 20. (Wikipedia, 2012).
2) Of course his most famous achievement was during the Space Race between the US and Soviet Union. President Kennedy declared on May 25, 1961, “Now it is time to take longer strides–time for a great new American enterprise–time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement which, in many ways, may hold the key to our future on Earth.” His goal for the country was, “before this decade is out, landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.” (Wilford, 2007). Neil made President Kennedy’s goal a reality on July 20, 1969 as he landed on the moon after dealing with complications such a craters during the final minutes before Apollo 11’s touchdown (Bizony, 2012). Through Neil’s inhumane calmness he managed to find a safe place to land with only seconds to spare and running low on fuel. As he took his first step he said his famous words, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
This meant that even though he literally took a step, that one small step, was huge advancement for all human beings in the science and technology world.
After achieving the unthinkable, Neil hid from the camera light of the media’s attention and in 1971 Neil left NASA and became a Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati (BIzony, 2012) He quietly taught courses on aircraft design and flight navigation for the remaining part of the decade. This gave him the opportunity to teach his passion and what he loved most which was engineering. His students said he had a dry sense of humor and was very businesslike but was always willing to help, therefore a great teacher.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GcbyGRe_FI
Legacy
In response to Neil’s honorable and courageous act that forwarded the human race and proved to the world especially to the Soviet Union that the American spirit can see beyond what may seem inevitable–Neil was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Nixon in 1978 (Wilford, 2012). This is the highest award a civilian can achieve and Neil greatly deserved it.
Neil showed people every day what it meant to be a true leader. He showed acts of humility and always reminded others that it was a team of astronauts and 400,000 engineers that contributed to the success of Apollo 11, not just one individual. He explains that it through collective leadership, he was able to take the first step on the moon. Since computers were primitive, compared to today, constant communication between the astronauts and team of engineers back in Houston was critical to ensure the safety of the mission (Dicht, 2009).
The importance of teamwork to achieve something can relate to the Generation Citizen project that my learning community at Wagner College had the opportunity to do with the Port Richmond High School students. My classmates and I had to rely on each other and work as a team as we mentored the students about how to become civically engaged in their community through grassroots advocacy. We learned that by acting as one unit we successfully accomplished our goal by helping the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Neil Armstrong will always be remembered as a courageous, modest, soft- spoken man who achieved greatness for the human race.
Bibliography
Bennis, Warren. “The Four Compentencies of Leadership.”An Invented Life: Reflections on Leadership and Change. 1984.
Bizony, Piers. “The Nerdy Engineer’ Who Made History.” Engineering & Technology (17509637) 7, no. 9 (October 2012): 36-39. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed December 5, 2012).
Dicht, Burton. ““The most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.„.” Mechanical Engineering 131, no. 7 (July 2009): 28 35. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed December 5, 2012).
Ebscobedo, Tricia and Fredericka Whitfield. “Space Legend Neil Armstrong Dies.” August 27, 2012. http://www.cnn.com.2012/08/25/us/neil-armstrongobit/index.html.
Irish, Kerry E. “Cross-Cultural Leadership: Dwight D. Eisenhower.” The Art of Command. Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky: 2008.
Launius, Roger D. “Neil Armstrong (1930-2012).” Nature 489, no. 7416 (September 20, 2012): 368. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed December 5, 2012).
Siddiqi, Asif A. “Review: James R. Hansen: First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong.” Isis, Vol. 97, No. 4 (December 2006), pp. 793-794
Sokolove, Michael. “Follow Me.” February 5, 2006. http://nytimes.com/2006.02/05/magazine/05coachk_96_101_1.
Wilford, John Noble. “With Fear and Wonder in Its Wake, Sputnik Lifted Us Into the Future.” The New York Times 25 (2007).
Wikimedia Foundation Inc. “Neil Armstrong”. November 30, 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_armstrong.