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THOMAS O. PAINE
1921-1992
BY EDWARD E. HOOD, JR.
THOMAS O. PAINE, a former administrator of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a long-time
General Electric (GE) research scientist and executive, and later
president and chief operating officer of the Northrop Corpora-
tion, died of cancer on May 4, 1992, at the age of seventy.
Dr. Paine's greatest accomplishment came in his nearly three
years with NASA, first as deputy administrator beginning in
January 1968 and then as administrator from March 1969 to
September 1970. These were among the most historic and
heroic years in the history of the space program. The first seven
Apollo missions were launched, twenty astronauts orbited the
earth, fourteen flew to the moon, and four men walked on the
lunar surface. Dr. Paine will be best remembered as the man who
directed these feats of science, engineering, and exploration.
Tom was born in Berkeley, California, on November 9, 1921.
He earned an A.B. degree in engineering from Brown University
in 1942. Tom served as a naval officer aboard combat submarines
in the Pacific during World War II and, after the war, married
Barbara Helen Taunton Pearse of Perth, Western Australia.
Tom earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in physical metallurgy from
Stanford University, where he initiated research on liquid metal
heat transfer systems for advanced submarine reactors. From
Stanford, Dr. Paine joined the General Electric Laboratory in
Schenectady, New York, where he conducted studies on mag-
161
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
netic and composite materials. This work led to the first demon-
stration of the shape anisotropy effect in single-domain mag-
netic particles, and to worldwide basic patents of "Lodex" per-
manent magnets.
Tom moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, where he managed ma-
terials development at the GE Meter and Instruments Depart-
ment. Later, as laboratory manager, his projects ranged from
development of photo cells and non-arc-tracking organic insula-
tion to solid-state nuclear reactor control systems and aircraft
instrumentation. For the successful f~ne-particle magnetic de-
velopment program, Tom's laboratory received the 1956 award
for "outstanding contributions to industrial science" from the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He returned to the GE Research and Development Center in
Schenectady in 1959 as manager of technical analysis before
becoming manager of engineering applications. In the latter
capacity, he organized and managed a new laboratory compo-
nent engaged in development programs in fields ranging from
medical electronics and electric vehicles to power sources in
villages in developing nations.
In 1963 Tom moved to Santa Barbara, California, to manage
GE's Center for Advanced Studies, an innovative four hundred-
man "think-tank" conducting nondisciplinary planning research
for government and industry in the United States and abroad.
These programs ranged from developing criteria for selecting
"mode] cities" to logistic support systems for Polaris submarines,
and from designing computerized management systems to eco-
nomic development projects in Africa.
On January 31, 1969, President Johnson appointed Tom
Paine deputy administrator of the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration. Upon the retirement of James E. Webb on
October 8, 196S, President Johnson named Tom to be acting
administrator of NASA. His nomination as administrator was
announced by President Nixon on March 5, 1969, and con-
firmed by the Senate on March 20,1969. Itwas during his tenure
that the first seven Apollo manned missions were flown, includ-
ing the historic Apollo ~ 1 mission, which first landed men on the
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THOMAS O. PAINE
163
moon in August 1969. Many automated scientific and applica-
tions spacecraft were also flown in Earth orbit and out as far as
Mars. He organized a number of successful international pro-
grams through which other nations participated in U.S. space
operations.
Tom returned to GE in late 1970, becoming vice-president
and group executive of GE's Power Generation Group (World-
wide Nuclear Power and Steam and Gas Turbines). Tom capped
his distinguished twenty-five-year GE career as senior vice-presi-
dent for science and technology before becoming president and
chief operating officer, and a director, of the Northrop Corpo-
ration in 1976.
Tom retired from Northrop in 1982 to become chairman of
Thomas Paine Associates, consultants in high-technology enter-
prises. Tom served as a director of Eastern Airlines, RCA, NBC,
Arthur D. Little, NIKE, Quotron Systems, SatScan, and Orbital
Sciences Corp. He also served as chairman of the Pacific Forum;
a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, the
Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok), and Occidental Col-
lege; and a member of the Visiting Committee of the East-West
Center of the University of Hawaii.
In recognition of his outstanding career
.
in both private
industry and public service, Tom Paine was elected to the
National Academy of Engineering in 1973.
Tom was the author or coauthor of more than thirty-five
published technical papers and held several patents. He was a
fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
and the American Astronautical Society, and a member of the
American Physical Society, the American Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers, and other scientific and engineering
societies. He held honorary degrees from various universities in
the United States and overseas and was awarded the U.S. Navy
Commendation Medal and Submarine Combat Insignia with
stars, the NASA Apollo Achievement Award and its Distin-
guished Service Medal, the Order Al Merito Della Repubblica
Italiana, the Washington Award from the American Society of
Civil Engineers, the John Fritz Medal of the United Engineering
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Trustees, the Humanitarian Award of the National Conference
of Christians and dews, and the Faraday Medal of the Institution
of Electrical Engineers (London).
Tom is survived by his wife, Barbara, and their four children,
Marguerite, George, Judith, and Frank.
Tom Paine was an engineer who applied his science in both
the private and public sectors, for the benefit of both the United
States and the world. His life and work made history.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
faraday medal
