Profile of Lew Allen, Jr. (1925- )

Lew Allen attended West Point and earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois. During his military career, from 1945-1982, he attained the rank of General and a position as Air Force Chief of Staff, served as director of the National Security Agency (NSA), and was a leading expert in the military space program. Most of the work he did during these years was heavily classified. He came to JPL as Director in 1982 and retired in 1990.

During his time as Director, JPL launched several versions of Shuttle Imaging Radar and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, sent Magellan to Venus, Galileo to Jupiter, and put Ulysses into a solar orbit.