Description
This collection consists of physical and digital records, which include research notes and data, project documentation, presentations,
publications, administrative files, correspondence, educational materials, and visual media produced or collected by Dr. John
W. Edwards, an aerospace engineer who worked for the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) from 1965 to 2010. The bulk
of the collection documents Edwards' career at NASA as a research engineer, from his research in flight control systems at
Dryden Flight Research Center from 1965 to 1980, to his work in computational aeroelasticity and unsteady aerodynamics at
Langley Research Center from 1980 to 2010.
Background
John William Edwards was born in Colfax, Iowa on July 8, 1939. In 1947, his father died of a heart attack and three years
later, in 1950, his mother moved with Edwards and his older brother to Portland, Oregon where she had obtained a position
teaching middle school. Edwards remained in Portland until he graduated from high school and was awarded a scholarship to
attend Yale University. He received a B.A. in physics from Yale in 1961 and an M.S. in physics from the University of Washington,
Seattle in 1963. He served in the U.S. Peace Corps from 1963 to 1965 teaching secondary school physics in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
at Haile Selaisse I University (now Addis Ababa University). In 1967, Edwards married Adelaide Majerus. They had two daughters,
Susan Elizabeth (b. 1967) and Mary Joanna (b. 1968). Edwards worked at NASA as an aerospace engineer from 1965 until he retired
in 2007, and continued work for NASA as a contractor to 2010.
Extent
Number of containers: 23
Volume: 27.35 cubic feet of physical records, and 16.6 gigabytes of digital records
Restrictions
Copyright does not apply to United States government records. For non-government
material, researcher must contact the original creator.
Availability
Access to portions of the collection is restricted.