William Francis Whitmore was a mathematician in the field of oceanography and a scientist and consultant with Lockheed Missiles and Space Company. He was the head of the division of Thermal Energy Conversion where he worked on the development of the Polaris missile and later worked as a scientific analyst and consultant to various Department of Defense agencies.

William Francis Whitmore (1917-1996) was an American mathematician, physicist, and scientist with a focus on the field of oceanography who was heavily involved in the development of weapons and ocean technology for the United States Navy. He received his S.B. in General Engineering from MIT and Ph.D in Mathematics from University of California, He worked for the US Navy in the Operations Evaluation Group (1946-1957) and later served as the chief scientist in their Special Projects Office (1957-1959), heading the division of Thermal Energy Conversion where he worked on the development of the Polaris Missile. After this, he was employed at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company for the remainder of his career, and served as an analyst and consultant on a number of other projects, such as the Missile Systems Division and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), becoming the chief scientist of Ocean Systems in 1969, a position he held for 14 years. He also served on the Naval Research Advisory Committee (NRAC) until 1975, where he was the chairman of the Laboratory Advisory Board for Ordnance. In addition, Whitmore was the LMSC Editorial Chairman for Lockheed Horizons and engaged in speechwriting assignments for senior management, as directed.

39 Linear Feet (85 manuscript boxes, 2 half boxes, 2 flat boxes)

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