Gerard O'Neill

Gerard Kitchen O'Neill (1927 - 1992) was a U.S. physicist and space pioneer.

Related Topics:
1927 - 1992 - U.S. - Physicist

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Born in Brooklyn in 1927. He graduated from Swarthmore College in 1950, and received a doctorate in physics from Cornell University in 1954. He joined the faculty of Princeton University in 1954, which he remained associated with until his death in 1992. Dr. O'Neill's early research focused on high-energy particle physics; noteably he invented the particle storage ring.

Related Topics:
Brooklyn - Swarthmore College - 1950 - Cornell University - 1954 - Princeton University - Particle physics

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While lecturing to a freshman physics class at Princeton University in 1969, O'Neill (an avid pilot and a scientist-astronaut candidate during Apollo) posed the question to his students: "Is the surface of a planet really the right place for an expanding technological civilization?" There are sound reasons why the answer appears to be no.

Related Topics:
Princeton University - Pilot - Apollo - Planet

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A small conference on space colonization was funded by the Stewart Brand's Point Foundation in May 1974. Among the people who attended was Eric Drexler, at the time a freshman at MIT. A highly influential article by O'Neill based on his work and his students, "The Colonization of Space", appeared in a September 1974 issue of Physics Today. A much larger conference on Space Manufacturing Facilities was held in May 1975. Many of the people who became post Apollo era space activists attended. In September 1975 the L5 Society was founded to develop public support for O'Neill's ideas for space colonies.

Related Topics:
Space colonization - Stewart Brand - Point Foundation - Eric Drexler - MIT - L5 Society

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In 1977 O'Neill founded the Space Studies Institute at Princeton University, an organization that continues today to fund research in space manufacturing and resources. He also worked on mass drivers for space propulsion, research and design concepts for space stations, Space colonization, solar power satellites, and lunar and asteroid mining. He authored the book "The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space" which inspired a generation of space exploration advocates.

Related Topics:
1977 - Space Studies Institute - Mass driver - Space stations - Space colonization - Solar power satellite

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One of the supporters of O'Neill's ideas was Rick Tumlinson, who worked under O'Neill at the Space Studies Institute. Tumlinson would later go on to co-found the Space Frontier Foundation in 1988; to this day, the Foundation supports O'Neill's concepts of large-scale space colonization.

Related Topics:
Rick Tumlinson - Space Frontier Foundation - 1988

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Gerard K. O'Neill died on 27 April 1992 after a seven year fight against Leukemia.

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