AIAA Mourns AIAA Fellow and Past ARS President George P. Sutton Written 4 November 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 4, 2020 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) mourns the passing of one of the foremost experts in rocket propulsion, George P. Sutton, on 15 October 2020, in Los Angeles. Sutton was an AIAA Fellow and past president of the American Rocket Society (ARS), one of the predecessor societies that merged to create AIAA. Sutton’s family shared an extended obituary highlighting his many career accomplishments in industry, government, and academia.
“George P. Sutton was one of the fathers of modern rocketry,” said Dan Dumbacher, AIAA executive director. “An engineer, writer, and educator, he laid the foundation for generations of aerospace engineers to design and build rocket engines that have and will power our exploration of the universe. His definitive texts will continue to guide the aerospace industry’s advances. We are immensely grateful for his contributions.”
“I personally am indebted to Mr. Sutton for his book Rocket Propulsion Elements. It ignited the propulsion fire for my career as an undergraduate student,” concluded Dumbacher.
Sutton joined the ARS in 1947 and served as its president in 1959. He was elected as a Fellow in 1960. He also was a founder of the Southern California Section. He received the Pendray Aerospace Literature Award in 1951 from ARS and again in 2002 from AIAA for his outstanding contributions to aeronautical and astronautical literature. Rocket Propulsion Elements is his most renowned work – no other aerospace books have evolved and been updated with as many editions. He also published History of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines in 2006 with AIAA. This text tells the story of how technological advances were made, who made them happen, and the different kinds of vehicles that have been propelled by liquid propellant rocket engines. He was a prolific author, publishing dozens of technical articles in AIAA publications and other professional journals and magazines.
Media contact: Rebecca B. Gray, RebeccaG@aiaa.org, 804.397.5270
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The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.