Walter Kistler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Walter P. Kistler is a physicist, inventor, and philanthropist, born in 1918 in Biel, Switzerland. Kistler is a life member of the Swiss Physical Society and a member of AIAA and ISA, which presented him the Life Achievement Award in 2000. He is listed in American Men of Science, Who’s Who in Aviation, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, and Who’s Who in the World. He holds patents on more than 50 inventions in the scientific and industrial instrument field, and has published a number of papers published in scientific and trade journals.
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[edit] Education and first inventions
Kistler studied sciences at the University of Geneva and earned a Master’s degree in physics from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. While subsequently head of the Instrumentation Lab at the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works, Winterthur, he pioneered a new measurement technology using Piezo-electric quartz crystals as the transduction element in accelerometers, load cells, and pressure gauges. This new technology was made possible by Walter’s invention of a charge amplifier that could handle the very high impedance signals obtained from such sensors. For these achievements, he would in 1983 receive the prestigious Albert F. Sperry Award from the Instrument Society of America (ISA).
[edit] Mid-life
In 1951, Walter moved to the United States and joined Bell Aerosystems, Buffalo, New York. At Bell, he invented and developed a pulse constraint servo-accelerometer that was later used in the guidance of the Agena space rocket. For this work, he received the 1968 Aerospace Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), recognizing “his pioneering effort in the development of high-performance aerospace instrumentation.” In 1957, Kistler founded Kistler Instrument Corporation in order to further pursue his work in quartz instrumentation. Under Kistler's supervision, his company made several major innovations, some of which would be put to use in the Apollo manned spaceflights, and became a world leader in the development of quartz sensors.
Kistler sold the company in 1970 and moved to Seattle, Washington, where he founded with his partner Charles Morse the Kistler-Morse Corporation. Kistler supervised and designed a number of innovations in sensors while at this company, and in 1982 he was named an ISA Fellow for his contributions in the field of sensor development. In the 1960s, Walter developed a shorthand writing system that he called Steno, and initiated a project called The Steno Trust in 1997 to teach the system for applications in education, industry, and law. In Kistler's view, the greatest application of Steno is in the writing of journals.
[edit] Later life and the Foundation for the Future
In his later life, Kistler played a central role as Director or Chairman in the startup of several high-technology companies. These companies include Kistler Products, SRS, ICI, Interpoint, Paroscientific, and SPACEHAB, Inc. In 1993 he co-founded Kistler Aerospace Corporation "to pursue his life-long dream of designing and building the world's first totally reusable space vehicle," hoping to reduce the cost of access to space by 80 to 90 percent.[1]
Though Kistler's life was predominantly spent in science and engineering, he was always concerned about where humanity was headed, and in 1996 he founded the Foundation for the Future. The foundation's goal is to increase "knowledge about the factors that may have a major impact on the long-term future of humanity. " Programs the foundation runs include awarding the Kistler Prize, the Kistler Book Award, research grants (up to US $25,000), and hosting conferences for scientists, and funding educational programs. On his concern for the future of humanity, Kistler has written the following:
“When I consider what has happened in the years since I was a boy [...] we have deciphered the genetic code and are now able to study the innermost structure of a human being. We have invented the transistor and have developed a computer-based civilization replete with computer games and interactive television. We have even conquered space and humans have walked on the moon. However, few people are aware of the most drastic development that has taken place in humanity’s condition, a development of portentous consequences. From the status of a child or teenager, humanity suddenly became an adult in the 20th century. Science and technology have given us so much power that we now control our own destiny. A position of control has its consequences. It entails great responsibility. Unfortunately, we humans don’t seem to be aware of this.”[2]
The Kistler Prize, created in 1999, includes a cash award of US $100,000 and a 200-gram gold medallion, and is awarded annually to recognize original contributions "to the understanding of the connection between human heredity and human society."[3] The recipients have been Steven Pinker in 2005, for his The Blank Slate,[4] Vincent Sarich in 2004, Arthur Jensen in 2003, Cavalli-Sforza in 2002, Richard Dawkins in 2001,[5] and E.O. Wilson of Harvard in 2000.
[edit] References
- About Walter Kistler, by the Foundation for the Future.
