Prof. Emeritus James Dally recommended for NASA board

by Bill Murphy

The Houston Chronicle

March 3 , 2003

Scientists and others taking shots at the Columbia Accident Investigation Board for its gap in technical expertise aren't without constructive suggestions for additions to the panel.

Their model is Richard Feynman, the maverick scientist who jarred NASA with his persistent curiosity when he was a member of the Rogers Commission that investigated the 1986 Challenger explosion. Feynman died in 1988.

In particular, some scientists said the panel should include experts in aerospace engineering, hypersonics or thermodynamics.

Among those they would like to see on the board are:

Hans Hornung, California Institute of Technology hypersonics specialist.

Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize-winning physicist at the University of Texas.

Anatol Roshko, retired CalTech aeronautics professor.

Hans Mark, former University of Texas chancellor, a UT aerospace engineering professor and former NASA deputy administrator.

John Bertin, Air Force Academy hypersonics authority.

Mildred Dresselhaus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist and electrical engineer, and former president of the American Physical Society.

James Dally, retired University of Maryland engineer with expertise in fractured materials.

Franklin von Hippel, Princeton University physicist.

Robert Park, University of Maryland physicist.

Published March 3, 2003