{"id":17603,"date":"2021-01-24T21:25:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-24T13:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/robert-winglee-1958-2020-uws-rocket-man-launched-thousands-of-space-and-science-careers\/"},"modified":"2021-01-24T21:25:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T13:25:05","slug":"robert-winglee-1958-2020-uws-rocket-man-launched-thousands-of-space-and-science-careers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/robert-winglee-1958-2020-uws-rocket-man-launched-thousands-of-space-and-science-careers\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Winglee, 1958-2020: UW\u2019s \u2018Rocket Man\u2019 launched thousands of space and science careers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Robert Winglee on July 17, 2019, at the opening of the \u201cANGLes Challenge,\u201d marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. (Mark Stone\/University of Washington Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The global aerospace community and students across the Northwest have lost a researcher, mentor and \u201cRocket Man\u201d who inspired and guided thousands of young people toward careers in the stars.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what colleagues and friends of the late University of Washington Professor Robert Winglee said during a virtual memorial service held last weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community has lost not only a strong researcher but also an architect of experiences,\u201d said Jonathan Wrobel, a research engineer at Lockheed Martin who worked as a graduate student under Winglee. \u201cRobert instilled a positive trajectory on so many careers and lives, and made the world a better place by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Robert Winglee (University of Washington Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Winglee, former chairman of UW\u2019s Department of Earth and Space Sciences and current director of Washington\u2019s NASA Space Grant Consortium, died after suffering a heart attack on Christmas Eve. He was 62.<\/p>\n

He is survived by his wife, Jenny, and two children, Kathryn and Matthew.<\/p>\n

Winglee was born in Australia to Chinese-Australian parents, who from an early age instilled a drive for science learning, his brother, Peter Winglee said. But the family \u201calso encouraged our exploration of the practical side of physics and chemistry,\u201d Peter Winglee said \u201cSo naturally we explored projectiles and their propellants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winglee attended the University of Sydney, where he earned a bachelor\u2019s degree (with honors) and PhD. in physics. After graduation, Robert and Jenny Winglee moved to the United States in 1984. In 1991 he joined the UW, where he taught and studied space plasma physics and propulsion systems.<\/p>\n

He was a science innovator. He developed the \u201cPenetrators\u201d \u2013 described as a \u201cspace harpoon\u201d that could be fired into an asteroid or moon, crashing through the surface to collect samples, then recovered via a long line.  He also led graduate students who developed Husky Sat 1, a technology demonstrator satellite launched into space in November 2019.<\/p>\n

Winglee also was a skilled university administrator, colleagues said. He served a decade as chairman of the Earth and Space Sciences Department and fought for his programs during the steep cuts that followed the Great Recession, UW Astrobiology professor Roger Buick added. \u201cI don\u2019t know how he did it but he managed to keep things stable at a time when many other departments were shrinking dramatically.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had a knack for inspiring others. \u201cHe was like our Captain Picard,\u201d said Irene Svete, a public information officer at UW. \u201cAn opportunity would appear on our horizon and he\u2019d point at it as if to say \u2018Make it so, Number One.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n