Dr. Allen E. Puckett
Chairman Emeritus, Hughes Aircraft Company
935 Corsica Drive
Pacific Palisades, CA 92072
Fax: (310) 459-0226

Dr. Puckett received his Bachelor's (1939) and Master's (1941) degree in Science at Harvard, and Ph.D. (1949) in Aeronautics at Caltech, under Theodore von Karman. He participated in the birth of compressible aerodynamics with numerous contributions in experimental facilities, supersonic airfoil theory and supersonic missile dynamics, co-authoring a seminal text in 1949, Introduction to Aerodynamics of a Compressible Fluid, with H. W. Liepmann, and Guided Missile Engineering, in 1959 (co-edited with Simon Ramo). During his graduate years, he served as a technical consultant to the Government, Army, NASA (NACA), Asst. Sec. of Defense, and to JPL. He joined Hughes Aircraft Co., rising through the ranks from 1949 as department head, through 1978 as Chairman and CEO, to become Chairman Emeritus in 1987.

He has also served as Director of General Dynamics Corp. (1978-95) and of various other corporations (American Mutual Fund, Inc.; Fluor Corp.; Logicon, Inc.; Telemprompter Corp.; Delco Electronics Corp.; GM Hughes Electronics Corp.; Los Angeles World Affairs Council), as Chair or Co-Chair of numerous NASA, Government, private and charitable committees and organizations. He is an Honorary Fellow of the AIAA (past president, 1972) and a member of the Aerospace Industries Association (past chair, 1979), Am. Assoc. Adv. Science, Int. Academy of Aeronautics, National Academy of Engineering, and National Academy of Sciences.

He has been honored with the Lawrence Sperry Award (Inst. of Aeronautics Science, 1949), the Caltech Distinguished Alumnus Award (1970), the Lloyd V. Beckner Award (Am. Astronomical Society, 1974), the USC School of Engineering Award (1978), the Brandeis U. Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Field of Technology (1980), was the California Manufacturer of the Year (1980), received the Frederik Philips Award (IEEE, 1983), the Medal of Honor (Electronics), the Medal of Honor (Electronic Industry Assoc., 1984), the French Legion of Honor (1985), and was awarded the National Technology Medal by President Reagan (1985).

An avid competitive sailor and yachtsman, he has made contributions to some of the early electronic navigation equipment and is a member of the California Yacht Club (Marina Del Rey) and the St. Francis Yacht Club (San Fransisco).