James R. Hansen has written about aerospace history and the history of
technology for the past twenty-three years. Jim has published books and
articles on a wide variety of topics ranging from the early days of aviation,
the first nuclear fusion reactors, the Moon landings, to the environmental
history of golf courses. In 1995 the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration nominated his book Spaceflight Revolution for a Pulitzer Prize,
the only time NASA has ever made such a nomination. His book From the Ground Up
(1988) won the History Book Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics. His scholarship has also been honored with the Robert H. Goddard
Award from the National Space Club and certificates of distinction from the Air
Force Historical Foundation. His newest books, The Bird is on the Wing (Texas
A&M University Press) and The Wind and Beyond (NASA) explore the role of
aerodynamics in the progress of the airplane in America. The latter is the
first in a six volume series prepared by Hansen and a team of his graduate
students for NASA. Currently, Jim is at work on the authorized biography of
Neil A. Armstrong.
Dr. Hansen has served on a number of important advisory boards and panels,
including the Research Advisory Board of the National Air and Space Museum, the
Editorial Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Institution Press, and the Advisory
Board for the Archives of Aerospace Exploration at Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University. He is also a past vice-president of the
Virginia Air and Space Museum in Hampton, Virginia.
A native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, he earned his Ph.D. at Ohio State University
in 1981. Students who have earned graduate degrees under Hansen's direction at
Auburn currently hold positions at the National Air and Space Museum, U.S. Air
Force Academy, U.S. Air Force Air War College, and with the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers.
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