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Cosmic-Ray Man. Part of J.P.L.'s technical proficiency and lack of press-agentry is due to its connection with Caltech. Another good part is due to Director William Pickering. Born in Wellington, N.Z. in 1910, the son of a pharmacist, Pickering went to Caltech to study electrical engineering, and stayed to join the faculty. He worked on cosmic rays under the great Robert Millikan, was head of the highly successful Corporal program, became director in 1950.
Pickering does not look the part of a space administrator. He is slight, diffident, gentle, softspoken. Says he: "The kind of thing we are working on here is how to get a rock off the moon and lay it on the President's desk. That involves some very interesting engineering problems." J.P.L.'s ambition is to solve those problems and get that rock before the Russians do.