Daniel Saul Goldin (born July 23, 1940) served as the 9th and longest-tenured Administrator of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

from April 1, 1992, to November 17, 2001. He was appointed by President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

and also served under Presidents

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

and

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. He is an entrepreneur and technologist. Most recently, he is the founder of Cold Canyon AI, an innovation advisory company. His career has spanned numerous technologies and businesses in space science, aeronautics, national security, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence.

Early life

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, Goldin earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

in 1962.

Career

He began his career at NASA's

Glenn Research Center NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center within the cities of Brook Park, Ohio, Brook Park and Cleveland between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Rocky River Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks, with a s ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

that year (1962), and worked on electric propulsion systems for human interplanetary travel. Goldin left NASA after five years to work at the TRW Space and Technology Group in

Redondo Beach, California Redondo Beach (Spanish for ) is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent Beach Cities, beach c ...

. Goldin spent 25 years at TRW, climbing to the position of Vice President and General Manager. There, he spent much of his time on classified military and intelligence space programs. He was NASA Administrator from 1992 to 2001, and was known for his support for a "Faster, better, cheaper" philosophy.''Space science: The telescope that ate astronomy'' Nature Billings 2010
/ref> He was known as a demanding but efficient manager. Upon joining NASA, Goldin reflected on the failed

Mars Observer The ''Mars Observer'' spacecraft, also known as the ''Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter'', was a Robotic spacecraft, robotic space probe launched by NASA on September 25, 1992, to study the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate and magnetic fie ...

project and described his dissatisfaction with the agency's workflow: "so much is riding on each flight that NASA can't afford to have them fail — leading to more caution, delay, and expense." He said to make spacecraft smaller, lighter, and inexpensive, so that NASA could take more risks and not fear making mistakes. He encouraged the team defining what would become the

James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope designed to conduct infrared astronomy. As the largest telescope in space, it is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, allowing it to view objects too old, Lis ...

to use a larger beryllium mirror.

References

External links

NASA biography of Daniel Saul Goldin
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldin, Daniel Saul 1940 births Living people Administrators of NASA City College of New York alumni People from the Bronx Recipients of the Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil) Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering George W. Bush administration personnel Clinton administration personnel George H. W. Bush administration personnel