Shirley Thomas (1920 – July 21, 2005), also known as Shirley Thomas Perkins,
/ref> was a radio/television actress/writer/producer, author, and professor in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. In 2010, The Aerospace Historical Society established the Shirley Thomas Academic Scholarship. It is "presented annually at the International von Kármán Wings Award banquet to a student in

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

or a related science that shows promise for continued future contributions to the field."Shirley Thomas Academic Scholarship
/ref>

Personal life

Thomas was born in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

, the daughter of an electrical engineer and a homemaker. She earned her B.A. in 1960 and her Ph.D. in communications in 1967 from the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. She was also awarded a diploma by the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics in 1995. She died of cancer on July 21, 2005, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

.LASTC Obituary
/ref>

Career

Thomas' career spanned a number of disciplines, most notably entertainment and

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

Entertainment career

Active in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

for a number of decades, Thomas conducted red carpet interviews at motion picture premiers and special event broadcasts from 1952 to 1956. She was also involved in the coverage of the New Year's Day

Rose Parade The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade (or simply the Tournament of Roses), is an annual parade held mostly along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, United States, on New Year's Day (or on Monday, January 2 if New ...

for CBS and later did broadcasts for

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

Aerospace career

Thomas authored 15 books, including her eight-volume series on

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

s, ''Men of Space'' (published between 1960 and 1968). She also organized and chaired the Woman's Space Symposia from 1962 to 1973. In 1961, Thomas was the recipient of the Air Force Association's Airpower Arts and Letters Award and, in 1991, she received the Aerospace Excellence Award from the California Museum Foundation. She was a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

in the

British Interplanetary Society The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration. St ...

and acted as a consultant for the

Stanford Research Institute SRI International (SRI) is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit scientific research, scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California, United States. It was established in 1946 by trustees of Stanford Univer ...

(SRI) and

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

(JPL). Beginning in the 1970s, Thomas organized the Theodore von Karman Stamp committee, succeeding in 1992 in getting a U.S. stamp issued in his honor. She also founded and chaired the Aerospace Historical Society, an organization that. since 1985, has presented the international Von Karman Wings award to outstanding and innovative contributors to the world of aerospace.

Technical writing

Thomas, an associate fellow and advocate for the national

Society for Technical Communication The Society for Technical Communication (STC) was a professional association dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of technical communication with more than 4,500 members in the United States, Canada, and the world. The society pu ...

(as well as the local Los Angeles chapter, LASTC) taught Technical and Fundamental Writing in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California for more than three decades.Shirley Thomas Named STC Associate Fellow
/ref>

Works

*

' * ''Men of Space: Profiles of the Leaders in Space Research, Development, and Exploration'', vol. 1–8, (1960–1968). * ''Theodore von Kármán Memorial Seminar, 1965: Proceedings of the Seminar ... Held in Los Angeles 12 May 1965'' (1966). * ''Computers: Their History, Present Applications, and Future'' (1965). * ''Satellite Tracking Facilities'' (1963).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Shirley NASA people Technical communication 20th-century American non-fiction writers University of Southern California faculty 1920 births 2005 deaths Alumni of the University of Sussex Deaths from cancer in California Jet Propulsion Laboratory