Norman Ralph Augustine

A decisive citizen of the world, Norman R. “Norm” Augustine (Fig. 1),the retired chairman of Lockheed Martin Corporation (the nation’s largest defense contractor) and former undersecretary of the U.S. Army (Fig. 2), is one of the most recognized and possibly the most decorated professional engineers in American history. A friend of U.S. presidents, heads of Fortune 500 companies, Nobel laureates, astronauts and the like, he is often compared to Bill Gates of Microsoft and Craig Barrett of Intel for his national leadership in technology.

Within professional engineering circles, he is ranked with Jack Welch, former head of General Electric; David Evans, former U.S. senator and governor of the state of Washington; Lee Iacocca, former head of Chrysler; David Packard, founder of Hewlett-Packard; and Stephen Bechtel, Jr., head of the Bechtel Corporation.

Prominent among Augustine’s many career accomplishments is his work on numerous American missile, space, and aircraft programs and his key participation in the restructuring of the U.S. aerospace industry following the end of the Cold War. Recently, he served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council.

A longtime proponent of ensuring the place of science and engineering on the nation’s list of priorities, Augustine spearheaded the National Academy of Science (NAS) “Gathering Storm” efforts addressing America’s future competitiveness, a high-priority study requested by Congress. The resulting NAS report entitled, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, recommended ways to strengthen research and education in science, engineering, and technology. Augustine was among the engineering leaders charged with testifying to Congress about crucial points of the report.

Said Augustine, “More than half of the increase in U.S. gross domestic product has been attributed to advancements in science, technology, and innovation. The solution to many of America’s, and the world’s, greatest challenges depends on advancements in science, engineering and technology—including providing energy, preserving the environment, supplying food and water, ensuring physical security, providing health care, and improving the global standard of living.”

For Augustine’s many accomplishments in his profession, community and government service, he has received nearly 150 notable awards and honors. Among these is the National Medal of Technology, which President Clinton presented to him in 1997 (Fig. 3), for “visionary leadership of the aerospace industry, for championing technical and managerial solutions to the many challenges in civil and defense systems, and for contributions to the United States’ world preeminence in aerospace.”

Also high on Augustine’s list of major honors are five Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medals (the agency’s highest civilian decoration), the 2005 Philip Hauge Abelson Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the 2006 Public Welfare Medal from NAS, for “contributions to the vitality of science and engineering in the United States by bringing to industry and government a better understanding of the crucial role that fundamental scientific and engineering research must play in our long-term security and economic prosperity.”

Chapter three of Len Marrella’s book In Search of Ethics is dedicated to Augustine. According to Marrella, “When you review the complete record of this distinguished citizen it becomes patently clear that Norm Augustine had devoted his life to constructive and productive service to his country, his family, and his fellow citizens. Make no mistake about it, he is a very successful person and a contributor to the welfare of others. He achieved his success by living his values. In all his endeavors, he has conducted himself in an ethical and forthright manner. He has ‘talked the talk and walked the walk.’ He has gone on the record in support of moral behavior in our country and in strong support of business ethics in his profession.” Augustine’s guidance in this area came early in his life.

Norm was born on July 27, 1935, in Denver, Colorado, the son of Ralph H. and Freda (Immenga) Augustine. His father was in the wholesale produce business and his mother, a public school office worker. Both were hardworking, honest, self-reliant, and disciplined role models, who expected their son to work hard, study hard, and reach high. About his father, Augustine said, “My father was the most honest man I’ve ever known.” When Augustine was young, his father put a clipping for him on a mirror in his room. Its message was, “Don’t wait until you are a man to be great, be a great boy.”

All of Norm’s early education was in Denver, where he graduated from East High School. By then, engineering was his career choice and he was headed east to Princeton University and the ivy leagues. In addition to his parents and a couple of teachers, Augustine’s heroes were Winston Churchill, General Omar Bradley, and Abraham Lincoln.

At Princeton, Norm earned a bachelor’s degree in 1957 and master’s degree in 1959, both in aeronautical engineering, graduating magna cum laude with honors. After leaving college, Augustine joined the Douglas Aircraft Company in Santa Monica, California, where he rose to be program manager and chief engineer. While at Douglas, he met one of his life-long colleagues, E. C. “Pete” Aldridge, a young engineer with aspirations of becoming an astronaut.

Aldridge, who eventually became the undersecretary of defense and secretary of the U.S. Air Force, recalled, “I have known Norm since 1961 when we were young aeronautical engineers working together at the Douglas Aircraft Company. I have always admired Norm as one of the best engineers I have ever met, a natural leader, who combines his professional and management skills with an amazing sense of humor. (Just read his book Augustine’s Laws and you’ll see what I mean.) In every position he has held in government and industry, he has risen rapidly through the ranks to achieve the highest levels of leadership and respect from superiors, peers, and subordinates. I have never met a person who does not like Norm Augustine and who does not have the highest respect for him and his accomplishments.”

In Palos Verdes, California, on January 20, 1962, the $27\text{-}\text{year}$ -old Augustine married Margareta “Meg” Engman from Stockholm, Sweden. They would become the parents of a son, Greg, an electrical engineer, now deceased, and a daughter, René, who served as associate legal counsel in the office of the While House counsel and is married to Mark Alarie, an investment banker and former professional basketball player.

In 1965, Augustine began serving at the Pentagon in the office of the secretary of defense as assistant director of defense research and engineering. There, he concentrated on tactical missiles and ordnance and land warfare.

Five years later, in 1970, Augustine joined the LTV Missiles and Space Company in Dallas, Texas. He served as vice president of advanced programs and marketing and, later, was consultant to the executive office of the president.

Augustine returned to the government in 1973, serving as assistant secretary of the U.S. Army for research and development and subsequently as undersecretary of the Army, then acting secretary of the Army.

Leaving government service for the second time, Augustine joined Martin Marietta Corporation in 1977, as vice president of technical operations. In 1987, he was elected chief executive officer (CEO) and, in 1988, chairman, having previously been president and chief operations officer for the Martin Marietta Denver Aerospace Company.

In March 1995, Martin Marietta merged with Lockheed Corporation, another premier U.S.-based technology company, forming Lockheed Martin Corporation. The resulting advanced technology conglomerate’s interests concentrated on a wide array of projects and products in the defense, space, energy, and government sectors internationally. Upon Lockheed Martin’s formation, Augustine was made its president. He became president and CEO later that year.

Among the products designed and/or produced during Augustine’s watch as head of Lockheed Martin were the F-22 fighter aircraft using advanced stealth technology (Fig. 4), the F-35 stealth fighter aircraft (Fig. 5), the Titan IV rocket (missile and launch vehicle; Fig. 6), and the C-130j turboprop military transport aircraft (Fig. 7). Various versions of the four-engine C-130 transport have had the longest continuous production run of any family of military aircraft in history. For more than $50\text{years}$ , various C-130 models participated in impressive military, civilian, and humanitarian aid operations around the world.

After retiring from Lockheed Martin in August 1997, Augustine became a lecturer with the rank of professor on the faculty of Princeton University. For years, he had chaired advisory councils and served as a trustee at Princeton, and at other universities such as Johns Hopkins and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Other educational advisory councils he served on or chaired included those for American University, and the universities of Maryland, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Duke, Texas A&M, Yale, Southern California, Florida State, and Denver. He was an honorary professor of the Department of Defense Acquisition University, Annenberg Visiting Professor at Harvey Mudd College, and honorary member of the faculty of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. At the National Defense University, he was a Bernard Baruch Lecturer.

A sought-after speaker for much of his life, Augustine delivered countless significant speeches and keynote addresses within and beyond academia, among them the von Braun Memorial Lecture at the Smithsonian Institution, Woodruff Lecture at Georgia Tech, and the Wright Brothers Lecture in the United Kingdom (UK). In addition to these and regular lectures at Princeton, Harvard, Yale, MIT, CalTech, Duke, Stanford, and the U.S. Military, Air Force and Naval academies, Augustine spoke to countless industry, civic, and community groups.

He often lectured on ethics, personal qualities, and whether a person’s character, formed at birth, could be altered. Said Augustine, “A person’s character can definitely be changed by training, experience, and example. Many times I have heard a young student or employee say, ‘I want to be just like so-and-so,’ or ‘I really want to improve myself, or ‘I really want to be a better person,’ and it can be done.” But you need to have the courage, ability, and perseverance to fight for worthy causes in the face of adversity.

A prolific writer, Augustine’s voluminous works have appeared in a wide array of national and international publications, including most major newspapers as well as magazines such as Newsweek, Science, Time, and The Bridge. He has authored or coauthored Augustine’s Laws (published in six languages), Augustine’s Travels, The Defense Revolution, and Shakespeare In Charge. He also holds copyrights on a book of his photography and on a calculator for baseball managers.

Augustine has been active in many engineering and professional groups. He was the chairman of the National Academy of Engineering, Aerospace Industries Association, Defense Science Board, and Aeronautics Panel of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board; president/chairman of the Association of the U.S. Army; and president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Representative positions Augustine has held with various civic and public organizations include:

Augustine is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Astronautical Society, Explorers Club, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Royal Aeronautical Society, and Society for Technical Communications.

He is an honorary member of the American Society of Engineering Education and Society of American Military Engineers. He is an active member of the American Philosophical Society, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York Academy of Sciences, International Academy of Astronautics, and the Regional Advisory Board of Deutsche Bank

He has been (or is) on the boards of Conoco-Phillips; Black and Decker; Procter and Gamble; Colorado National Bank; Riggs National Corporation; Burdeshaw Associates, Ltd.; In-Q-Tel; Hoskyns Group of the U.K., Bipartisan Policy Center; National Association of Corporate Directors; Planetary Society; Atlantic Council; New American Schools Development Corporation; Ethics Resource Center; Cordell Hull Institute; Wolf Trap (National Park) Foundation; American Helicopter Society; Foundation for the National Medals of Science and Technology; U.S. Air Force Academy Foundation; and BioEnergy International LLC.

For $16\text{years}$ , he has been a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. He has also served on the Advisory Council of the Women’s Research and Education Institute; Board of Overseers of the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business; Corporate Advisory Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts; NOVA (TV) Science Advisory Council; U.S.-Japan Leadership Council; Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government; and U.S. Joint Forces Command Advisory Group.

Augustine holds two-dozen honorary doctorate degrees from such institutions as the universities of Arizona, Carnegie Mellon, Colorado, Drexel, Duke, Georgetown, Maryland, and Princeton, as well as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stevens Institute, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, to mention a few—in fields such as engineering, science, law, human letters, humanities, management, business administration, and national affairs.

The following representative awards give perspective to the extent of Augustine’s influence nationally and internationally:

Additionally, Augustine has been designated an honorary command sergeant major of the U.S. Army and was selected by Who’s Who in America and the Library of Congress as one of “Fifty Great Americans” on the occasion of Who’s Who’s 50th anniversary.

According to Stein Sture, vice chancellor for research at the University of Colorado at Boulder, “Augustine sees early childhood through middle-school education in science, mathematics, and technology as the greatest challenge our nation faces and he continues to stay engaged making certain this issue remains a national focus. These ongoing efforts, his participation with oversight committees and educational boards, and his ‘Rising Storm’ report recommendations—and the initiatives proposed by the American Competes Act Augustine was instrumental in drafting—serve as guides for the current administration as the nation strives to move out from its financial crises and get Americans back to work.”

For business, pleasure, and adventure, Augustine has traveled extensively in more than 100 countries, and has stood on both poles of the Earth. Concerning all these trips, he said, “Traveling in Russia during the cold war had the most sobering impact.”

At ease with the outdoors since his Colorado upbringing, many of Augustine’s hobbies have taken him to the far reaches of the globe. He has dog-sledded in the Arctic; explored volcanoes in the Antarctic; backpacked in the Canadian and U.S. Rockies; canoed the Boundary Waters of Canada; horse-backed the U.S. Rockies; sailed a tall ship in the West Indies and a stern wheeler up the Mississippi; traveled the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon; snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef; boated the Amazon; rafted the Grand Canyon; stayed in the Ice Hotel in northern Sweden; toured the Australian outback; snow-mobiled on the Bearing Strait and in Iceland; camped with the Bedouins in the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia; and traveled by historic trains across several continents including the Red Arrow to Leningrad, the Palace on Wheels in India, the Orient Express to Istanbul, the Manchurian Railroad to Harbin, 6,000 miles across the Gobi Desert and 7,000 miles on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

Augustine has also participated in the test dive of a new nuclear submarine; done aerobatics in the back of a supersonic fighter; flown in a glider and at Mach 2; and photographed whales in the Inside Passage and Baja California, polar bears in the Northwest Territory, grizzlies in Alaska, lions and leopards in Africa, and wolves during the winter in Yellowstone.

Amid Augustine’s collection of philosophical thoughts are found the following witticisms:

Augustine would be pleased if on his tombstone were inscribed these words: “He did his best.”