1968 AAE Distinguished Engineering Alumnus

Richard L. Duncan

Manager, Advanced Planning
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division
United Aircraft Corp.
BSEE ’37, MSAE ’48, PhD ’50

He entered the U.S. Navy in 1937 and served as a combat pilot in the Pacific and a project pilot at the Naval Air Test Center. He returned to Purdue after the war for postgraduate studies and then was assigned to the Office of Naval Research, where he worked with advanced propulsion systems for high-speed aircraft and missiles. Later, as assistant director, nuclear propulsion division of the Bureau of Aeronautics, he directed work on the Navy's aircraft nuclear power plant and other advanced nuclear systems. As a captain, he retired from the Navy in 1961 and joined United Aircraft as assistant to the chief scientist, later assuming his present responsibilities.

Dr. Duncan received the first Ph.D. granted by the School of Aeronautical Engineering, in 1950. By coincidence, his Ph.D. advisor, Professor Maurice Zucrow, was the first recipient of a Purdue Ph.D., received in 1928 from the School of Mechanical Engineering.