Flossi Watches ATACMS Deployment in Ukraine

Ramo later created Space Technology Laboratories (STL) as a subsidiary of Ramo-Wooldridge Corp. a year before the USSR’s Sputnik launch. STL was the first US company to receive a contract for a spacecraft from the newly established National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). An STL spacecraft was the first to reach the outer planets and to go beyond the solar system into far outer space.

Ramo held more than 40 patents, the last of which he received at the age of 100. Thus, he is the oldest patent holder in US history.

He received numerous awards and honors, including the National Medal of Science (1979) from President Jimmy Carter for his pioneering work in electronics research and development. President Gerald Ford appointed him chair of the President’s Advisory Committee on Science and Technology. In 1983, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, from President Ronald Reagan. He was inducted into the Business Hall of Fame and, in 1999, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Smithsonian Institution.

He died June 27, 2016, at age 103, in his home in Santa Monica.