The Society for the History of Technology lost a pioneer and friend with the death of Eugene Morlock Emme on June 24, 1985. In 1959, Dr. Emme became the first historian of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where, until his retirement in 1978, he championed the cause of sound historical research and documentation in the fledgling held of aerospace history.
A graduate of Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, Gene Emme received his doctorate in history from the University of Iowa in 1949. During World War II he had served as a navy pilot in the Pacific theater, transferring to the U.S. Air Force Reserve at the end of the war. Before joining NASA, Emme was a member of the civilian faculty at the Air University (1949-58) and project director in the operations research office of the Office of Civil Defense in Battle Creek, Michigan (1958-59).
As NASA’s first historian, Gene Emme faced the challenge of developing a reliable foundation of institutional support for historical research within the agency and nurturing a generation of scholars to lay the documentary and interpretive foundations of the new discipline of aerospace history-for which NASA’s programs would supply much of the raw material. Meeting that challenge required enormous personal, intellectual, and organizational energy and perseverance. That he succeeded is evident by his legacy, which permeates the discipline he fostered.
At a time when the history of technology was young, and aerospace history virtually nonexistent as a serious scholarly discipline, Emme in 1962 arranged a special session of the annual SHOT meeting devoted to the history of rocketry. So great was the interest and enthusiasm he thus inspired that the entire Fall 1963 issue of Technology and Culture was devoted to the subject; the same papers were republished in 1964 as The History of Rocket Technology. Thanks to Gene Emme’s untiring efforts and encouragement, SHOT now includes a goodly number of highly capable historians working in the area of aeronautical and space technology. Gene Emme’s legacy is reflected not only in his own publications—including A History of Space Flight, Aeronautics and Astronautics: An American Chronology of Science and Technology in the Exploration of Space, 1915–1960, The History of Rocket Technology: Essays on Research, Development, and Utility, and The Impact of Air Power: National Security and World Politics—but in the solidly researched and documented work of NASA historians whom he guided during his twenty years as head of NASA’s history program.
An indefatigable missionary and a “true starter,” Gene established the NASA History Advisory Committee, which has contributed substantially to the strength of NASA’s history program, and the history committees of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Astronautical Society, the International Academy of Astronautics, and the National Rocket Club (now the National Space Club). He was also the instigator of the National Space Club’s Goddard Historical Essay Award.
Even as he foresaw the end, Gene Emme’s enthusiasm remained undaunted. Visitors were greeted with the assurance, “I’m still agitating”—and so he was, collecting oral histories, writing, and attending meetings during which he never failed to commend the work of a colleague or younger scholar. Of himself, Gene wrote, “I am still doing most of my writing after midnight, have too many meetings to go to, much research to complete, and so much to write . . . My greatest satisfaction has been helping solid young historians pick up good pieces of the action.” It was a satisfaction well deserved.
Sylvia D. Fries
Originally published as Sylvia D. Fries, “Eugene M. Emme (1919–1985),” Technology and Culture 27, no. 3 (1986): 665–67, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/tech.1986.a889608.
Emme, Eugene M. “Aeronautics, Rocketry, and Astronautics.” Technology and Culture 9, no. 3 (1968): 436-455. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/894261.
Emme, Eugene Marlock. A History of Space Flight. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965. [For young readers]
Emme, Eugene Marlock. The History of Rocket Technology : Essays on Research, Development, and Utility. Detroit : Wayne State University Press, 1694. [Based on the fall 1963 issue of Technology and Culture.]
Emme, Eugene M. “Introduction to the History of Rocket Technology.” Technology and Culture 4, no. 4 (1963): 377–83. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/894958.
Emme, Eugene Marlock. Aeronautics and Astronautics: An American Chronology of Science and Technology in the Exploration of Space, 1915–1960. Washington, D.C.: NASA, 1961.
Emme, Eugene Marlock. The Impact of Air Power: National Security and World Politics. Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1959.