The Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History, also known as the Lindbergh Chair, is a one-year senior fellowship hosted by the U.S. National Air and Space Museum (NASM), to assist a scholar in the research and composition of a book about aerospace history. Named for the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, the position is competitive: one experienced scholar is selected each year from multiple applicants worldwide. Up to $100,000 is granted to the winner.
The Lindbergh Chair is one of four research fellowships administered by NASM within the Smithsonian Institution: the others are the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Fellowship, the A. Verville Fellowship, and the Postdoctoral Earth and Planetary Sciences Fellowship. Announced in 1977 at the 50th anniversary of Lindbergh's famous solo flight, 1978 was the first year that the Lindbergh Chair was occupied—British aviation historian Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith was selected as the first recipient.
Each Lindbergh Chair application is judged relative to the suitability of its proposal, the scholarly record of the applicant, the availability of relevant museum staff advisors knowledgeable on the proposed topic, whether the NASM can provide the specific resources, and the applicability of the proposal to NASM's work-in-progress series. The winner is expected to reside in the Washington, D.C., area for nine months to a year, the academic year generally starting in September and ending by the following August. He or she is also expected to take part in discussions with museum staff and to attend professional seminars and colloquia. Along with access to primary research materials, the winner is given the use of an office, a phone and a computer.
Past winners Year Awardee Topic Published result 1978 Wright brothers 1979 U.S. aviation in World War II The Dragon's Teeth?: The Creation of United States Air Power for World War II. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982 1980 1981 Airlines Airlines of the USA since 1914 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 History of aerodynamics 1987 1988 History of the lift jet 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 American space program Space and the American Imagination, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998 1999 US Navy aviation of the 1950s 2000 Women in space Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space New York: Basic Books, 2003 (Second edition: MIT Press, 2006) 2001 Jet engines 2002 Aviation technology in American boys' series books, 1905 - 1950 a) Boys' Books, Boys' Dreams, and the Mystique of Flight. Fort Worth: TCU Press, 2006. b) From Birdwomen to Skygirls: American Girls' Aviation Stories. Fort Worth: TCU Press, 2009. 2003 2004 Space policy American hegemony and the postwar reconstruction of science in Europe. MIT Press, 2006 2005 2006 2007 Space exploration 2008 Space policy and history 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2015 Collaboration of artists, engineers, & scientists through Apollo era 2017 The development of satellite servicing -- design features, tools, procedures, training, tests, and evaluation.Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut's Story of Invention. MIT Press, 2019 2019 Planetizing Earth: Outer Space and the Making of a Global Age, 1972–19902021Mick BroderickCultural and media representation of U.S. ballistic missiles 1957-1966 2022
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