Waldo K. Lyon
Encyclopedia
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
for the U.S. Navy of the Arctic Submarine Laboratory
Arctic Submarine Laboratory
The Arctic Submarine Laboratory was a research facility of the U.S. Navy's Electronics Laboratory in San Diego, California. It began as a converted World War II mortar emplacement, Battery Whistler, and was focused on scientific exploration of the Arctic Basin, and particularly providing the...
at the Naval Electronics Laboratory
Naval Electronics Laboratory
The U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory was created in 1945, with the consolidation of the Navy Radio and Sound Lab and its wartime partner, the University of California Division of War Research...
.
He retired in 1996 after 55 years of government service. During his career he advised top Navy officials on essential matters of national defense
Defense (military)
Defense has several uses in the sphere of military application.Personal defense implies measures taken by individual soldiers in protecting themselves whether by use of protective materials such as armor, or field construction of trenches or a bunker, or by using weapons that prevent the enemy...
and was personally thanked by Presidents Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
and Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
for his efforts.
Military career
For 51 years, Dr. Lyon worked for Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San DiegoSan Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
(SSC San Diego) and its predecessor organizations. Dr. Lyon started work there less than a year after its June 1940 establishment as the Navy Radio and Sound Lab, as their first Ph.D. physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
. He was charged with forming and directing initial efforts of the Sound Division. The lab was used during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for testing, repairing and modifying submarine equipment and harbor defense systems in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. During the war, German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s in the Gulf of St. Lawrence were undetectable, because sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
failed under the surface ice
Ice
Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...
. Dr. Lyon addressed this problem by designing and testing sonar and oceanographic equipment for the submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
USS Boarfish (SS-327)
USS Boarfish (SS-327)
USS Boarfish , a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the boarfish, a fish having a projecting hog-like snout....
and participating in the ship's first under-ice dives.
- "In 1946 when Admiral Byrd took the expedition to Antarctica, I got a letter asking if there was any research I wanted to do in conjunction with the expedition. I said yes, try a submarine in the cold water down there," Dr. Lyon said.
His recommendation initiated an effort that would last over four decades.
In 1947 Dr. Lyon became head of the Naval Electronics Laboratory
Naval Electronics Laboratory
The U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory was created in 1945, with the consolidation of the Navy Radio and Sound Lab and its wartime partner, the University of California Division of War Research...
's, Submarine Studies Branch in the Research Division.
Dr. Lyon had a test pool constructed at Battery Whistler (a converted mortar battery at NEL) to test equipment for deep submergence vehicles like Bathyscaphe Trieste
Bathyscaphe Trieste
The Trieste is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe with a crew of two, which reached a record maximum depth of about , in the deepest known part of the Earth's oceans, the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench near Guam, on January 23, 1960, crewed by Jacques Piccard ...
. The pool was equipped to grow sea ice
Sea ice
Sea ice is largely formed from seawater that freezes. Because the oceans consist of saltwater, this occurs below the freezing point of pure water, at about -1.8 °C ....
and study its physical properties. In addition, he established a field station at Cape Prince of Wales
Cape Prince of Wales
Cape Prince of Wales is the westernmost point on the mainland of the Americas.Located on the Seward Peninsula of the U.S. state of Alaska near the city of Wales, Cape Prince of Wales is the terminus of the Continental Divide, marking the division between the Pacific and Arctic coasts, as well as...
, Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
in 1951.
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
. Brine
Brine
Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...
content and ice elasticity
Elasticity (physics)
In physics, elasticity is the physical property of a material that returns to its original shape after the stress that made it deform or distort is removed. The relative amount of deformation is called the strain....
were measured to apply in the design of submarines that could surface through the ice cover. Cold rooms and calibration facilities at the Arctic Submarine Laboratory were used to solve the problem of icing on submarine snorkel head valves. The research culminated in the transpolar submerged voyage of USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
USS Nautilus is the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine. She was the first vessel to complete a submerged transit beneath the North Pole on August 3, 1958...
in 1958.
Dr. Lyon's career included scores of under-ice cruises to gain scientific knowledge essential to Arctic submarine operations. He and researcher Art Roshon developed an under-ice sonar that allowed completion of the first winter cruise by Sturgeon class
Sturgeon class submarine
The Sturgeon class were a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines in service with the United States Navy from the 1960s until 2004. They were the "work horses" of the submarine attack fleet throughout much of the Cold War...
submarines. Through the 1970s and 1980s Dr. Lyon's ongoing research at the Arctic Submarine Laboratory resulted in refurbishment and improvement of the Lab's cryogenic facilities. These facilities were used for evaluating icing issues on Los Angeles class
Los Angeles class submarine
The Los Angeles class, sometimes called the LA class or the 688 class, is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines that forms the backbone of the United States submarine fleet. With 43 submarines on active duty and 19 retired, the Los Angeles class is the most numerous nuclear powered...
submarines, sonar technology developments for remote acoustic
Acoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
measurement of ice thickness, and the ice breakthrough tests for Seawolf class
Seawolf class submarine
The Seawolf class is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines in service with the United States Navy. The class was the intended successor to the , ordered at the end of the Cold War in 1989. At one time, an intended fleet of 29 submarines was to be built over a ten-year period, later...
submarines.
Awards
Dr. Lyon received major awards including:- The Navy Distinguished Civilian Service AwardNavy Distinguished Civilian Service AwardThe Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award is the highest honorary award the Secretary of the Navy can confer on a Department of the Navy civilian employee. The Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award will be granted only to those employees who have given distinguished or extraordinary service...
(twice) - The Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award
- The President's Distinguished Federal Civilian Service Award
- He was a member of teams that earned the Presidential Unit Citation (US)Presidential Unit Citation (US)The Presidential Unit Citation, originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the Armed Forces of the United States and allies for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy on or after 7 December 1941...
in 1958 and 1969 - He received the Navy Unit CommendationNavy Unit CommendationThe Navy Unit Commendation of the United States Navy is an award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944...
in 1959, 1960, 1962, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979.
He also received numerous non-governmental awards including:
- Gold Medal of the American Society of Naval EngineersAmerican Society of Naval EngineersThe American Society of Naval Engineers is a professional association of American naval engineers. Naval Engineering includes all arts and sciences as applied in the research, development, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and logistic support of surface and subsurface ships and...
- Silver Century Medal of Societe de GeographieSociété de GéographieThe Société de Géographie , is the world's oldest geographical society. It was founded in 1821 . Since 1878, its headquarters has been at 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris. The entrance is marked by two gigantic caryatids representing Land and Sea...
(Paris) - Bronze Medal of the Royal Institute of NavigationRoyal Institute of NavigationThe Royal Institute of Navigation is a British institution devoted to the art and science of navigation established in 1947.Its aims are to bring navigators together, to develop navigational techniques and to increase public awareness of navigation. It is based in Kensington, London. It was...
(London) - Bushnell Medal of the American Defense Preparedness Association
- The Lowell Thomas Medal of the Explorer's Club of New York (only the fourth time this medal has been awarded)
Last years
Dr Lyon remained active in Arctic research even after retirement. He collaborated with Dr. William M. Leary on a book detailing development of the submarine Arctic warfare program entitled, Under Ice: Waldo Lyon and the Development of the Arctic Submarine, published in January 1999. Less than two weeks before his death, he met with the president of the prestigious Explorer's Club to plan an expedition to the North Pole. They had planned to dive to the sea floor at the Pole. He died at the age of 84 on May 5, 1998. A memorial service was held on June 20, 1998 at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego. Per his family's wishes, Dr. Lyon's ashes were scattered at the North Pole by USS Hawkbill (SSN-666)USS Hawkbill (SSN-666)
USS Hawkbill , a Sturgeon-class attack submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the hawksbill, a large sea turtle...
on May 3, 1999.
Friends and colleagues of Dr. Lyon have established a memorial scholarship, administered by the UCLA Foundation, to be awarded to a deserving student in the Physics Department at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
(UCLA), Dr. Lyon's alma mater.
External links
- Navy bio Note: this article was directly derived from the Navy bio text.