“Father of GPS” awarded IEEE Medal of Honor

science

Next time you open Google Maps to find your way think about a former paperboy with a passion for maps who led the team that created the GPS.

Next time you open Google Maps to find your way think about a former paperboy with a passion for maps who led the team that created the GPS.

At the IEEE honors ceremony today in San Francisco, Bradford Parkinson, a retired Air Force colonel who spent his life between maps and navigation systems, will be awarded the 2018 IEEE Medal of Honor, “For fundamental contributions to and leadership in developing the design and driving the early applications of the Global Positioning System.”

In today’s world of connected devices, we take satellite navigation, commonly known as GPS, for granted. We use it on our smartphones on a daily basis, to get our bearings when we drive to a new location, when we look for an address on the street, and when we send our location to the Uber driver.

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