Inventory to the Percy Lavon Julian Family Papers

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Percy Lavon Julian Family Papers
Series III: Folder 12
Julian Memorial Lecture: Joseph P. Allen IV
April 14, 1988

     " Always remember that we went to the moon on imagination, and that it is only with creative imagination that we can solve the great problems of this earth."   

     Dr. Joseph P. Allen IV was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana on June 27, 1937, the son of Harriet Taylor Allen and Joseph P. Allen III. Upon graduation from the Crawfordsville High School he entered DePauw University. In doing so he was following a long family tradition; for his grandfather, Joseph P. Allen, Jr., and his mother and his father, are all DePauw alumni. His younger brother David was to also graduate from DePauw. Following another tradition, Dr. Joseph Allen would marry his DePauw sweetheart, Bonnie Jo Darling, on July 9, 1961.tThey are the parents of two children.

     Joe Allen was an outstanding  DePauw student-a Rector Scholar, a member of the Physics Club and the sailing Club, a varsity wrestler-and during his senior year he served as vice president of Beta Theta Pi. He was graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1959 with a major in physics and highest academic honors. As a Fulbright Scholar, he then entered Christian Albrechts Universitat, Kiel, Germany. After a year of study there he enrolled at Yale University and received the Ph. D in physics in 1965.

     During the years 1963-67 he was a Guest Research Associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He was, in addition, a staff physicist in the Nuclear Structure Laboratory at Yale University during 1965-66.Before leaving Yale in 1966 to accept an appointment as a staff physicist in the Nuclear Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington (Seattle), Dr. Allen made application for a new position, one that would change his life forever. On August 4, 1967, President Lyndon Johnson named him as one of a new group of astronauts selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

     For the next 18 years Dr. Allen was involved in a life of great mental and physical endeavor, high adventure, and potential danger. During these years he served as Assistant Administrator of NASA, Legislative Affairs, 1975-78; Technical Assistant to the Director of Flight Operation, 1980-1981; Support Crewman for the first Space shuttle Mission, 1980-1981; and Prime Crewman for the fifth Space Shuttle mission (November 11, 1982) and for the fourteenth Space Shuttle Mission i n1984. It was on the fifth mission that he was responsible for the procedures to deploy the first satellite from the Space Shuttle; and on the fourteenth mission he developed and carried out the procedures for the first space salvage operation in history, recovering two communication satellites for return to earth (1984).

     Since 1985 Dr. Allen has been Executive Vice President of Space Industries, Inc., of Webster, Texas. He also serves in an advisory position as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the space foundation (Houston); as a Director of Arvin Industries, Inc. (Columbus, Indiana); and as a member of the National Advisory Board, The American University (Washington, D.C.). In 1972 he was the on the White House Council on International Economic Policy as consultant and staff member. From 1984-87 he served as a member of the DePauw Board of Visitors.

     He holds membership in the American Physical Society; the American Association for the Advancement of Science; is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society; the American Astronautical Society' and the American Fighter Pilots Association. Included among his many honors are the following; the Distinguished Alumnus Award, DePauw University, 1972; the Doctor of Science, Honorary Degree, DePauw University, 1983; the Komarov Diploma, Federation Aeronautique Internationale, 1983 and 1985; Lloyd's Silver Medal for Meritorius Service, from the Council of Lloyd's  of London, 1984; and the Victor A. Prather Award, from the American Astronautical Society in 1986.

     Dr. Allen has authored numerous popular article on the experience of space flight, and over 40 technical paper and abstracts in the fields of physics, space operation, space research, and science education. His beautiful book, Entering Space, was published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang (New York, 1984). He has given generously of his time for many speaking engagements here and elsewhere. Dr. Joseph P. Allen, honored son of DePauw University, has dared to go where few have ventured. Tonight DePauw community welcomes him home from "the edge of earth."