Virginia (Tower) Norwood (1927 - 2023)

Born 8 Jan 1927 in Fort Totten, Queens, New York City, New York, United States

Ancestors

Died 26 Mar 2023 at age 96 in Topanga, Los Angeles, California, United States

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Biography

Virginia Tower Norwood was a leader in remote sensing development, sometimes known as the "Mother of Landsat". She grew up in a military family and lived on many different Army bases. She was given a slide rule at the age of 9, which suggests that she was encouraged to develop the technical side of her mind from an early age, but that didn't stop her from being the subject of typical prejudices against women in technical fields. Examples include a high school counselor suggesting she become a librarian, which was perhaps the most intellectual "women's job" he could think of. After graduating with a mathematics degree from not-quite-all-male MIT instead, she briefly had to work in a department store, patiently listening as she was taught how to look up sales tax in a table she probably could have calculated in her head.

A stint teaching "business arithmetic" would have been only a small step up, but she eventually launched her true career. She worked with radar as a meteorological tool, designed radar and other microwave antennas with applications from military aircraft identification to voice communication. This evolved in developing antennas for the first successful (unmanned) moon landing and then to her most famous development, a multispectral camera for Landsat. She insisted on digital data transmission, the first time that technology was used to transmit data from space. This description relies heavily on an excellent 2021 article at the MIT Technology Review.^[1] Her WikiPedia page lists a number of other good references.^[2]

Virginia was born in 1927. The 1930 census shows her with her parents John V. and Eleanor M. Tower. At the time her father was a 2nd Lieutenant in the U. S. Army and they lived at Langley Field, Virginia. ^[3]

By 1940 Virginia was 13 and the family was in Alva, Oklahoma and her father was a captain in the signal corps. This time their neighbors were civilian professionals and their home was adjacent to Northwestern State College.^[4]

She married Lawrence Norwood in 1947 and they had three children.^[2] They divorced in 1971.^[5]

Virginia (age 55) married Maurice S Schaeffer (age 58) on 29 December 1982 in Los Angeles, California.^[6]

Virginia Norwood died 26 Mar 2023 at the age of 96.^[2][7] A paywalled Washington Post obituary from 30 Mar 2023 says she died at home in Topanga Canyon, California.

Sources

1. ↑ [https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/06/29/1025732/the-woman-who-brought-us-the-world/ The woman who brought use the world] Alice Dragoon, MIT Technology Review, 29 Jun 2021.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Wikipedia contributors. (2023, April 4). Virginia Norwood. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:38, April 7, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virginia_Norwood&oldid=1148231936
3. ↑ 1930 Census: "United States Census, 1930"
   citing enumeration district (ED) ED 18, sheet 10B, line 85, family 24, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2442; FHL microfilm 2,342,176.
   FamilySearch Record: CD5B-MW2 (accessed 7 April 2023)
   FamilySearch Image: 33S7-9RC8-D9R Image number 00317
   Virginia F Tower (3), single daughter, in household of John V Tower (27) in Wythe, Elizabeth City, Virginia, United States. Born in New York.
4. ↑ 1940 Census: "United States Census, 1940"
   citing Affiliate Publication Number: T627; Line: 65;
   FamilySearch Record: VB24-MG8 (accessed 7 April 2023)
   FamilySearch Image: 3QSQ-G9MR-17KP
   Virginia M Tower (13), single daughter, in household of John V Tower (37) in Alva Township, Woods, Oklahoma, United States. Born in Panama C A.
5. ↑ Divorce: "California Divorce Index, 1966-1984"
   citing Los Angeles City, California, Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.
   FamilySearch Record: VPRP-9V7 (accessed 7 April 2023)
   Virginia M Tower divorce in Jun 1971 in Los Angeles City, California.
6. ↑ Marriage: "California Marriage Index, 1960-1985"
   citing Los Angeles, California, Center of Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.
   FamilySearch Record: V6VB-R4K (accessed 7 April 2023)
   Virginia T Norwood (55) marriage to Maurice S Schaeffer (58) on 29 Dec 1982 in Los Angeles, California.
7. ↑ Bidding Farewell to Virginia T. Norwood, the Mother of Landsat NASA Landsat Science page, accessed online 7 Apr 2023.