I received word via the NASA Alumni Association that Dennis Bushnell passed away. Dennis Bushnell was a long-serving Chief Scientist of NASA Langley Research Center. I remember meeting him for the first time when there was internal research funding available at NASA for researchers. I wrote a proposal on fluid thrust factoring of a particular kind. He was patient and read the proposal, but he told me that the Israeli Air Force had already accomplished this research and put it into production.
Perhaps more importantly than just another one-off proposal-or one of the first in my career that was rejected-was that he taught me one of the most invaluable lessons for any researcher: all good research gets funded. Perhaps if research is not funded, it is not so good after all.
Sometimes the long-time Chief Scientist might have been made fun of for his perhaps quizzical delivery of futurism in center addresses, but he succeeded in generating discussions among researchers. Perhaps this was one of the points of a center speech.
I recall an article describing how he would go to the top of the Chamberlin Hotel at Fort Monroe in Virginia-where part of the Civil War was fought and Jefferson Davis was held prisoner-and look out at the water each year to decide if he would spend another ten years at NASA Langley. Of course, he did. He decided to stay for a long time.
Upon receiving the news of his death, I think of another type of death-or rebirth-and that is of our beloved agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It was something that we were all proud to be a part of-a special agency. What makes me sad, perhaps, is that Dennis saw the great changes, and perhaps sadness, in the research core he served, and how NASA is forever changed today due to political interference.