| Maurice Nelles | |
| Birth Date: | 19 October 1906 |
| Birth Place: | Madison, South Dakota |
| Nationality: | American |
| Workplaces: | Lockheed Corporation University of Southern California Pennsylvania State University University of Virginia |
| Alma Mater: | University of South Dakota Harvard University |
Maurice Nelles (October 19, 1906 - August 30, 1998)[1] was an engineer, business executive and professor.[2]
Nelles was born in Madison, South Dakota. Nelles earned a bachelor's degree in 1927 and a master's degree in 1928, both from the University of South Dakota and earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1934.[2] [3] While at Harvard, he held the Charles A. Coffin Fellowship and the George H. Emerson and Harvard scholarships.[3]
During World War II, Nelles worked at Lockheed Corporation and the War Production Board.[2] While at Lockheed, Nelles and his coworkers Morlan A. Visel and Ernest L. Black proposed a "Pacific Research Foundation" which eventually became SRI International.[4]
After Lockheed, Nelles became a professor of aeronautical engineering at the University of Southern California, where he designed the laboratory ship Velero IV.[2] In 1949 he oversaw Otis Barton's record-breaking 4500 ft deep sea dive off of Santa Cruz Island in a benthoscope that Nelles had designed.[2] [5] He would also teach at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Virginia.[2]
He served as the director of research for Borg Warner, Technicolor, Crane, and Westinghouse.[2] He was later a consultant to the National Academy of Sciences.[6]
Nelles died August 30, 1998, in La Jolla, California.[2]