Joseph Sternberg

Lancaster, Penn. -- Joseph Sternberg died peacefully on Saturday, April 26, at the Penn State Health Lancaster Medical Center, aged 103.

Joseph was born Nov. 24, 1921, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Jacob “Jack” and Natalie (née Trueman) Sternberg. He grew up in and around New York City before attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the California Institute of Technology, from which he graduated with honor with a B.S. in engineering (1942) and an M.S. in aeronautics (1943). He was awarded a Ph.D. in aeronautics by Johns Hopkins University in 1955.

Deterred from enlisting during World War II due to his educational background, he instead was asked by his country to apply his scientific skills to the war effort, which he did at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. There he met his wife, Edith (née Jacobs), and they were married in 1946.

Following the war, Joseph served his country throughout his career as he moved between defense contractors and direct government employment. In the late 1940s and 50s he rose to be director of the U.S. Army Ballistics Research Laboratories at Aberdeen Proving Ground engaged in experimental and theoretical research in high-speed aerodynamics and fluid dynamics.

In 1962 he joined Martin Marietta, where he worked on projects ranging from the Viking Mars probe to early development of the A10 fighter aircraft.

Always deeply committed to the cause of national defense, from 1971-74 he served as the scientific adviser to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (NATO) in Belgium, where he focused on technological issues concerning new weapons systems development. Following another period in the private sector, he closed out his career as a professor of physics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.

Over the decades he authored a series of scientific papers in fields such as fluid dynamics and aeronautics, many of which remain influential and continue to be cited in new research. His work was key to discovering how an object can move faster than the speed of sound. He remained engaged in a variety of other scientific questions during his retirement, and was finishing a paper on climate science at the time of his death.

Joseph was an avid tennis player, capable of winning matches against his son well into his 80s. He enjoyed a long interest in French language and culture, and participated regularly in events with the Alliance Française cultural club during the years he lived in Woodbury and then Southbury, Conn. In his younger years he enjoyed sailing and travel, including visiting children and grandchildren in locales as far-flung as Moscow, La Paz, Bolivia, and Hong Kong. He took up piano lessons in his 90s.

Joseph is survived by children Leslie Lebl, Matthew Sternberg, and Rachel Sternberg; daughters- in-law Yvonne (Gilmer) Sternberg and Elizabeth “Libby” (Malin) Sternberg; grandchildren Joseph C., David S. (and wife Evelyn) and Hannah E. Sternberg and John W. “Jack,” Claire L. (and husband Ankur), and Audrey R. Hall; and by great-grandchildren Truman C., Penelope R., Filomina M., and Winifred E. Sternberg. He was predeceased by his parents, sister Betty Steele Romer, wife Edith, son David and infant son Paul, and son-in-law Giora M. Lebl.