The Global Positioning System (GPS) was created through the collaborative efforts of several key figures and organizations, primarily in the United States during the 1970s.
- Bradford Parkinson is often called the "architect of GPS." He led the NAVSTAR GPS Joint Program Office from 1972 to 1978 and is credited with driving the system's development into what it is today
- Ivan Getting , an engineer at The Aerospace Corporation and MIT, helped establish the foundational concepts for GPS. He was involved in early satellite navigation projects and contributed to the system's design
- Roger L. Easton of the Naval Research Laboratory was instrumental in developing the precise satellite tracking and atomic clock synchronization technologies that made GPS possible. His work on the Timation program introduced the concept of orbiting atomic clocks, critical for GPS accuracy
- Dr. Gladys West , an African American mathematician, played a crucial role in the mathematical modeling of the Earth's shape (geodesy), which was essential for GPS satellite position calculations. Her work at the Naval Surface Warfare Center helped refine the computational techniques needed for accurate GPS
The U.S. Department of Defense officially launched the GPS project in 1973, combining ideas from earlier navigation systems and research. The system initially used 24 satellites and was fully operational by 1993, with civilian access authorized starting in the 1980s
. In summary, GPS was not invented by a single person but by a team of pioneers including Bradford Parkinson, Ivan Getting, Roger Easton, and Gladys West, whose combined expertise in engineering, mathematics, and physics made the modern GPS system possible
