birth_place awards nationality workplaces field birth_date known_for residence image article_title name alma_mater
madison , wisconsin magellanic hall of fame premium -lrb- 1997 -rrb- draper prize national inventors american united states air force stanford university aeronautics 16 february 1935 global positioning system san luis obispo , california col bradford parkinson usaf official photo.png bradford parkinson
 bradford parkinson united university states naval academy massachusetts institute of technology stanford
bradford parkinson

bradford parkinson -lrb- february 16 , 1935 -rrb- is an american engineer and inventor , and united states air force colonel best known as the father of the global positioning system -lrb- along with roger l. easton and ivan a. getting -rrb- .
he attended the united states naval academy , graduating in 1957 , but decided to join the air force because of its superior educational opportunities .
parkinson then attended the massachusetts institute of technology for his m.s. in aeronautics , graduating in 1961 .
after several years in the air force , he entered a ph. d. program at stanford university , graduating in 1966 .
in 1973 he became manager of the navstar gps development program , where he remained until 1978 when he retired from the air force .
in 1984 , parkinson became a professor at stanford university , where today he is a professor emeritus .
in 2003 he shared the draper prize with ivan a. getting for his contributions to the invention of the global positioning system .
in 2004 he was inducted into the national inventors hall of fame .
in 2004 parkinson was inducted into the national inventors hall of fame for his contributions .
