Herbert Earl Grier (July 3, 1911 — March 17, 1999) was an American electrical engineer. While starting his engineering career with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the 1930s to 1940s, Grier co-invented a miniature stroboscope and handheld flash with Harold Edgerton and Kenneth Germeshausen. During World War II, Grier built a firing mechanism during the Manhattan Project that was used in the Fat Man bomb.
After he, Edgerton and Germeshausen created EG&G in 1947, Grier was involved in several nuclear tests including Operation Sandstone and Operation Ranger. With EG&G, Grier was president until 1976 and served as a consultant from 1983 to 1994. Apart from electrical engineering, he took part in NASA safety boards that assessed Skylab and the preparation of the first Space Shuttle. Grier was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1985 and the National Medal of Science in 1989.
Early life and education
Grier was born on July 3, 1911, in Chicago, Illinois. At the age of eleven, Grier and his family left Chicago to live in New York City.[1]