Stanley F. Schmidt

Stanley F. Schmidt (January 21, 1926 – August 13, 2015) was an American aerospace engineer who pioneered the Schmidt-Kalman filter used in air and space navigation, most notably in Apollo spacecraft.

Early life and education Schmidt was born on January 21, 1926, in Hollister, California, to Fred and Edith Schmidt. He married Meredith Hallenbeck in 1949.

Schmidt began his training in engineering in 1944 in the Navy Air Corps. He received the B.E.E. degree from Marquette University in 1946, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1952 and 1959, respectively.

Career From 1946 to 1961, Schmidt worked with NASA Ames Research Center, where he discovered the utility of the Kalman filter as applied to data processing for the nonlinear navigation equations of the Apollo crewed lunar missions. Continuing to consult to Northrop, he led the design of the Kalman filter for the navigation system in the B-2 bomber. Member, Eta Kappa Nu