The Story of James N. Walbert
One of my most ambitious collections is that of the Progress in Aeronautics and Astronautics series published by AIAA. This collection goes all the way back to 1960 and is still in progress today. While I one day hope to complete the collection, I have a long way to go. One of the books in the collection, volume 230, is titled “Fundametals of Ground Combat System Ballistic Vulnerability/Lethality” by Paul Dietz, Harry Reed, Terrence Klopcic, and James Walbert.
Photo of Fundametals of Ground Combat System Ballistic Vulnerability/Lethality
The copy that I have is a very special one, as it happens to be inscribed by 2 of the co-authors, 2 of the co-editors, the foreward author, the former director of U.S. Laboratory Command, and last but not least, was the personal copy of co-author James N. Walbert.
Photo of the inscriptions of Terrence Klopcic, Harry Reed and Dennis Bely
Photo of the inscriptions of Eric Edwards and Dick Vitali
Photo of the inscription of James O’Bryon
Photo of the signature of James Walbert
Now, you may wonder how I got my hands on such a copy, and the answer is someone did NOT understand what they had when they sold it to me. Putting that aside, I will now present my research into co-author James Walbert’s life, career, and contributions to the field:
I could not find much on James’ early life, but I do know that he attended the University of Delaware, where he got his bachelor’s, master’s and PhD in mathematics.
Photo of the University of Delaware
Upon James’ graduation, he began work for the U.S. Army as mathematician and physicist. He found himself in many leadership roles, serving as DARPAs Future Combat Systems Program Office chief scientist, a branch chief for the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, and as the engineering test director for the U.S. Army Material Testing Directorate. James was also on numerous technical boards and panels, including the Army Science Board.
Photo of DARPA’s logo and the insignia of the Army Research Laboratory. We have some more about the ARL coming up.
Eventually, James took a position as the chief scientist of the SURVICE engineering company, where he provided oversight and assistance on all technical aspects of the company’s support contrats and initiatives. James was also instrumental in development of an extensive suite of analytical tools for ballistic data analysis. James had over 60 publications, the only pulbically avaialbe one being the book Fundametals of Ground Combat System Ballistic Vulnerability/Lethality. The book was named the ARL’s publication of the year in 2009.
Interstingly enough, James worked closely with the founding director of the ARL, Richard Vitali, and Richard Vitali inscibed his personal copy of the book, which is very cool.
Photo of Survice engineering company
In 2011, James was awarded the National Defense Industrial Association’s Walter W. Hollis Award for lifetime achievement in Defense Testing and Evaluation, and in 2014 was awarded the Stein Award for Lifetime Achievement and Contributions in Live Fire Test and Evaluation by the National Defense Industrial Association. James also taught mathematics and engineering at the University of Delaware, Penn State University, and Marymount University. James ended his career working on the research staff of the Institute for Defense Analyses.
Photo of the Institute for Defense Analyses
James was also active in his local politics and community and will be missed.
Dr. James Walbert was a titan in his field, an avid educator and thinker, and his work continue to save lives, and I am proud to have his work in my colleciton.
-Ethan