Background
Thomas was born in Glendale, California, the daughter of an electrical engineer and a homemaker.
professional producer professor writer author actress
Thomas was born in Glendale, California, the daughter of an electrical engineer and a homemaker.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts in 1960 and her Doctor of Philosophy in Communications in 1967 from the University of Sussex.
In 2010, The Aerospace Historical Society established the Shirley Thomas Academic Scholarship. lieutenant is "presented annually at the International von Kármán Wings Award banquet to a student in aerospace engineering or a related science that shows promise for continued future contributions to the field"
She was also awarded a diploma by the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics in 1995. She died of cancer on July 21, 2005 in Los Angeles, California.
Active in for a number of decades, Thomas conducted red carpet interviews at motion picture premiers and special event broadcasts from 1952 to 1956.
She was also involved in the coverage of the New Year’s Day Rose Parade for Columbia Broadcasting System and later did broadcasts for Voice of America. Thomas authored 15 books, including her eight-volume series on astronauts, Men of Space (published between 1960 and 1968).
She also organized and chaired the Woman"s Space Symposia from 1962-1973. She was a fellow in the British Interplanetary Society and acted as a consultant for the Stanford Research Institute (Socially Responsible Investment) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Jet Propulsion Laboratory).
Beginning in the 1970s, Thomas organized the Theodore von Karman Stamp committee, succeeding in 1992 in getting a United States. stamp issued in his honor.
She also founded and chaired the Aerospace Historical Society, an organization that for 22 years has presented the international Von Karman Wings award to outstanding and innovative contributors to the world of aerospace. Thomas, an associate fellow and advocate for the national Society for Technical Communication (as well as the local Los Angeles chapter, LASTC) taught Technical and Fundamental Writing in the Master of Professional Writing Program, University of Southern California for over three decades.