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In Memoriam
Henry C. Brinton
 

Feb. 25, 2005--Henry C. Brinton, 70, of Bowie, Md., died Feb. 19.

A former director of the research division at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Mr. Brinton earned his bachelor’s degree in physics at the University of Delaware in 1957.

In high school, he won the Philadelphia Area Science Fair gold medal for a device measuring the movement of celestial bodies, and around the same time he built his first telescope. In a 1995 profile in the University of Delaware Messenger, he said, “The first time I took it out on the porch, I saw the four moons of Jupiter and then the rings of Saturn. It had a profound effect on my life.”

After graduate school at the University of Maryland, Mr. Brinton went to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and then joined NASA when the space race was just getting under way. In 1998, he received NASA’s Creative Management Award.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Loraine Brinton; sons, Henry G. and George Brinton; sister, Alice Sheehan; and six grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Fairfax Presbyterian Church, 10723 Main St., Fairfax, VA 22030, in support of the Medical Missions in Honduras.