Garry Lindberg Full Interview

Aeronautical engineer Dr. Gary Lindberg demonstrated strong skills in math and science during his childhood in rural Alberta and entered first-year engineering at the University of Alberta at age 15. He then received an Athlone Fellowship to earn his PhD at the University of Cambridge, researching the application of digital computers – then a fledgling technology – to dynamic analysis using the finite element method. He returned to Canada and joined the National Research Council in Ottawa, initially for an 18-month contract in the NRC Structures and Materials laboratory. One of his first projects involved the design and construction of a facility to generate diffuse noise with extremely high intensity of 120 to 130 decibels. In 1974, he became Project Manager for the development of the "Shuttle attached remote manipulator system", now widely known as the Canadarm. Development challenges included: designing the man-machine control aspects; the snare end-effector concept for the gripping mechanism; and lubrication for gears. He was promoted to be Director of the National Aeronautical Establishment and then founding Vice-President of the Canadian Space Agency.