TRW Inc.

This article is about the former company. For the automotive company with a similar name, see TRW Automotive.

TRW Inc.
IndustryAutomotive and aerospace
Founded1901
Defunct2002
FateAcquired
SuccessorTRW Automotive, Northrop Grumman and Goodrich Corporation
HeadquartersEuclid, Ohio / Lyndhurst, Ohio, United States
Key people
Simon Ramo, Dean Wooldridge
ProductsAutomotive, aerospace and credit reporting
Number of employees
122,258 (2000)[1]
SubsidiariesCAV, Girling, LucasVarity Automotive and Lucas Aerospace

TRW Inc. was an American corporation involved in a variety of businesses, mainly aerospace, electronics, automotive, and credit reporting.[2] It was a pioneer in multiple fields including electronic components, integrated circuits, computers, software and systems engineering. TRW built many spacecraft, including Pioneer 1, Pioneer 10, and several space-based observatories. It was #57 on the 1986 Fortune 500 list,[3] and had 122,258 employees.[1] The company was called Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc., after the 1958 merger of the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation and Thompson Products. This was later shortened to TRW.

The company was founded in 1901 and lasted for just over a century until being acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2002. It spawned a variety of corporations, including Pacific Semiconductors, The Aerospace Corporation, Bunker-Ramo and Experian. Its automotive businesses were sold off by Northrop Grumman as TRW Automotive, which is now part of ZF Friedrichshafen. TRW veterans were instrumental in the founding of corporations like SpaceX.[4][5]

In 1953, the company was recruited to lead the development of the United States' first ICBM.[6][7] Starting with the initial design by Convair, the multi-corporate team launched Atlas in 1957.[8] It flew its full range in 1958 and was then adapted to fly the Mercury astronauts into orbit.[8] TRW also led development of the Titan missile,[6] which was later adapted to fly the Gemini missions. The company served the U.S. Air Force as systems engineers on all subsequent ICBM development efforts[9] but TRW never produced any missile hardware because of the conflict of interest.[10] In 1960, Congress spurred the formation of the non-profit Aerospace Corporation to provide systems engineering support to the U.S. government[6] but TRW continued to guide the ICBM efforts.

  1. ^ a b "CNN Money, Fortune 500, TRW, 2000 rank: 103". Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  2. ^ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/TRW-Inc-Company-History.html TRW Inc.
  3. ^ "CNN Money, Fortune 500, TRW, 1986 rank: 57". Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  4. ^ "CNN Money; Fortune 500; 161. TRW Automotive Holdings". 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  5. ^ Vance, Ashlee (14 May 2015). "Elon Musk's Space Dream Almost Killed Tesla". Bloomberg.
  6. ^ a b c "Necessity as the Mother of Convention: Developing the ICBM, 1954-1958" (PDF). Business and Economic History. 22 (1): 194–209. Fall 1993. ISSN 1941-7349. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 May 2013.
  7. ^ "This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury; Chapter 1 - The Lure, the lock, the Key (to 1958); Redstone and Atlas". 1989. Retrieved 17 February 2012. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  8. ^ a b "Encyclopedia Astronautica; Atlas". Archived from the original on 14 January 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  9. ^ "TRW Inc., Company History". 1989. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  10. ^ Vartabedian, Ralph (7 July 1985). "Aerospace Corp.: Profile Low, Power Great: Company is Architect of Pentagon Spacecraft and Launch Rockets". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 February 2012.