1922 - 2007

Mr. Carpenter accumulated over 50 years of electrical and electronic systems engineering experience. The last thirty-four of these years were devoted to the study of lightning protection requirements, and the development of protection products that satisfy the needs of contemporary lightning related problems. Mr. Carpenter was acclaimed as the world’s foremost lightning protection expert. His services were solicited by both private and public organizations on a global basis.

Mr. Carpenter started his career with the U.S. Army Air Corps, both as a member of the military and later as civilian staff. Key positions included Project Engineering for major communications and radar systems, plus technical adviser to NATO. Later he accepted an appointment with the Apollo Project as Chief of Reliability and Qualification Testing. Subsequently he developed extended stay modules for space travel and lunar exploration, completing his career as Chief Engineer for the first Space Shuttle design team.

Mr. Carpenter left the space program in 1971 to provide the industry with a source of lightning protection technology from a systems-engineered perspective. His experiences during the space program proved that the engineering profession was inhibited by a lack of understanding of the lightning termination phenomena, and its influences on electrical and electronic systems. Mr. Carpenter devoted the last 36 years of his life to filling that gap. As a result of that commitment, he developed nearly 100 specialized products and acquired 13 patents. He never encountered a lightning related problem that could not be eliminated, including all forms of primary and secondary effects of lightning.

Grounding system design was also included in his expertise. As a result, Mr. Carpenter successfully reduced these design problems to a rational process with predictable results. Products have been developed that permit the achievement of any reasonable grounding resistance, anywhere in the world, including those without rain.

Mr. Carpenter performed his university studies at Northeastern, Syracuse, and West Coast Universities. He was Senior Life Member of IEEE and a member of the USA NFPA-780 Committee on Lightning Protection Systems. He presented many technical papers and supplied countless articles for technical journals in the US and other countries. He held many patents and awards, and was a guest lecturer around the world. Mr. Carpenter passed away on April 20, 2007.