Her Story
About C. Nicole
I've been working for almost 14 years on my grandfather William Guy Redmond's history. He was an inventor at Lockheed Martin who worked full time until he was 91 years old. Before his death, he gave me his file, and in that file I found papers from EG&G, his resume, and discovered the fly-by-wire and tandem multiplex patent. I also found the joystick for the Apollo. My grandfather asked me to speak to Ray French, who is Melinda Gates' father, and David Wright. I was able to break through that firewall and they spoke on his deathbed. I'm kind of the white sheep of the family in this case - I was the everyday girl who went out all the time and had fun, but he picked me over his fighter jet flying son. They gave me the 25-year Lockheed Martin ring, which is very hard to get. It's cut in diamond patterns with letters and surrounded in diamonds, white gold, about 13 carats. I have the 3679156 patent for fly-by-wire, and the tandem communications patent. Those two patents are what my heart is into - I care about him getting credit for putting the fly-by-wire into the Apollo missions, because it's the only thing that flew in the Apollo missions at all. I have 1,336 people on LinkedIn now, including 200 astronauts and thousands of Lockheed Martin and NASA employees. I've gone to the Smithsonian like 13 times with information, and every time they send me a page back saying he is being considered, but nothing happens. My grandfather also did the radiator system for the space shuttle with John Oren. He told me a story about jumping up and down on the space shuttle because the nose kept coming up and the pilots couldn't see the ground. He was part of the Skunk Works crew and did everything but the Blackbird at Area 51. EG&G wrote a letter asking him to be the executive scientist, and he refused. I moved from California back to Dallas because my grandmother was lonely and wasn't feeling super hot. Now she's my priority, like number one priority. I do my stuff for my grandfather on the side.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with C. Nicole
01What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The most challenging thing is that every time I go to Smithsonian with information, every time I have literally gone to Smithsonian, like 13 times, they send me a page back saying he is being considered, and then nothing. Nothing happens. I put up stuff like his original fly-by-wire patent, his multiplex patent on LinkedIn, and I can see all the senior people looking at it, but not saying anything. Because he was so classified, I mean, you're talking about the computer, the actual computer. My LinkedIn is so silent. I don't know what they do to think, I don't know if it is some kind of glitch, or if they are actually being that quiet. The most important part of this is that the world knew about those two patents. I want those two inventions mentioned on the wall of the Lockheed Martin invention list, because everything else is mentioned, but those two patterns are not mentioned - the fly-by-wire and the multiplex unit that are together inside the Apollo mission.
02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
This whole deal is because my grandfather wanted me to help him. He's the one who had me call Ray French and David Wright. That's what matters to me - I want him known for all the work that he did. That's what I want, and that's what I want to highlight. It's really that's the most important part of this, is that the world knew about those two patents. Now my grandmother is my priority, like number one priority. I do my stuff for my grandfather on the side. I love my grandmother so much, I can't tell you how much. I can't even imagine her dying or anything. I would love to be able to place the stone in the Hall of Invention at the Smithsonian, like her be able to be a part of that.
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