One morning some 50 odd years ago a young PhD student called Ross Brown woke up with a realisation that if he stayed on that track he would end up as a professor in a university. That day changed the engineers direction of life and led him to the leadership of a $200m turnover business, Cryogenic Group.
Before the interview with Ross went any further, the 71-year-old reminisced, setting the scene in order to fully appreciate his entrance into the industry, and the link between rocketry and industrial gases.
In the late 50s and early 60s the cold war was at its height. The activities of the United States were heavily directed to closing the ˜missile gap. There was a concerted effort to concentrate on ballistic missiles and space capabilities. The Southern Californian area became the centre of high priority activity and an enormous amount of technical talent amalgamated to execute this mission.
As the aerospace rocketry activity grew in Southern California, a number of smaller companies were established to respond to these requirements. One of these companies was a government-sponsored think-tank called Cosmodyne, now part of the Cryogenic Group.
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