It was the weapon of the century, a rocket that could deliver a nuclear warhead 6,000 miles away in 30 minutes and destroy a city, undeterred by any defensive system.
It fundamentally altered war planning and the worldview of two generations, who learned to live with Cold War brinkmanship and the petrifying symmetry of "mutually assured destruction."
The enormous task of overseeing the development of the intercontinental ballistic missile, a feat President Eisenhower considered more complex than building the atomic bomb, had fallen to two young scientists working out of a former barbershop in Westchester.
They quickly outgrew those digs, moved to secret quarters in a former Catholic church and boys' school and eventually to a site in Redondo Beach called Space Park. On Tuesday celebrants will gather to honor one of the two scientists, Simon Ramo, and mark the 50th anniversary of the business he co-founded.
The company, Space Technology Laboratories, eventually became TRW -- the "R" representing Ramo and the "W" his late colleague Dean Wooldridge. Tuesday's ceremony is meant to celebrate the legacy of the firm and its founders, from the early development of the ICBM through its growth to 100,000 employees and its current work as part of giant defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp.
Ramo -- "Si" to his friends and colleagues -- is considered the father of the ICBM and many other military programs. Five decades later, some remain so sensitive that Pentagon officials say they can't talk about them.
Wooldridge, who died last fall, retired in 1961 and left the aerospace industry. But Ramo continued leading major space and weapons developments and remains, at 93, an active consultant and advisor to the government and industry.
"There are a lot of names you can remember from the last 50 years or so in history, but few individuals have had more impact on American security and technology prowess than Ramo," said Loren Thompson, a defense policy analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va. "He's really one of the giants."
Ramo was instrumental in designing Space Technology Laboratories' 100-acre complex in Redondo Beach, which through the years has kept the name Space Park even as ownership changed. A street within the complex will be renamed for Ramo on Tuesday.
