Dr. Ramo, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, is a co-founder, the "R," of TRW Inc., one of the world's largest technological corporations and was the Chief Scientist in the development of the nation's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile System. He was awarded the National Medal of Science, the top national science recognition, was inducted into the Business Hall of Fame, and was the first recipient of the National Academy of Engineering's award for statesmanship in national science and technology policy.

Simon Ramo was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and earned his Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology, Magna Cum Laude, at age 23. Joining the General Electric Research Laboratories, he accumulated 25 patents before the age of 30 and was cited as one of America's most outstanding young electrical engineers. A pioneer in microwave electricity, he was the first in the U.S. to produce microwave pulses at the kilowatt level. He also developed GE's electron microscope. Publishing the first book on microwave electricity, he also authored a book on electromagnetic fields and waves used as a leading text in over 100 universities world-wide for over 50 years.

After World War II, Ramo joined Hughes Aircraft Company to launch an electronics and missile activity. In a few years Hughes (now known as Hughes Electronics) became one of the most successful hi-tech companies. As Vice President for Operations, Ramo recruited, formed, and led the Hughes teams, which never lost a contract competition during that era. In 1953, Simon Ramo and Dean Wooldridge founded the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation, which later merged with Thompson Products to become TRW. Anticipating the space era before the USSR's Sputnik, Ramo created a new corporation named Space Technology Laboratories, wholly owned by TRW, and a "Space Park" to house innovative facilities for R&D and manufacturing of spacecraft, the first such facility in U.S. industry. Space Technology Laboratories won the first spacecraft contract issued by NASA, the "Pioneer" series. (Pioneer 10 was the first body to leave the solar system. It continues to send signals to Earth.)

In the last phase of Ramo's participation in the leadership of TRW, he was Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board's Executive Committee, and Chairman of the Planning and Policy Committee. He has served on numerous corporate, government advisory, and university boards.