Vernon H. Gray (b. Aug. 31, 1917 in Nevada, Missouri - d. May 12, 1975 in Bay Village, Ohio), BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Maryland, was an early aeronautical/astronautical engineer whose thirty year career at Lewis Research NACA/NASA in Cleveland, Ohio, spanned and contributed to many significant changes in aircraft development and in the formation of the national space effort.
In propeller-driven aircraft Vernon was active in solving the icing problems of the propeller and control surfaces. For jet propelled aircraft he helped devise methods for dealing with icing on engine inlets. He did research on jet noise abatement; liquid gases; fluid flow and the effects of cavitation; ablative systems (U.S. Patent No. 3,656,317); and two-phase heat transfer, helping to devise a rotating boiler for application to Rankine cycle energy systems for space vehicles.
Always a space visionary, Vernon's 1969 invention of the rotating two-phase heat pipe led him to envision an entire space vehicle, called a rotating vivarium, integrated with this two-phase re-circulation cycle to provide artificial gravity and earthlike environment for long duration space flights ("The Rotating Heat Pipe-A Wickless, Hollow Shaft for Transferring High Heat Fluxes" ASME 69-HT-19:1-5, Aug. 1969; U.S. Patent No. 3,749,332 "Space Vehicle with Artificial Gravity and Earth-Like Environment").
Vernon was a compassionate space environmentalist advocating a "back to nature" ecology for space colonies in contrast to highly complex, machinery-filled space base designs (see: Aerospace Medicine. Vol. 42, No. 8, August, 1971, "Rotating Vivarium Concept for Earth-like Habitation in Space").
He published many technical reports and enjoyed his hobbies of white water canoeing and volleyball. Being the sixth among eight siblings led to large family reunions at The Wayside Farm, Nevada, MO. His 1943 marriage to Dorothy Champlin produced three daughters Jane (Clark), Ann (Gray), and Beth (Dusek)