J. Edward Anderson

John Edward Anderson (born May 15, 1927) is an American engineer and proponent of personal rapid transit. Anderson was born in China in the 1920s. His family returned to the United States in the 1930s. He obtained a BS from Iowa State University and a master's from the University of Minnesota - both in the field of mechanical engineering. He also earned a Ph.D. in Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1971, he became a full professor at University of Minnesota and has been a professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Boston University. Anderson is also a member of the Advanced Transit Association board of Directors since its founding in 1976. Anderson was elected in 2001 as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He first worked on methods of structural analysis of supersonic-aircraft wings at the Structures Research Division of NACA (now NASA), and later designed aircraft instruments, including the first transistorized amplifier used in a military aircraft for the Aeronautical Division of Honeywell. In 1963 he joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Minnesota, and directed its Industrial Engineering Division. He chaired a symposium on the role of science and technology in society, coordinated a 15-professor task force on New Concepts in Urban Transportation, and chaired three international conferences on personal rapid transit (PRT), following which he was elected first president of ATRA. Anderson consulted on PRT planning for many organizations, and for several years he was Distinguished Lecturer for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. At one point, he discussed PRT with President Richard Nixon's staff. Anderson reportedly said of Nixon, "[Nixon] didn’t know anything about it, but we spent quite a bit of time talking to his staff." Anderson was chosen as lead consultant to plan an automated transit system for Indianapolis, and selected the German-built Cabinentaxi—a three-person vehicle that travels below its elevated rail in one direction and on top of it in the other.