Carroll Overton Alley, Jr. (June 13, 1927 – February 24, 2016) was an American physicist. He served as the Principal Investigator on the Apollo Program's Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment, which significantly restricted the possible range of spatial variation of the strength of the gravitational interaction. Alley was a PhD student of Robert Henry Dicke.
Career details
Professor C. O. Alley served as the first chairman of the Lunar Ranging Experiment team. He was the Principal Investigator (PI) for the Apollo 11 laser ranging retro-reflector (LR<sup>3</sup>) experiment, deployed on the moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969. In addition to the gravitational interaction results mentioned above, the experiment measured the orbit of the moon to centimeter accuracy—and still produces data to this day. For this work he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award in 1973; was designated by the Maryland Academy of Sciences, for their 1976 Bicentennial Exhibit, as one of two outstanding 20th Century Scientists; and received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Richmond in 1978.
Some additional accomplishments of Professor Alley, his graduate students, the Quantum Electronics Research and Lunar Ranging Experiment Teams, support staff, and numerous collaborators include: found by Professor Huseyin Yilmaz. They postulated that the correct understanding of the lunar laser ranging measurements, the behavior of clocks in a global positioning system, and many strong gravity field astrophysical phenomena—such as gravitational radiation—require the interactive N-body solutions of the Yilmaz Theory (or "New Theory"), which are not present in Einstein’s General Relativity field equations. Alley maintained the validity of the Yilmaz Theory<nowiki/>and remained active in the study of gravitation until his death.
Biography
Carroll O. Alley, Jr. was born in Richmond, VA to Carroll Overton Alley, Sr. and Mittie Points Alley on June 13, 1927. Alley attended John Marshall High School, where he was a swimmer, choir member, and Cadet Corps First Captain and Regimental Commander of A Company. He earned a B.S. in mathematics and physics from the University of Richmond in 1948, and returned there in 1951-’52 as a physics instructor.
Alley attended Princeton University, earning a master's degree (1952) and PhD (1962) in Physics. From 1954 to 1960, he was an instructor and lecturer in both Electrical Engineering and Physics