David Medved

Who was David Medved?

David Bernard Medved was a physicist, entrepreneur, and trained astronaut. He was born to elderly Jewish Ukrainian-American immigrants who never went to school and never spoke English. His interest in science was initiated upon receiving a chemistry set as a Bar Mitzvah present. He later worked by helping his older brother, an electrician, and by working as a chemist as at Publicker Industries distillery where his father had worked as a barrel maker.

He attended high school at Central High School of Philadelphia. Upon graduation, he applied for the Mayor’s Scholarship and placed first out of all the scholarship contestants in the city. He joined the U.S. Navy just before the end of World War II. He attended high school and the University of Pennsylvania from 1947 to 1955 along with political activist Noam Chomsky.

After obtaining a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, he worked for Convair/General Dynamics in San Diego, where he developed systems to destroy intercontinental missiles during flight.