Alum Wins $50,000 Award For Predicting Future

Thirty years ago, would you have predicted that today's airplanes would feature "bypass" jet engines, fuel efficient turbines which propel them at speeds up to 700 mph? Radcliffe graduate Helen Thomas '28 did just that, copping a $50,000 prize in TWA's "Cosmic Contest."

In 1955, Thomas was bouncing around in a standard TWA propeller-driven plane when she entered the contest, which offered cash to whomever could most accurately predict the nature of air travel in 1985.

In 200 words, Thomas predicted not only the bypass engine--which was then just a drawing-board concept--but also helicopter shuttle service between downtowns and airports as well.

Thomas, who now lives in Cambridge, won the prize from a pool of over 13,000 entrants. She said she had forgotten about the contest until TWA officials telephoned her earlier last month.

Thomas got her first degree from Radcliffe in International Law in 1928. That wasn't enough for her, though; she came back in 1948 to become the first woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in the History of Science.

Between earning these degrees, Thomas' interest in airplanes grew. She married a MIT graduate student in aeronautics who worked at United Aircraft. The newlyweds satisfied their passion for flight by sporting goggles and zooming around in open cockpit airplanes.

"This is a relief and a sublime moment for me," she said last week during a victory ceremony at New York's Wings Club. Asked what she would do with the money, she said, "Pay taxes and probably take a TWA trip."

"Commercial aircraft of all types will have ranges of about 5,000 miles and will cruise at about 700 mph," Thomas wrote. "Airports and factories will be located in places which are now uninhabited waste space, and the long, tedious ride to board the plane will be eliminated by helicopter shuttle service between the airport and the business and residential districts of any town."

Other entrants were less realistic, predicting such things as rocket-propelled "space-hotels" and helicopter house-trailers. TWA President Richard Pearson said one entrant predicted that only monkeys would inhabit the world in 1985 and that air travel would be useless.

Thomas said it was the second contest she had ever won and came only one week after her first triumph, a $40 winning ticket in the Massachusetts state lottery. Asked if she cared to speculate on air travel in the year 2015, she said, "No, please let me retire gracefully." Thomas has not been available for comment since the announcement.