Emilio Herrera Linares was born on February 13, 1879, in Granada, Spain. He died on September 13, 1967, in Geneva, Switzerland. He was a Spanish military engineer and physicist.

Biography

He was born in Granada in 1879 and showed an early interest in the military. His father also served in the military and attended science fairs and conventions, which influenced his own interest in military science. He graduated from the Academy of Military Engineering in Guadalajara in 1902. Later, he studied aeronautics, including a short time at the University of Santander. He is best known for his work in cosmology and for pioneering research in high-altitude flight, spaceflight, and computing. He also designed the first pressurized stratonautical space suit, which was intended for use in a planned stratospheric balloon flight in 1936. This suit is considered one of the early examples of the space suit.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), he remained loyal to the Second Spanish Republic. In 1937, he was promoted to general. He later served as a minister in the Spanish Republican government in exile and was Prime Minister of the Republic in exile from 1960 to 1962. He was the father of the poet José Herrera Petere.

Works

Herrera, Emilio. Flying: The Memoirs of a Spanish Aeronaut. Published in Albuquerque by the University of New Mexico Press in 1984. ISBN: 9780826307521.