You probably think there’s a simple answer to who invented global positioning system. Maybe a single genius in a lab coat or a lone military officer with a map? Honestly, it doesn't work that way. GPS is one of those rare human achievements, like the internet or the interstate highway system, where you can’t just point at one person and say, "They did it." It’s a massive, multi-decade puzzle.
Look at your phone right now. That little blue dot pulsing on Google Maps? It’s the result of trillions of dollars, a Cold War arms race, and a handful of brilliant people who weren't even necessarily trying to help you find the nearest Starbucks. They were trying to track satellites and guide nuclear missiles.
👉 See also: Why Every Picture of Robot You See Online Is Changing How We Think About AI
The Physics Foundation: Gladys West
If we’re talking about the absolute bedrock of GPS, we have to talk about Gladys West. For a long time, her name wasn't in the history books. That’s a mistake. She was a mathematician at the Naval Proving Ground in Virginia, and she did the heavy lifting that most people would find mind-numbingly difficult.
Basically, you can’t have GPS if you don’t know the exact shape of the Earth. But the Earth isn't a perfect sphere. It's a "geoid"—it's lumpy, slightly squashed at the poles, and bulging at the equator. West spent years programming large-scale computers to model this shape with extreme precision. Without her work on the Earth's geodesy, the math for satellite positioning would be off by miles. You'd be looking for a turn in San Francisco and your phone would think you were in the Pacific Ocean.
The "Big Three" of the Pentagon
In the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Defense realized they had a huge problem. Every branch of the military had its own navigation system. The Navy had one, the Air Force had another, and they didn't talk to each other. It was expensive and inefficient.
Bradford Parkinson is often called the "Father of GPS." He was an Air Force Colonel who headed "Program 621B," which eventually became NAVSTAR GPS. He was the manager, the visionary, and the guy who had to fight the bureaucrats to keep the funding alive. He didn't just design a system; he navigated the political minefield of the Pentagon.
Then there’s Ivan Getting. He was the founding president of The Aerospace Corporation. He pushed for the idea of using a constellation of satellites that constantly broadcasted time signals. If you have four satellites and you know exactly where they are and exactly what time it is, you can triangulate a position anywhere on the planet.
But how do you know the time that precisely? That's where Roger Easton comes in.
Easton was a scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory. He developed "Timation" (Time Navigation). His big breakthrough was putting highly accurate atomic clocks onto satellites. This is the secret sauce. GPS is, at its core, just a bunch of very expensive clocks in space. By measuring the tiny delay between when a signal leaves a satellite and when it hits your phone, the system calculates distance. We’re talking about measurements in nanoseconds. If those clocks are off by even a tiny fraction, the whole thing falls apart.
The Sputnik Moment
It’s kind of funny, but GPS actually started as a way to track the Russians. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, two American physicists at Johns Hopkins—William Guier and George Weiffenbach—realized they could track the satellite's orbit by looking at the Doppler shift of its radio signal.
💡 You might also like: Samsung Galaxy Note 5: Why It Was the Last Great Note
Think about a siren passing you on the street. The pitch goes up as it comes toward you and down as it moves away. They realized they could do the same with radio waves from space. Their boss, Frank McClure, then had a "lightbulb" moment: if you can use a known position on the ground to track a satellite's location, you can use a known satellite location to track something on the ground.
That was the "Aha!" moment.
Relativity: The Hidden Ingredient
Here is something most people get wrong. Even with all those geniuses, GPS wouldn't work without Albert Einstein.
Because the satellites are moving fast (Special Relativity) and because they are further away from the Earth’s gravity (General Relativity), their clocks actually tick at a different speed than clocks on the ground. They run about 38 microseconds faster per day.
✨ Don't miss: Park Tower Meta 43: Why This Virtual Skyscraper Is Changing Digital Real Estate
That sounds like nothing. But if the engineers didn't account for Einstein's theories, GPS coordinates would drift by about 10 kilometers every single day. Within a week, the system would be useless. The fact that your Uber arrives at your specific street corner is living proof that Einstein was right.
Why It Wasn't Always Free
For a long time, the military kept the "good" GPS for themselves. It was called Selective Availability. They intentionally blurred the signal for civilians, meaning your GPS would only be accurate within about 100 meters.
That changed in May 2000. President Bill Clinton ordered the military to turn off the blurring. Suddenly, civilian GPS went from "you're in this neighborhood" to "you're at this front door." This sparked the explosion of the tech industry we see today. No Selective Availability meant we could have turn-by-turn navigation, geocaching, and eventually, apps like Uber and DoorDash.
Actionable Insights for Today
Understanding the history of who invented global positioning system isn't just trivia. It’s about understanding the infrastructure of our lives.
- Check your Privacy: Since GPS is a broadcast system, your phone is "listening" to satellites, not necessarily "talking" to them to get a location. However, your apps do talk to servers. Periodically audit which apps have "Always On" location access in your settings.
- Dual-Band GPS: If you’re buying a new smartphone or smartwatch, look for "Dual-Band" or "L1+L5" GPS. It uses two different signals from the satellites to filter out errors caused by signals bouncing off tall buildings. It’s much more accurate in cities.
- Offline Maps: GPS doesn't require cellular data. It’s a satellite signal. If you’re traveling to a remote area, download your maps for offline use ahead of time. Your phone will still be able to find you on that map even if you have zero bars of service.
- Alternative Systems: Be aware that GPS isn't the only game in town anymore. While the U.S. runs GPS, Europe has Galileo, Russia has GLONASS, and China has BeiDou. Most modern chips use all of them at once to give you a faster "lock."
The history of GPS is a story of mathematicians, physicists, and military officers who spent decades arguing and calculating. It wasn't one "Eureka" moment. It was a slow, expensive grind that changed how we move across the planet.
---