Harold G. White

Harold White
NASA file photo of Harold "Sonny" White taken by Robert Markowitz.
Born	Harold Sonny White
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of South Alabama (B.S.) Wichita State University (M.S.) Rice University (PhD)
Thesis	Analysis of Low Frequency Whistler Wave Occurrences in the Nightside Venus Ionsphere (2008)

Harold G. "Sonny" White is a mechanical engineer, aerospace engineer and applied physicist who is the Advanced Propulsion Team Lead for the NASA Engineering Directorate and is known for proposing new Alcubierre drive concepts and promoting advanced propulsion projects, under development at the NASA Johnson Space Center, including the first practical experiment to test the existence of Alcubierre drive effects.

White obtained a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of South Alabama, an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Wichita State University in 1999, and a Ph.D. degree in Physics from Rice University in 2008.

White attracted the attention of the press when he began presenting his ideas at space conventions and publishing proposals for Alcubierre drive concepts. In 2011, he released a paper titled Warp Field Mechanics 101 that outlined an updated concept of Miguel Alcubierre's faster-than-light propulsion concept, including methods to prove the feasibility of the project. Alcubierre's concept had been considered infeasible because it required far more power than any viable energy source could produce. White re-calculated the Alcubierre concept and proposed that if the warp bubble around a spacecraft were shaped like a torus, it would be much more energy efficient and make the concept feasible. White has stated that "warp travel" has not yet seen a "Chicago Pile-1" experiment, a reference to the very first nuclear reactor, the breakthrough demonstration that paved the way for nuclear power.