20th Century · Manufacturing Engineering / CNC Pioneer
John T. Parsons (1913–2007) was an American inventor and manufacturing engineer who pioneered numerical control (NC) for machine tools, a foundational technology for Computer Numerical Control (CNC). His work at Parsons Corporation in the 1940s and 50s, including a pivotal contract with the U.S. Air Force to produce complex helicopter rotor blades, directly led to the development of the first numerically controlled milling machine. He is widely regarded as the 'father of the second industrial revolution' for automating precision machining.