Sol Lutwak was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 27, 1928. He attended Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn where he was editor-in-chief of the Polytechnic Reporter and a member of the wrestling and tennis teams. In 1950, he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in aeronautical engineering. After graduation, Sol moved to California where he would go on to receive a Master's in Applied Mechanics from University of California, Los Angeles. He first worked at McCulloch Motors Corporation and then Hughes Aircraft Company, where he was an engineer for heavy-lift helicopters. He was one of the earliest employees at Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation in its division Space Technology Laboratory (STL) which later became TRW, Inc. Here he worked on satellite development through the American space shuttle and Apollo programs. While at TRW, Inc. he co-invented a structural computer program. Sol retired in 1992, and passed away on January 7, 2020.