Science/Economics paper by Gyékényesi, John P.
NASA/Cleveland State U.

The Story of Theodore von Kármán - Pioneer in Aviation and Pathfinder in Space

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Szőlőskislaki Kármán Tódor (1881-1963) was a Hungarian American aerospace engineer and physicist, who was active in aeronautics, astronautics and mechanics of fluids and solids.
He is responsible for many key advances in aerodynamics with focus on supersonics and hypersonic air flow. He studied mechanical engineering at the Royal Joseph Technical University (today Műegyetem). After graduation in 1902, he joined Ludwig Prandtl at the University of Göttingen, receiving his doctorate there in 1908. He taught first at Göttingen, and later at Aachen. He interrupted his teaching with service in the Austro-Hungarian army (1915-1918).
Apprehensive about developments in Europe, in 1930 he accepted the directorship of GALCIT in Pasadena, CA and emigrated to the US. In 1936 he helped found the Aerojet Company to manufacture rocket motors. Today, Aerojet is the largest rocket company in the world. In 1944 he and others from GALCIT founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which today is a NASA laboratory whose main mission is robotic exploration of our solar system. Kármán officially left GALCIT in 1945, and became a consultant to the US military, with the rank of general. At age 81 von Kármán was the recipient of the first National Medal of Science, bestowed in a White House ceremony by President John F. Kennedy. He has authored six books, hundreds of scientific papers and received more than 30 honorary doctor degrees.




Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr. John P. Gyekenyesi is presently the Structures and Materials Division Engineer at the NASA Glenn Research Center and Adjunct Professor of Mechanics at Cleveland State University. He holds a bachelor and a master degree in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a Ph.D. in Mechanics from Michigan State University. He authored and coauthored more than 80 scientific publications. He lectured widely in the USA, Europe and the Far East, mainly on durability and structural integrity of aircraft and spacecraft using advanced materials. For 20 years, he was manager of one of NASA’s largest mechanics research departments, focused on propulsion and power systems.