Kármán, Theodore von

Theodore von Kármán.

(credit: Courtesy of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena)

(born , May 11, 1881, Budapest—died May 6, 1963, Aachen, W.Ger.) Hungarian-born U.S. engineer. After directing the Aeronautical Institute at Aachen, Germany (1912–30), he immigrated to the U.S., where he taught at the California Institute of Technology (1930–44) and later headed NATO's Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development (1951–63). His pioneering work in aeronautics and astronautics included important contributions to fluid mechanics, turbulence theory, supersonic flight, mathematics in engineering, and aircraft structures. His jet-assisted takeoff (JATO) rocket provided the prototype for engines used in present-day long-range missiles. He contributed to the first assisted takeoff of U.S. aircraft with solid- and liquid-propellant rockets, the flight of aircraft with rocket propulsion alone, and the development of spontaneously igniting liquid propellants (later used in the Apollo modules). In 1963 he was awarded the first National Medal of Science.

Kármán, Theodore (Todor) von (1881–1963) physicist, aeronautical engineer; born in Budapest, Hungary. While spending most of his early career at German educational institutions, he advised many governments and firms on issues of aerodynamics and applied mechanics. Having visited the U.S.A. on two occasions, he came again in 1930 to direct the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology; when the Nazis forced him to resign his post in Germany, he stayed in the U.S.A. and remained as the director until 1949. He was a founder of the Aerojet Engineering Corporation (1942), the RAND Corporation (1948), and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and gave direction to the early stages of the American rocket and space programs. He received the first National Medal of Science in 1963.