Theodore von Kármán
- Born: May 11, 1881 (Budapest, Austria-Hungary)
- Died: May 7, 1963 (Aachen, Germany)
Education
- 1902: ME, Royal Technical University, Budapest
- 1908: PhD, University of Göttingen
Major Positions
- 1903–1906: Ganz and Company, Research Engineer
- 1903–1906: Royal Technical University, Budapest, Assistant Professor
- 1909–1912: University of Göttingen, Privatdozent
- 1912–1929: Aachen Aeronautical Institute, Director
- 1928–1930: California Institute of Technology, Research Associate
- 1930–1949: California Institute of Technology, Director, Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratories
- 1930–1935: Guggenheim Airship Institute, Director
- 1938–1945: California Institute of Technology, Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Other Positions
- 1914–1918: Austro-Hungarian Air Corps, Officer
- 1949–1963: California Institute of Technology, Professor Emeritus
- 1955–1963: General Applied Science Laboratories, Inc., Scientific Director
- 1959–1959: Cornell University, Victor Emanuel Visiting Professor for Engineering
Selected Part-Time Positions
- 1912–1928: Consultant, Junkers Airplane Works
- 1924–1928: Consultant, Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
- 1926–1927: Adviser and Consultant on Design, Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratories, California Institute of Technology
- 1926–1930: Consultant, Handley-Page, Ltd.
- 1927–1929: Consultant, Kawanishi Airplane Company
- 1933–1937: Consultant, Special Committee to Investigate the Akron and Macon Dirigible Disasters, United States Navy
- 1934–1938: Consultant, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
- 1938–1952: Consultant, Ballistics Reserch Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, United States Army
- 1939–1941: Consultant, Smith-Purnam Wind Turbine for Development of Electricity
- 1939–1941: Consultant, Wright Field, Army Air Corps, United States Army
- 1939–1942: Consultant, Grand Coulee Dam Project
- 1939–1947: Consultant, Army Air Corps, United States Army
- 1940–1960: Consultant, General Electric Company
- 1941–1943: Consultant, High Speed Wind Tunnel, Boeing Aircraft Company
- 1941–1949: Consultant, Northrop Aircraft Company
- 1942–1942: Consultant, Board to Investigate the Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, State of Washington
- 1944–1954: Chair, Scientific Advisory Board, United States Air Force
- 1947–1963: Consultant, United States Air Force
- 1952–1963: Chair, Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development (AGARD), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
- 1954–1963: Chair Emeritus, Scientific Advisory Board, United States Air Force
- 1955–1963: Consultant, Convair Division, General Dynamics Corporation
- 1957–1958: Director, NAS-Air Research and Development Command Summer Study Groups, National Academy of Sciences and United States Air Force
- 1958–1963: Consultant and Chair, Technical Advisory Committee, Allison Division, General Motors Company
- 1960–1963: Consultant and Member, Board of Directors, Tool Research and Engineering Corporation
- 1961–1961: Member, Board of Trustees, Washington Planetarium and Space Center
Selected Awards and Honors
Archival Resources
California Institute of Technology, Institute Archives, Pasadena, California
Online Finding Aid
United States Air Force Academy Library, Special Collections Branch, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Oral History Interviews
- 1960: United States Air Force, Historical Research Center
- 1962: Available Online
Published Resources
Hugh L. Dryden, "Theodore von Kármán: 1906-1968", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
Theodore von Kármán with Lee Edson, The Wind and Beyond: Theodore von Kármán, Pioneer in Aviation and Pathfinding in Space (Boston: Little, Brown, 1967)
Michael H. Gorn, The Universal Man: Theodore von Kármán's Life in Aeronautics (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992)
István Hargittai, The Martians of Science: Five Physicists Who Changed the Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006)
Egon Krause and Ulrich Kalkmann, "Von Kármán between Aachen and Pasadena," Progress in Aerospace Sciences XX (2013): XXX-XXX.
