Alexander Baumann (aeronautical engineer)

Alexander Baumann (15 May 1875 – 23 March 1928) was a German aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer. He is credited with being the first full professor of aeronautical engineering in aviation history as the Chair of Airship Aviation, Flight Technology, and Motor Vehicles at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stuttgart in 1911.

Alexander Baumann was born in Heilbronn, Germany. He studied mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule (TH) Stuttgart, graduating in 1899 as a "state construction supervisor" (Regierungsbauführer). His first job was an engineer for a machine company (Sächsische Machinenfabrik) in Chemnitz, followed by a stint with Dresdner Machinenfabrik und Schiffswerft in Neustadt in Sachsen.

In 1902 Baumann moved to Zwickau to teach engineering. He became an instructor at the Physical-Technical Reichs Establishment in Charlottenburg in 1908. In the five years following the powered flight by the Wright Brothers in 1903, Baumann received patents for several flying machine designs, flight control mechanisms, and slotted wings.

In 1910 Baumann began lecturing on aeronautics at TH Stuttgart, and his reputation brought him to the attention of Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Zeppelin headed a foundation that raised 59,000 gold marks to establish a chair in aeronautical engineering at TH Stuttgart, and Baumann became the first holder of this chair later that year.

From his position, Baumann acquired a Wright Flyer from the Wright Brothers in 1912, and was a founding member of the Scientific Aeronautical Society of Stuttgart, a forerunner of the DGLR (German Society for Air and Space Flight). With the German manufacturer Gmbh Freytag, Baumann developed, constructed and tested a biplane of his own design.

In 1913 he had published a two-volume textbook, Mechanische Grundlagen des Flugzeugbaues ("Mechanical Basis of Aeronautical Engineering"), that became a standard reference for the next decade.

...
Wikipedia