August Raspet Memorial Award

Dr. August "Gus" Raspet (24 August 1913 – 27 April 1960) was an American aerodynamicist and researcher. He was one of the most influential contributors to the science of aeronautics, dealing primarily with efficiency in flight, aerodynamics and wing design structures. His contributions to the field of flight science are many, having published over forty scholarly articles on subjects ranging from human muscle-powered flight to sailplane performance analysis as it relates to airplanes. An avid bird watcher, Raspet developed his dedication to the idea of flight from a young age and would use ideas generated from observing avian flight in his experiments and research throughout his career.

August "Gus" Raspet was born in Irwin, Pennsylvania on 24 August 1913. He received a BS degee in Physics in 1935 and began working in the Civil Service as junior physicist. In 1938 he began graduate studies at the University of Maryland while still working in the Civil Service. He received an MS degree in Physics in 1940 and PhD in 1942. His PhD dissertation covered instruments for measuring Earth's magnetic fields. In 1942 he began as a research physicist for the Gould Aeronautical Division of Pratt Read and Co. in Deep River, Connecticut. In 1943 he became a research physicist at Specialties, Inc. in Syosset, New York. While at Specialties, Inc. he became the Director of Research of the Soaring Society of America (The August 1960 edition of its monthly magazine is entirely dedicated to Raspet) for the glider phase of Project Thunderstorm. In 1947 Raspet became President and Director of Research at the Aerophysic Institute, Inc. for their study of airflow over an extended ridge, funded by the US Office of Naval Research. In 1949 Raspet became the Sailplane Projects Leader for the Engineering Station at Mississippi State College. From 1953 until his untimely death in 1960, he served as Head of the Aerophysics Department at Mississippi State College (now Mississippi State University). The Flight Research Laboratory at MSU is named for him.

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