Wolfgang Klemperer
| Wolfgang B. Klemperer | |
|---|---|
in Blaue Maus glider 1923 with Anthony Fokker
|
|
| Born |
January 18, 1893 Dresden, German Empire |
| Died | March 25, 1965 (aged 72) California, USA |
| Cause of death | Heart Attack |
| Nationality | Austrian, American |
| Occupation | aerospace engineer and designer. |
| Spouse(s) | Maria N. Englemann (m. 1932–65) |
| Children | Eleanor, Walter |
Dr. Wolfgang Benjamin Klemperer (January 18, 1893 – March 25, 1965) was born in Dresden, Germany, the son of the Austrian nationals Leon and Charlotte Klemperer. He was in his time a prominent aviation and aerospace scientist and engineer, who ranks among the pioneers of early aviation.
Klemperer invented and patented a visual flight simulator and the pressurized flight cabin. He is probably best known for his work on Properties of Rosette Configurations of Gravitating Bodies in Homographic Equilibrium, which have been named after him as Klemperer rosettes.
Klemperer was engaged in the development of airships or zeppelins, both in Germany and the US, high altitude ballons, specialized optics, a high-speed wide-angle cine-camera, analogue computers, equipment for data processing and flight simulators. He became the preeminent missile scientist of Douglas Aircraft Corporation and in 1958 the director of the guided missile research section, staff assistant to the vice-president, and director of product development.
Throughout his career he published regularly, often with his first and middle names abbreviated to W. B. Klemperer, in scientific magazines on aerodynamics, space flight and navigation as well as sailplanes.
In 1962 he published his work on the Klemperer rosette.
Klemperer grew up in the city of Dresden, where he also attended school. After graduating from grammar school, he enrolled at Dresden Institute of Technology. At the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914, being an Austrian National, he served his military service in the Austrian Air Force.
After the war in 1918 he continued his studies at Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden) and graduated there in 1920 as Dipl.-Ingenieur.
In 1920 he joined the Aachen Aerodynamics Institute as an assistant to Professor Theodore von Kármán, who later became the founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Alongside his academic career he also worked from 1922 to 1924 for Dr. Hugo Junkers at his glider plane manufacturing plant Aachener Segelflugzeugbau in Aachen, Germany.
From 1922 to 1924, he worked at Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, Friedrichshafen in Germany, as head of research. Here he was involved in the development of zeppelins and was able to assemble a body of research around wind-tunnel experiments on air loads and moments acting on airships in curved flight and when moored, which formed the basis of his doctorate thesis.
...
Wikipedia