Subject Resources: JPL History: Biograhies

The Universal Man recounts the full range of Theodore von Karman's scientific and social accomplishments. Regarded as one of the fathers of supersonic flight, von Karman pioneered the use of applied mathematics in aeronautics and astronautics and, in the process, discovered some of the fundanmental laws of both disciplines. Von Karman used his theoretical knowledge to design aircraft, dirigibles, rockets, and missiles. He also demonstrated the first solid-propellant rocket engine. As significant as these accomplishments are (President John Kennedy presented him with the first National Medal of Science in 1963), they form but a portion of this great man's legacy. Born in Hungary, von Karman (1881-1963) emigrated to the United States in 1930 and lived the remainder of his life in Pasadena, California. He was a gifted teacher, passing on to three generations of students his own, novel approach to problem solving. Possessing a unique capacity to harmonize unlike temperaments and focus them on common objectives, he promoted an unprecedented degree of international scientific cooperation. Von Karman was the moving force behind many now-famous institutions, including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, among others.

1. Prodigy -- 2. The Minta -- 3. The Royal Joseph -- 4. High Priests of Georgia Augusta -- 5. Paris Interlude -- 6. Privat Dozent -- 7. Beginning of Aviation Science -- 8. New Concepts in Physics -- 9. Early Days at Aachen -- 10. World War I -- 11. Revolution in Hungary -- 12. Gliders -- 13. Teaching at Aachen -- 14. Junkers and von Zeppelin -- 15. First Visit to U.S. -- 16. Japan -- 17. Turbulence -- 18. Last Days in Germany -- 19. Early Days at Cal Tech -- 20. From Palomar to Plaster of Paris -- 21. Lighter than Air -- 22. DC-3 and Flying Wing -- 23. Bohr, Fermi, Einstein -- 24. Trailing the Wind Around the World -- 25. China Takes to the Air -- 26. New Jobs for Aerodynamics -- 27. Collapse of the Tacoma Bridge -- 28. Glimmerings of High Speed -- 29. Approaching Supersonic Flight -- 30. Rockets and the "Suicide Club" -- 31. JATO Becomes a Success -- 32. Aerojet Is Launched -- 33. The Vision of Hap Arnold -- 34. Right After the War 35. Russia and Hungary -- 36. Blueprint for the U.S.A.F. -- 37. A New Air Force Emerges -- 38. Dr. Tsien of Red China -- 39. How I "Lost" $12,000,000 -- 40. AGARD: The Beginning -- 41. AGARD: In Operation -- 42. AGARD: The Lessons -- 43. Outside the Ring of Steel -- 44. What's Ahead.

Introduction, by K. Millsaps.--Buckling of thin shells, by N.J. Hoff.--On the Kármán vortex street in magnetofluid-dynamics by A. Busemann.--International cooperation in science, by J. Kaplan.--Toward new horizons, 1961, by J.V. Charyk.

Life of apollo Milton Olin Smith -- Some autobiographical recollections of A.M.O. Smith -- Laminar flow control and stability/transition / by Kalle Kaups -- Potential flows / By John L. Hess -- Boundary layers / by Tuncer Cebeci -- High-lift aerodynamics / by Wayne Oliver -- High0lift airfoils / by Bob Liebeck -- Afterword / by Tuncer Cebeci -- Professional biography of A.M.O. Smith.

1 The Early Years: 1914-1936 1 -- 2 Parsons at Caltech: 1936-1939 15 -- 3 A Short History of the OTO 37 -- 4 Parsons' Double Life: 1940-1942 47 -- 5 The Return to South Orange Grove Ave.: 1942-1945 83 -- 6 An Introduction to Enochian Magic 109 -- 7 The Babalon Working, Part 1: January-February 1946 119 -- 8 The Babalon Working, Part 2: March 1946 135 -- 9 Parsons' Final Years: 1946-1952 155 -- 10 Death and Beyond 177.

A lonely misfit born into a wealthy Pasadena family, as a boy Parsons read science fiction and launched rockets in his backyard. By his early twenties, he was a leader of Caltech's "Suicide Squad," the motley band of young enthusiasts who founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. But his visionary imagination also led him into the occult community thriving in 1930s Los Angeles, and when fantasy's pull became stronger than reality, he lost both his work and his wife. With a cast of characters that includes Aleister Crowley, Howard Hughes, L. Ron Hubbard, Robert Heinlein, Theodore von Kármán, and Albert Einstein, this book recovers a fascinating life and explores the unruly consequences of genius.

This book tells the story of one of the most monumental blunders the United States committed during its shameful era of McCarthyism. It is the biography of a pioneer of the American space age who was mysteriously accused of being a Communist and deported to China, where he became -- to America's continuing chagrin -- the father of the Chinese missile program.

More than any other individual Bill Pickering was responsible for America's success in exploring the planets, an endeavor that demanded vision, courage, dedication, expertise, and the ability to inspire two generations of scientists and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The leader of the team that created the revolutionary Mars Sojourner rover chronicles her trailblazing career in space exploration and tells the fascinating, behind-the-scenes story of the celebrated Mars Pathfinder mission

The true story of how an unlikely leader helped inspire a team of rocket scientists to achieve the near impossible: landing a two-thousand pound rover on Mars. Few organizations solve as many impossible problems as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and nobody knows more about leading rocket scientists to unlikely breakthroughs than Adam Steltzner. This is the story of the teamwork, drama, and extraordinary feats of innovation at the Jet Propulsion Lab, that culminated in landing the rover Curiosity on Mars in 2012. It also weaves Steltzner's professional life--centering on the ten years he and his team spent planning and then executing the landing of the rover--with his unlikely journey from academic underachiever to rocket scientist.

After the shock of watching Russia's Sputnik become the world's first artificial satellite, America's infant space program hurried to launch one of their own. In just 90 days, Dr. Henry Richter and his colleagues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed and launched the nation's response. Through innovation, teamwork, and tenacity, these pioneering scientists and engineers began America's exploration of space that continues to determine our place in the cosmos. JPL and the First Explorer Satellites tracks the development of the Russian, Germany, and American rocketry programs through the World Wars and into the arms race of the Cold War. Dr. Richter's memories and extensive research shed a light into the earliest days of the space age. It is a fascinating story that is equal parts memoir and insider history of one of the world's most dynamic and revolutionary periods.