Theodore von Kármán

Early life

Theodore von Kármán was born into a Jewish family in Budapest as Kármán Tódor, son of Helene and Mór Kármán. Among his ancestors were Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, said to be the creator of the Golem of Prague, and Rabbi Moses Kunitz, who wrote about the Zohar. His father Mór was a well-known educator who reformed the Hungarian school system, founded Minta Gymnasium in Budapest, and became a commissioner of the Ministry of Education responsible for planning the education of a young archduke.

In 1907 Mór Kármán was ennobled; Theodore later wrote that because his father owned a small vineyard near Budapest, the Emperor bestowed the predicate 'von Szőllőskislaki', which Theodore shortened to 'von'. Theodore had three brothers and one sister. At age six he could perform large mental calculations, such as multiplying six-digit numbers. His father discouraged his mathematical education, fearing he would become a child prodigy.

He was tutored by his father and a former student, then entered Minta Gymnasium, where in his last year he won the Eötvös Prize for the best student in mathematics and science in all of Hungary. He studied engineering at the Royal Joseph Technical University in Budapest, graduating in 1902 with a degree in mechanical engineering; his thesis was 'The motion of a heavy rod supported on its rounded end by a horizontal plane'. After a year as an artillery cadet in the Austro-Hungarian army, he worked as an assistant at the same university from 1903 to 1906.

He then moved to the German Empire and joined Ludwig Prandtl at the University of Göttingen, receiving his doctorate in 1908 for research on mathematical models for the buckling of large structures. He taught at Göttingen for four years. In 1913 he became director of the Aeronautical Institute at RWTH Aachen University. His time there was interrupted by service in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1915 to 1918 during World War I, when he designed the Petróczy-Kármán-Žurovec, an early helicopter.

Emigration and JPL

Worried about the rise of Nazism in Europe, Theodore von Kármán took a job in 1930 as the head of the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at Caltech. The position came with a research assistant, and he picked Frank Wattendorf, an American who had spent three years studying in Aachen. Another student, Ernest Edwin Sechler, tackled the challenge of building stronger aircraft frames; with von Kármán’s backing, he helped clarify the principles of aeroelasticity.

When the US Army Air Force asked Caltech to produce JATO rockets, the school declined to get into manufacturing. So in 1936, von Kármán hired lawyer Andrew G. Haley to set up the Aerojet Corporation alongside his graduate student Frank Malina and rocketry enthusiasts Jack Parsons and Edward Forman, who built the rocket motors. He later became a US citizen. In 1940, John M. Carmody of the Federal Works Agency put von Kármán on a board of engineers looking into why the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed on November 7 of that year.

His knowledge was key to figuring out that aerodynamic forces caused the bridge’s strange galloping motion and eventual failure. With civil engineers Othmar Amman and Glenn B. Woodruff, he co-wrote the report “The Failure of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge,” released on March 28, 1941.

During World War II, German rocket activity spurred US military interest. In early 1943, the Army Air Forces Material Command sent von Kármán British intelligence reports about German rockets that could fly over 100 miles. On August 2, 1943, he replied with his own analysis and comments on the German program.

Selected writings

Four years after von Kármán died, his autobiography 'The Wind and Beyond' was published by Lee Edson with Little, Brown and Company. Seven major academic journals followed with book reviews by noted authors. As the book was non-technical and written for the general reader, Thomas P. Hughes cited that as problematic given the technical context of von Kármán's work, though he conceded that von Kármán exhibited a genius for finding simplifying assumptions that made mathematical analysis possible.

Stanley Corrsin acknowledged von Kármán's gifts as an applied mathematician and teacher but pointed out that the autobiography is a 'marriage between a man and his ego.' In the later part of his life, von Kármán was a planner of global symposia and societies and a consultant to the upper echelons of the Pentagon corps. On creativity, von Kármán wrote that 'the finest creative thought comes not out of organized teams but out of the quiet of one's own world.'

I. B. Holley noted penetrating insights into the creative process. According to Holley, von Kármán was given to convivial drinking and the company of beautiful women. J. Kestin gave an enthusiastic review, advising readers to buy and study the book. Charles Süsskind faulted von Kármán for his contempt for the conventional and expected the book to show some reaction to Wernher von Braun's coming to America and clarification of the Hsue-shen Tsien affair.

Süsskind also tagged von Kármán as a forthright engineer unabashed about his lifelong association with military authorities. Sydney Goldstein remembered an eminent engineer and scientist, warm-hearted and witty, devoted to international collaboration, who found the military 'the most comfortable group to deal with.'

Honors and legacy

Theodore von Kármán's honors began with elections to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1938, the American Philosophical Society in 1941, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1948. Since 1960, the American Society of Civil Engineers has given out the Theodore von Karman Medal for notable work in engineering mechanics. In 1968, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics established the Theodore von Kármán Prize for outstanding use of mathematics in mechanics or engineering.

That same year, von Kármán entered the International Air & Space Hall of Fame. Starting in 1983, the International Academy of Astronautics has presented the Theodore von Kármán Award each year for exceptional lifetime scientific achievements, regardless of nationality or gender. He was named an Honorary Fellow of the Arnold Engineering Development Center in 2005. Craters on both Mars and the Moon bear his name, and the Kármán line marks the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space.

A five-mile street in Irvine, California, is named for him. In 1977, RWTH Aachen University dedicated its main lecture hall complex as the Kármán-Auditorium. An auditorium at JPL is named after him, along with a monthly lecture series that began in 2007. Another auditorium at AFRL is jointly named for Arnold and von Kármán.

After nearly two decades of effort, USC Professor Shirley Thomas secured a postage stamp in his honor. In 1963, President Kennedy awarded von Kármán the first National Medal of Science, stating he represented science, engineering, and education. In 1957, he became the first recipient of the Ludwig-Prandtl-Ring from the German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Did You Know?

• In June 1944, von Kármán underwent surgery for intestinal cancer in New York City, which caused two hernias and a slow recovery.
• At age 81, von Kármán received the first National Medal of Science from President John F. Kennedy in a White House ceremony.