In search of Theodore von Karman
One of the greatest applied mathematicians to ever live (and probably one of the most forgotten great men of science) was Theodore von Karman, a Hungarian, with German education who immigrated to the United States and became the first person to receive the National Medal of Science. von Karman's life and science were remarkable stories.
Here, I'm collecting links to fun things about Theordore Karman.
Obituaries, Biographies, and book reviews
- Most prominently, The Wind and Beyond: Theodore von Karman, Pioneer in Aviation and Pathfinder in Space by Theodore von Karman and Lee Edson is a fantastic classic to read still, in the 21st century.
- G. I. Taylor, 1963
- Dryden, 1963
- Sears, 1965
- Antman, 2006
- Goldstein, 2013
- A lecture by Norbert Peters.
- The Wind and Beyond: A Documentary Journey into the History of Aerodynamics in America with preface acknowledgement of Karman, and title borrowed from his biography.
Other links
An oral history interview with von Karman and some photographs
The first National Medal of Science presented by President Kennedy, allong with audio, also discussed on the NATO website.
von Karman helped to found Aerojet Rocketdyne
Home movies and some lab demonstrations by von Karman at the internet archive. These include wind tunnel tests made to analyze the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse. In the November 21, 1940 issue of the Engineering News Report, von Karman published an opion piece Aerodynamic stability of suspension bridges
von Karman gives Messenger lectures at Cornell in 1953
von Karman accepts position as visiting professor at Cornell in 1959
Works and Results
On the mechanism of the drag a moving body experiences in a fluid, 1911, republished and translated.
The book Mathematical methods in engineering : an introduction to the mathematical treatment of engineering problems by Biot and von Karman was also a classic.
"The engineer grapples with nonlinear problems", August, 1940.
"Some remarks on mathematics from the engineer's viewpoint", April, 1940, Mechanical Engineering, 308-310.
The collected works take up 4 volumes.
Some results of note are ...
- von Karman vortex street
- Karman's Law of the wall
- von Karman jurisdictionnal line
- Tacoma Narrows bridge
- DC 3 design
- ...
Hardy vs von Karman
G. H. Hardy is famous for A Mathematician's apology, which is well-loved by pure mathematicians and still widely read. Theodore von Karman, was a contemporary of Hardy, and perhaps the opposite pole, philosophically. He served in the Hungarian army during World War I, and worked closely with the US Airforce during and after World War II. He preferred to call himself an Engineer, despite his passion for mathematics. He thought politics should be left to politicians, and that scientists (like Szilard, Teller, and himself) should not be sticking their heads out into it.
It's an interesting perspective and counterpoint to Hardy. Yet both Hardy's and Karman's perspectives seem lacking today.