Voting Station

Theodore von Karman

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Mathematician

The Resume

    (May 11, 1881-May 6, 1963)
    Born in Budapest, Hungary
    Aerospace engineer, mathematician, and physicist
    Known for his work in fluid dynamics and turbulence
    Pioneered development of JATO (jet-assisted takeoff) rockets for aircraft
    Naturalized US citizen (1936)
    Founding member of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1944)
    Appointed first chair of the Air Force's Scientific Advisory Group (1946)

Why he might be annoying:

    He would have preferred studying pure mathematics, but his domineering father insisted that he major in engineering.
    He never married and lived with his mother and sisters.
    He spoke seven languages, but said he could 'multiply only in Hungarian.'
    He was so absent minded that during World War II an aide was assigned to him with the primary duty of picking up the classified documents Karman otherwise would have left behind in taxis and at restaurants.

Why he might not be annoying:

    The year he graduated high school -- at age sixteen -- he won the Eötvös Prize for best student in math and science in all of Hungary.
    He left Europe in response to rising fascism and anti-Semitism (1930).
    He was consulted by the US Army during World War II to analyze the German V1 and V2 rocket programs.
    He was the first recipient of the National Medal of Science (1962).
    A crater on Mars was named after him (1970).
    He said, 'Scientists discover the world that exists. Engineers create the world that never was.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying