Theodore von Kármán — His "American Period"

Abstract

It is indeed a great honour to participate in the appreciation of Dr. Theodore von Kármán by the Royal Aeronautical Society of which he was so devoted a member. I have been asked to consider in particular those portions of his extraordinarily varied and productive career which centred around his activities in the United States. Even within this scope his contributions were so tremendous as to have stimulated literally dozens of articles on his career and influence. I myself was privileged to prepare "appreciations" on the occasions of his sixtieth and seventy-fifth birthdays, and many other more competent writers have chosen von Kármán as the subject for articles both before and after his death on 7th May 1963. Under these circumstances I have found it impossible to avoid plagiarism and even repetition. An attempt has been made to list some of the tributes and articles which have appeared and from which material has been drawn, but this bibliography is certainly woefully incomplete.