(Budapest, May 11th, 1881 – Aachen, May 7th, 1963)
One of the world's foremost aerodynamicsts and scientists and is widely recognized as the father of modern aerospace science.
He completed his grammar school studies at the famous Model Grammar school. He studied at the József Technical University 
and graduated with first class honours in mechanical engineering in 1902.
In 1906, he moved to Göttinga and worked at the department of Ludwig Prandtl where the problems of hydrodynamics and aerodynamics were studied; it is here that Kármán became committed to hydrodynamics and aviation. He dealt with the theory of plastic deformation of elastic bodies and the determination of aerodynamic and hydrodynamic forces acting on obstacles placed in flowing media. He discovered the vortices occurring in the flow pattern established around the obstacles: this is the famous theory of Kármán's vortices.
Following Göttinga, he was appointed to a professorship and as well as Director of Aeronautical Institute at the Technical University in Aachen at the age of 31, remaining until 1930.Here, he engaged in the elastic behaviour and stability of bars, surfaces, walls and tubes, as well as certain problems of hydrodynamics including the analysis of forces acting on obstacles placed in flowing media.
During the World War I, he was called into military service for the Austro-Hungarian Empire and eventually became head of research in the air force. He moved to Fischamend near Vienna where the arsenal of fighting planes used by the Monarchy was operated. Here, at the Military Aircraft Factory Kármán established a research and development laboratory for aeronautics within a short time and built a wind tunnel and led the development of the first helicopter tethered to the ground that was able to maintain hovering flight In co-operation with his colleagues - István Petróczy, Vilmos Zurovetz and Oszkár Asbóth - they developed a stationary helicopter (type PKZ) as a replacement for observation balloons. Among others, Kármán solved the problem of machine guns firing through the propeller circle by improving the Fokker method. In addition, he also examined the possibility of reducing the noise generated by the engines of submarines.
Following a short period in hiding after the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, he moved to Aachen again where he worked until 1930. Here, he developed the Kármán Institute into a world-famous centre of aviation. He began traveling widely in the 1920s as a lecturer and consultant to industry. His first visit to the United States in 1926 was primarily to advise on establishing the new graduate school of California Institute of Technology Aeronautical Lab. He dealt with the theory of turbulence, approximate methods of elasticity, natural vibration of point grids (which plays an important part in the theory of the specific heat of solids), the similarity theory of flow (the fundamentals of modelling), the theory of propellers and the stress analysis of materials.
In the meantime, Kármán built up his American relationships and, as a result, he established an experimental laboratory for aerodynamics in Pasadena. He transferred his headquarters here after Hitler's take-over.
In the period of hislife in America, Kármán introduced significant changes in the aviation of United States, primarily in connection with the education of aerodynamics. In addition, he progressively took the implementation of the principle of reactive drive (ramjet propulsion) and supersonic flight in hand. As early as in the late thirties, Kármán's program already included the problems of rocket research, the starting rockets of heavy aeroplanes first and, then, large missiles and ballistic missiles, as well. In 1944, he became the cofounder of the present NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, when it undertook America's first governmental long-range missile and space-exploration research program He worked as a senior consultant with the USA Secretary of Defence for a short time and, later, with NATO in the same capacity.
Kármán's field of interest also included various problems of space research. For launching satellites, the upgrading of rocket drives was necessary; however, the task required international co-operation. Therefore, as a result of his persistent organisational efforts, Kármán had established the International Academy of Astronautics by 1960.
Kármán's name was given to a crater on the far side of the Moon and on Mars.
He published more then two hundred papers, which laid much of the technical basis of flight. He forged scientific cooperation and founded a number of powerful aerospace institutions.
His scientific activity was recognised by a number of honours; it is the United States National Medal of Science that can be considered to be the most distinguished one; he was the first to be awarded it from President Kennedy in 1963, the year of the founding of the award. He received the diamond diploma from Technical University of Budapest in 1962.
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