The August 2014 edition of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers
(IEEE) Spectrum Magazine has an article by
James L. Johnson entitled
"Frank Malina: America's Forgotten Rocketeer".
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by James L. Johnson, IEEE Spectrum
(Frank Malina) while still a grad student at Caltech in the mid-1930s, started up a research program that would lay the foundations for U.S. rocket and missile development. During the run-up to World War II, that work took on new significance. By the war’s end, Malina had become the top American rocket expert and had cofounded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which today is one of the world’s premier space research organizations.
And yet, you’ve probably never heard of him. Most histories of the U.S. space program treat Malina and his group as a footnote. They say the real work started only after the war, with the arrival of Wernher von Braun, Hitler’s chief rocket scientist. Without the German’s genius, the story goes, U.S. extraterrestrial explorations would never have gone so far so fast.
That version of events, though, overlooks the key contributions made by Malina and his team of engineers, scientists, and technicians, who not only advanced the state of rocketry but did so on a fraction of the funding that their German counterparts enjoyed.
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by James L. Johnson, IEEE Spectrum
What makes Malina’s story all the more compelling is that he was a man of great contradictions: A professed pacifist, he nevertheless designed powerful rockets to further the war effort. A communist sympathizer, he made a fortune through his stake in Aerojet. A consummate engineer, he opted to abandon his research career while still in his 30s and would eventually dedicate himself full-time to artistic pursuits. And yet, this sometimes deeply conflicted individual did more than anyone to legitimize the pursuit of rocket propulsion and to pave the way for others to pursue their paths to the stars.
|
Article including photos and video here :-
http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/s...tten-rocketeer