Born Freising, Germany, February 4, 1875. He was an
engineer by training who was endowed with rare vision
for understanding physical phenomena and unusual ability
to put them into relatively simple mathematical form.
In 1901 he became Professor of Mechanics at University
of Hanover. He later established a school of aerodynamics
and hydrodynamics at University of Gottingen, which
achieved world renown.
He discovered the boundary layer in 1904 with work in wing
theory that lead to understanding skin friction and drag.
He later contributed in describing compressiblity effects
of air at high speeds and made advances in important theories
for supersonic flow and turbulence.
He is considered the father of aerodynamic theory for there
is hardly a part of it to which he did not contribute.
Died Gottingen, Germany, August 15, 1953.
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