Off topic, but just thought this might be of interest since I was going through some old textbooks…When I was an Engineering Student at the University of Dayton (and Wright Patterson Air Force Base), I had the pleasure of attending lectures given by Doctor Hans Von Ohain. Anyone who follows the history of aerodynamics and Propulsion will recognize that name as the man who invented the jet engine (barely ahead of British Frank Whittle) and the first flying jet aircraft (Heinkel He 178). I got him to sign this textbook for me. Later on as an Air Force Officer, I had the pleasure of managing a Propulsion contract for the Air Force Aeropropulsion Laboratory that had Dr Von Ohain as the technical lead. I worked with him on a weekly basis for over a year.
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Cool! I thought Whittle filed paperwork for his idea of the turbojet with his Superiors in 1928, while Ohain didn’t start his work (without any knowledge of Whittle’s work) until 1935.
I always love those science controversies when two independent people come to the same idea…
A great Homer Hickam moment.