Theodore von Karman trip to Hoover Dam
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Title
Description
This photograph captures Theodore von Kármán and Raymond Sanger (unknown involvement) during a 1933 visit to Hoover Dam while it was still under construction (1931–1936).
Von Kármán's interest in hydraulics dates back to his early career. Following his graduation from the Royal Joseph Technical University in Budapest, von Kármán was appointed as an assistant in hydraulics, working there for three years. While at the University of Göttingen, he used a large hydraulic press for research on the strength of materials, bridging the gap between fluid dynamics and structural mechanics (Altenbach & Bruhns, 2020).
The visit documented in this photograph coincided as Kármán was working to establish a hydraulic research focus at Caltech. Observations from visits such as this helped shape the goals and research direction of the hydraulics laboratory created at Caltech later that year. That laboratory would go on to work directly on similar hydroelectric infrastructure development projects using a perspective gained from Kármán's expertise in the aeronautical sciences (Heppenheimer 2007).
WORKS CITED
Altenbach, H., & Bruhns, O. T. (2020). Kármán, Theodore von. In Encyclopedia of Continuum Mechanics (pp. 1387–1390). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-55771-6_41
Heppenheimer, T. A. (2007). Facing the heat barrier: A history of hypersonics (NASA SP-2007-4232). National Aeronautics and Space Administration, History Division. https://archive.aoe.vt.edu/mason/Mason_f/NASASP2007-4232Hypersonics.pdf
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1200 East California Blvd. MC B215-74 Pasadena California 91125 United States of America