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This is a comprehensive biography of Ludwig Prandtl (1875-1953), the father of modern aerodynamics. His name is associated most famously with the boundary layer concept, but also with several other topics in 20th century fluid mechanics, particularly turbulence (Prandtl's mixing length). Among his disciples are pioneers of modern fluid mechanics such as Heinrich Blasius, Theodore von Kármán and Walter Tollmien. Furthermore, Prandtl founded the Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt (AVA) and the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Strömungsforschung in Göttingen, both of them seeds for the growth of fluid mechanics in Germany. Yet Prandtl was also a representative of aeronautical research - from Imperial Germany via the Weimar Republic to the "Third Reich". Although not a party member, he assumed the role of a goodwill ambassador for Nazi Germany. This objective treatment of his career will be of interest to all scientists and historians wanting to learn more about Prandtl's influence and the earlydevelopment of fluid- and aerodynamics.
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Michael Eckert is a German physicist and science historian at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. He studied physics at the Technical University of Munich, graduating in 1976, and was awarded a doctorate in theoretical physics (models for the visual processes of invertebrates) at the University of Bayreuth in 1979. From 1981 to 1988, he worked at the Deutsches Museum, and from 1989 to 1995 was a lecturer at the Bayerischer Schulbuchverlag. From 1995 to 2000, he was a research associate at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and since 2001 has been working at the Research Institute for the History of Technology and Science at the Deutsches Museum. Eckert published a biography of Arnold Sommerfeld (and organized an exhibition about him at the Deutsches Museum), wrote a book about the Sommerfeld School of Atomic Physics and about the history of fluid mechanics, especially the school of Ludwig Prandtl, and dealt, among other things, with the history of solid-state physics and nuclear energy policy in Germany.
