Ludwig Prandtl

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Ludwig Prandtl was a fluid dynamics researcher who spent most of his career at the University of Göttingen. He was involved with the Motorluftschiff Studiengesellschaft m.b.H and led the Modellversuchsanstalt für Aerodynamik der Motorluftschiff-Studiengesellschaft at Göttingen, where he constructed several wind tunnels for experiments in the 1900s and 1910s.[1]

The wind tunnels just described were not only for investigations on airships, but also for airfoils. As a result of his work in the field of the aerodynamics of wings undertaken during the first decade of this century, Prandtl found himself in competition with F. W. Lanchester of England. Both endeavored, at first independently of each other, to determine the effects of finite span of a wing on its aerodynamic properties. In close relation with this problem, they attempted to explain the so-called induced drag around the edges of the wing. Carl Runge, the other important mathematician of Göttingen, deserves to be given the credit for having brought together in Göttingen the two aerodynamicists—Prandtl and Lanchester—for a scientific discussion. It was also on Runge's initiative that Lanchester's book concerning the aerodynamics of flight was translated from the English into the German language.[1]


Publications by or about Ludwig Prandtl

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Hermann Schlichting, "Tribute to Ludwig Prandtl", Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 18, pp. 1333–1336, 1975.

Links


Names Ludwig Prandtl
Birth date 1875-02-04
Death date 1953-08-15
Countries DE
Locations Freising, Bavaria, Nürnburg, Hanover, Göttingen
Occupations professor, engineer
Tech areas Aerodynamics, Hydrodynamics, Wind tunnel, Airfoil, mathematics, Meteorology
Affiliations Motorluftschiff Studiengesellschaft m.b.H, University of Göttingen, Niedersächsischer Verein für Luftschifffahrt
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