MADELUNG

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

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31.7.1889 Rostock/D - 17.8.1972 Uffing/D

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Georg Madelung studied civil engineering at the Universities of Strasburg, Karlsruhe and Hannover with a diploma in 1919. During World War I he was at Deutscher Versuchs-Anstalt für Luftfahrt DVA in Berlin-Adlershorst and in 1919 joined the research institute of Hugo Junkers (1859-1935) in Dessau. He submitted a PhD thesis in 1921 to the University of Hannover. Madelung returned as a director to Berlin-Adlershorst in 1925 after a three years' stay in the USA with the Martin Aviation Company, then at Cleveland OH. He was appointed associate professor one year later at TU Berlin and accepted in 1929 a professorship of aviation and directorship of the aerodynamical laboratory at Stuttgart Technical University. During this period he was particularly interested in ballistic problems, in the development of parachutes and short distance starting methods for flying bodies. These works were characterized both by a basic theoretical approach and detailed practical design. Madelung served in World War II as a pilot and after its end shortly stayed in the Naval Medical Research Center of Bethesda MD, USA. After a further return to Germany in 1954, he continued at Stuttgart Technical University as a professor of aviation until retirement. He founded the Research Community Graf Zeppelin and initiated the Stuttgarter Luftfahrtgespräche where problems of flight were discussed in a scientific environment.

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Madelung contributed significantly to problems in aviation. He was both an excellent aerodynamicist and a gifted engineer who solved problems thoroughly. He was a founding Member of the German Academy of Aerodynamic Research initiated in 1937. He was thus at the forefront of the German developments in aviation and contributed substantially to its technical success.

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_{Anonymous (1929). Dr.-Ing. Georg Madelung. Illustrierte Technik 34(19): XVI. P}

_{Blenk, H. (1959). Georg Madelung 70 Jahre. Zeitschrift für Flugwissenschaften 7(7): 207-208. P}

_{Bock, G. (1964). Georg Madelung 75 Jahre. Zeitschrift für Flugwissenschaften 12(7): 273-274. P}

_{Hütter, U. (1972). Georg Madelung. Jahrbuch DGLR: 447-451. P}

_{Madelung, G. (1928). Beitrag zur Theorie der Luftschraube. Jahrbuch Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt: 27-62.}

_{Madelung, G. (1941). Die Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit beim Bombentiefangriff. Schrift 25: 1-29.}

_{Deutsche Akademie der Luftfahrtforschung: Berlin.}

_{Poggendorff, J.C. (1953). Madelung, Georg. Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch}

_{7a: 177; 8: 1840-1841. Verlag Chemie: Leipzig, with bibliography.}