REISSNER

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

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18.1.1874 Berlin/D - 2.10.1967 Mount Angel OR/USA

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Hans Reissner graduated as a mechanical engineer from the Technical University of Berlin TUB in 1897. In 1898 he moved for one year to the USA to obtain in 1900 the civil engineering diploma from TUB. Two years later he submitted there his PhD thesis. In 1906 Reissner was appointed professor of mechanics at Aachen Technical University thus succeeding Arnold Sommerfeld (1868-1951). In 1913 he accepted the professorship in mechanics at TUB. Reissner was retired in 1935 due to his Jewish origin and emigrated to the USA in 1938, where he was appointed professor of engineering sciences at the present Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1944 he moved on to the Polytechnic Institute of Technology in New York as a professor of aviation. Reissner was one of the most successful scientists in aviation in the first half of the 20th century, came to fall in Germany but he reinstalled a noteworthy career in the USA. He was a vice-president of GAMM, was awarded the Honorary Doctorate from Aachen Technical University in 1929 and was an Honorary Member of WGL from 1954 which he had founded in 1912.

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Once Reissner was in Aachen he concentrated to research in aviation. In the early 20th century, Germany's knowledge in aviation was limited and progress was strongly attached to the name Reissner, together with Hugo Junkers (1859-1935), his colleague in Aachen. Reissner there inaugurated an aerodynamic laboratory where he investigated problems of aerodynamic stability and air screws. He presented in 1912 the first complete metal airplane but lost interest in these matters once having moved to Berlin.

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_{Burianek, I.E. (2003). Hans Jacob Reissner. Neue Deutsche Biographie 21: 396-397.}

_{Duncker&Humblot: Berlin.}

_{Poggendorff, J.C. (1925). Reissner, Hans. Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch 5: 1036; 6: 2151; 7a: 727; 8: 2062. Verlag Chemie: Leipzig, Berlin, with bibliography.}

_{Reissner, H. (1911). Studien zur Berechnung der planmässigen Prüfung der Luftschrauben. Zeitschrift für Flugtechnik und Motorluftschiffahrt 2(2): 17-20; 2(5): 53-56; 2(6): 69-72;}

_{2(20): 253-255; 2(22): 277-279; 2(23): 289-293; 3(1): 1-3; 3(2): 13-15.}

_{Reissner, H. (1922). Stationärer Bewegungszustand einer schraubenförmigen Wirbelfläche. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik 2(2): 106-109.}

_{Reissner, H.J. (1949). Anniversary volume, Department of aeronautical engineering and applied mechanics of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. Edwards: Ann Arbor. P}

_{Wagner, W. (1996). Hugo Junkers Pionier der Luftfahrt. Bernard&Graefe: Bonn. P}