Frank Wattendorf
Frank Wattendorf was an American physicist specializing in wind tunnels for research in aerodynamics.
Wattendorf is recalled for his report on the wind tunnel at Ötztal that was under construction in Austria during World War II. Wattendorf’s report, and one by Theodore von Kármán, spurred on renewed research in aerodynamics.
Wattendorf was born in Boston on May 23, 1906. He studied at Harvard University, graduating in 1926. He went on to study aerodynamics at MIT and there met Kármán when he visited that campus. Kármán invited him to come to Aachen, Germany which he did, with his mother.
Wattendorf became Kármán’s assistant, and they both moved to Caltech in 1926. Wattendorf earned his Ph.D. in California. His thesis, "The effect of curvature on fully developed turbulent flow", was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. The colleagues combined to study the landing of seaplanes in 1929.
In 1937 Wattendorf was at Tsing Hua University organizing an aeronautical engineering department and building a wind tunnel. He invited Karman for a visit, but Karman decided to visit Russia first, and enter China through Manchuria.
After the University visit they took a train to Shanghai just as the Second Sino-Japanese War started. They met Chiang Kai-shek, his wife, and generals. Then they left China for Japan and Tokyo Imperial University. Shortly, Wattendorf returned to Japanese-occupied Peking and the precious wind tunnel.
He was a member of the Scientific Advisory Group and the NATO Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development.
