Rolf D. Bühler

Rolf D. Bühler (born June 2, 1919 , † June 15, 1984 ) was a German aerospace engineer and university professor .

Rolf Bühler was the second child of the prominent psychologist couple Charlotte and Karl Bühler . At the time of his birth, the family lived in Dresden, but moved to Vienna in 1922. In 1938, after the "Anschluss" of Austria , the family had to flee from the National Socialists and came to Minnesota in the United States via Norway in 1940 .

Rolf Bühler received his Ph.D. in 1952 as a graduate of the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories (GALCIT) of the California Institute of Technology. From mid-1967 he was professor at the University of Stuttgart in the establishment of a new Institute for Space Propulsion (IRA) ; In 1970, after the institute was founded, he became its first director. In 1972 a laboratory for experimental work under space conditions, a combination of high-current system and vacuum house system, which is unique in Europe, was set up. Professor Bühler established the three areas of electrical drives and plasma technology , chemical drive systems and flow in drive components as main research areas .

After 14 years at the head of the institute, Bühler died in 1984 shortly after his 65th birthday. His successor in Stuttgart was the former astronaut Ernst Messerschmid , who brought in the focus on astronautics , which led to the renaming of the institute as the Institute for Space Systems (IRS) .

The California Institute of Technology annually presents the Rolf D. Buhler Memorial Award in Aeronautics in honor of Bühler .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl Bühler: Theory of Language: The Representational Function of Language , Introduction by the editor, pp. Lxiii, John Benjamin Publishing, 2011
2. ^ History of the Institute for Space Systems
3. ↑ GALCIT: Honors and Awards