Kurzweg, Hermann H

German-American aerodynamicist, at Peenemuende, then US Naval Ordnance 1946-1960, NASA 1960-1974.

Hermann H. Kurzweg was born in Germany and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig in 1933. During the Second World War, he was chief of the research division and deputy director of the aerodynamic laboratories at Peenemuende, where he did aerodynamic research on the V-2 rocket and the antiaircraft rocket Wasserfall as well as participated in the design of the supersonic wind tunnels there. In 1946 he came to the U.S. and worked for the Naval Ordnance Laboratory at White Oak, Maryland, doing aerodynamics and aeroballistics research and becoming associate technical director of the lab in 1956. He joined NASA Headquarters in September 1960 as assistant director for aerodynamics and flight mechanics in the office of advanced research programs. In 1961 he became director of research in the office of advanced research and technology. Nine years later, he was appointed chief scientist and chairman of the research council in the same office. He retired in 1974.