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Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain was a German physicist, engineer, and the designer of the first aircraft to use a turbojet engine. Together with Frank Whittle and Anselm Franz, he has been described as the co-inventor of the turbojet engine. Additionally, prior to building his engine and filing his own patent in 1935, von Ohain had read and critiqued Whittle's patents. Von Ohain stated in his biogra…
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science · German aerospace engineer (1911–1998) · physicist · military flight engineer · inventor · engineer · also Hans von Ohain, Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain, Hans J.P. von Ohain, Ohain
Born 14 December 1911 · Died 13 March 1998 · Q76541
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We felt it looked like a patent of an idea. You find many idea patents. For an invention, it is not necessary that you build it. We thought it was not being seriously worked on. I had not the slightest idea that Whittle was at that time working very keenly along similar lines but with different technical approaches.
Awarded National Inventors Hall of Fame (2003).
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“We felt it looked like a patent of an idea. You find many idea patents. For an invention, it is not necessary that you build it. We thought it was not being seriously worked on. I had not the slightest idea that Whittle was at that time working very keenly along similar lines but with different technical approaches.”
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insider.si.edu: Hans von Ohain Collection
Awarded National Inventors Hall of Fame (2003).
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Died 1998-03-13.
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Awarded Ludwig-Prandtl-Ring (1992).
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Awarded Charles Stark Draper Prize (1991).
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Won Daniel Guggenheim Medal (1991).
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Ohain and Whittle were jointly awarded the Charles Stark Draper Prize for their work on turbojet engines
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Awarded National Aviation Hall of Fame (1990).
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Ohain was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame
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Ohain was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum
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And took up an associate professor position teaching propulsion and thermodynamics at the nearby University of Dayton, spending winter sessions from 1981 to 1983 teaching the same subjects at the University of Florida
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Was made the Director of the Air Force Aeronautical Research Laboratory and by 1975 he was the Chief Scientist of the Aero Propulsion Laboratory there
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Ohain was brought to the United States by Operation Paperclip and went to work for the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
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Which was followed by Whittle's engine within the Gloster E
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While working for Pohl, Ohain registered a patent on his version of a jet engine, Process and Apparatus for Producing Airstreams for Propelling Airplanes
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Von Ohain had read and critiqued Whittle's patents
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Von Ohain designed his overall engine layout, he based it for compactness on a centrifugal impeller (centrifugal or radial compressor) and a radial inflow turbine
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While his own patent was being prepared (and before he had begun construction of an engine), his lawyer gave him a copy of Whittle's patent, which he read and critiqued
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Ohain became the junior assistant of Robert Wichard Pohl, then director of the Physical Institute of the university
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“My interest in jet propulsion began in the fall of 1933 when I was in my seventh semester at Göttingen University. I didn”
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While still a student, he conceived what he called "an engine that did not require a propeller"
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At the Arndt-Gymnasium in Dahlem and earned a PhD in physics in 1935 at the University of Göttingen, with his thesis entitled An Interference Light Relay for White Light on an optical microphone to record sound directly
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Born 1911-12-14.
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