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Jerome C. Hunsaker and the Rise of American Aeronautics

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Jerome C. "Jerry" Hunsaker was an internationally known teacher and researcher in aerodynamics during the first half of the twentieth century. He made significant contributions to the development of flight systems, fired the enthusiasm of more than a generation of later engineers involved in aviation research, and virtually created the aeronautical engineering program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His career spanned more than six decades of aircraft research and development, where his efforts helped to establish the scientific and mathematical basis for flight. This excellent biography of Hunsaker by William F. Trimble of Auburn University provides a compelling portrait of this pivotal figure in the history of aeronautics.

Born on August 26, 1886, in Creston, Iowa, Hunsaker gratuated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1908, and went on to graduate training at MIT. He earned a doctorate in 1916, and stayed at MIT to create the first American course on aeronautical engineering and to found the internationally famous Department of Aeronautical Engineering. Hunsaker remained at MIT most of the rest of his career, worked closely with the Navy, and trained more an a generation of engineers who carried on his legacy through their engineering accomplishments.

This book does a fine job of capturing the career of this important aeronautical engineer.