Hungarian Heritage Review, 1988 (17. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1988-06-01 / 6. szám
special ffieature-tif-ffilfe-jlMontlj HUNGARIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO WORLD CIVILIZATION — by — DR. FRANCIS S. WAGNER TECHNICAL SCIENCES (Part II) Denes Mihály (1894-1953), a well-known mechanical engineer, is listed among the world’s leading scientists of electronic image transmission. Th. Knaur describes Mihály’s work in the Fernsehbuch. Mihály began his historic photoelectric and sound recording investigations as early as 1912. In August 1928 he introduced the first television (transmissions of static photographs and very simple moving objects) to about 250,000 visitors at the official exhibition arranged by the German Post Office in Berlin. In November of the same year (1928) Mihály transmitted motion pictures. The historic culmination of Mihaly’s accomplishments came at 11 p.m. on March 8, 1929 when the Berlin-Witzleben radio station broadcast the first moving television program in history. Physicist Kalman Tihanyi (1897-1949) in his Hungarian and 1928 British and French patent applications described the archtype of today’s television picture tube. F. Schroeder, professor of the Berlin Technical College, gives a detailed account in his Die neue Entwicklung insbesondere der deutschen Femsehtechnik (Berlin, 1937) of the development of our modern picture tube, stating that the first (1926, 1928) description of the heavy-duty charge storage tube was made by Kalman Tihanyi while its engineering was the work of V.K. Zworykin in the RCA Laboratory in 1933. Schroeder emphasizes that the inventor of the charge storage principle was Tihanyi while Zworykin applied Tihanyi’s principle. At the turn of the last century a great invention was made in the telecommunication industry. Antal Poliak (1865, Szentes — 1943, Budapest) and József Virág (1870, Földvár — 1901, Budapest) obtained a patent for their telegraph apparatus which was able to communicate 5,000 signs per minute. For details see Antal Poliak’s main work 40,000 szó óránként (40,000 words per minute. Budapest, 1934) and József Virag’s study “A Poliak-Virag-fele betuiro gyorstelegraf” (Magyar Mérnök- es Építesz Egyl. Kozl., 1901). Theodore von Karman (1881, Budapest — 1963, Aachen, Germany), the world-famous scientist of aerodynamics graduated from the Budapest University of Technical Sciences in 1902 and was appointed as an assistant there to professor Emil Schimanek and Donat Banki. Some years later von Karman earned international reputation by his contribution to heat and quantum theory: his modification in collaboration with M. Born of Peter Debye’s modification of Einsten’s theory “that atomic heat diminishes more rapidly for low temperatures than is indicated by experiment” secured increased scientific acceptance of the theory. (Cf. M. Born and Th.v. Karman’s study in Physik. Zeitschr., vol. 13, 1912, p. 297 as quoted by Florian Caiori, A History of Physics. New York: McMillan Co., 1929, p. 317). Subsequently to spending several years in German aeronautical engineering research positions, Von Karman was appointed director of Guggenheim Aeronautics Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in 1930, and in 1936 he became a U.S. citizen. In 1945 he was made director of the Science Advisory Group of the United States Army Air Forces. Later he was chief of the Scientific Advisory Board and subsequently headed technical missions to examine German research projects in supersonic aerodynamics and guided missiles. Between 1944 and 1945 Von Karman had a leading role in the development of the B-36, B-47 and B-52 as well as the Atlas, Titan, and Minuteman rockets. His aeronautical innovations include experiments with helicopters and gliders which he conducted during World War I from 1915 to 1918 as the chief of research in the aviation corps of the Austro- Hungarian Army and as advisor to the Junkers airplane company in Germany from 1922 to 1928. He made unique contributions to the theory of elasticity, the strength of materials, aircraft structures, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics as well as thermodynamics. Von Karman originated the boundary surface theory and the theory of wing surface design and dimensioning for supersonic avaition. Because of his wide-ranging work in aeronautics Von Karman is often remembered as the father of supersonic flight. Von Karman’s most important studies in mathematics, mechanics, aerodynamics, —continued next page JUNE 1988 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW 15
