Magyar News, 1993. szeptember-1994. augusztus (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1993-10-01 / 2. szám

SPACE FLIGHT ON THE DRAWING BOARD

For an average person the thought of a journey to outer space could be mind-blowing. The irritating factor is not necessarily the speed and the loneliness, but the uncertainty of being on the right track. There are no street signs out there or gas stations where one could ask for directions. Besides that, there isn’t much one could do because at launching time everything is figured out. When they push the start button, the space vehicle will fly on a predetermined track, like it or not. Well this is what would bother me. Did the planners really know how to figure it out and make sure that I would come back to this beloved Earth?

Well if the planners would sit down to the drawing board, take their parallel rulers, and triangles and draw the path of the spaceship, then the spaceship would never come back. The geometry of space is different to the one we learn in school and use to build houses, cities, engines and whatever one could think of. Our geometry is based on the Euclidean axioms. It says that there can be only one parallel to a line through a point outside of it. It also says that the sum of the three angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles. Just stay ingón the surface of this rather complicated matter, one should know that in space there is more than one line going through the mentioned point, and they all are parallel. Also the angles of the triangle could be more or even less than 180 degrees. After this would you like to sit

into a space ship?

Those who are responsible for the Non- Euclidean geometry can’t go through this experiment because they lived before space travel. In the early 1800s there was a Hungarian—naturally—who found the axioms of Euclid unacceptable.

The Bólyai’s, father and son, were both deeply immersed into the study of geometry. The father, Farkas, at the College of Nagyszeben excelled in mathematics and also showed interest in theology, painting, and the stage. Later, he studied in Göttingen where he became a lifetime friend with a schoolmate, the famous Gauss. This friendship lead Farkas Bólyai into the world of geometry. After unsuccessful attempts to prove the Euclidean axiom, he turned to poetry, music, and writing for the stage. He

returned to geometry and mathematics when he noticed that his son, János, showed early proficiency in these fields. János did not take his father’s advice to go to Göttingen and study with Gauss. Instead, J ános entered the military and became their best mathematician. Besides he was an outstanding violinist, and having a bad temper he gained reputation as a dashing officer who was ready for duel anytime. This urge, to challenge, found its way into geometry and in a letter written to his father, in 1823, János explained his non-Euclidean geometry. In 1825, János Bolyai already had the manuscript on his geometry, but it was only published in 1831 as an appendix to his father’s Farkas Bolyai’s book, The Tentamen. The title was “Appendix Explaining the Absolute True Science of Space.” It was only Gauss at that time who understood this creation of genius but minimized the recognition by stating that he too was meditating on the same approach for many years. The absence of recognition made father and son give up mathematics. While Farkas found writing for the stage rewarding, János retreated into isolation. Farkas died in 1856, János died in 1860, and the full recognition of the Appendix came eight years later in 1868.

As János Bolyai said, “He created a new world out of nothing-ness.” Today, more than a century later we sure give credit to him.

PIONEER IN AVIATION AND PATHFINDER IN SPACE

There is a name one could mention to people familiar with aviation in America, or as a matter of fact in the entire world, and they would know exactly who he is. This person is called the father of modem avia-Theodore von Kármán at the California Institute of Technology examines the wing of an airplane.

The U. S. Postal Service issued a stamp in honor of Theodore von Kármán.

tion, the father of super sonic flying. His name is Theodore von Kármán, a Hungarian. As a professor at Fischamend, Kármán already worked with Oszkár Ashboth building the helicopter. Theodore von Kármán was bom in Budapest in 1881 and graduated from the Budapest University of Technical Sciences. During the First World War he was the chief of research in the aviation corps of The Austro-Hungarian Army. Later he became an advisor to the Junkers Airplane Company in Germany and in 1930 Kármán was appointed director of The

Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratories of CalTech, in California. By 1945 he was heading the Science Advisory Group of the US Army Air Forces.

It would be very technical to venture into all the scientific achievements Kármán accomplished, like in the field of heat and quantum theory, elasticity, aero-, hydro-, as well as thermodynamics, or the boundary surface theory. Let us just talk in simple terms that is easier understood by all of us. von Kármán designed the airplane wings’ shape and surface that makes super sonic flight possible. He played the leading role in developing the well known huge aircrafts like the B-36, B-47 as well as the B-52. His talent was used to design the Atlas, Titan and the Minuteman rockets. Also the assisted take-off of aircraft with sold-and liquid propellent rockets was part of Kármán’s work.

The law of turbulence that he established plays an important part in predicting the drag on the surface of rockets, therefore making space flight safer and more successful. We are grateful to these outstanding Hungarian scientists who in a way set the foundation of the space age.

(CMB)

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