1. Nicolas Minorsky is best known for his theoretical analysis and first proposed application of PID controllers in the automatic steering systems for US Navy ships.
12 Facts About Nicolas Minorsky
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Nicolas Minorsky was educated at the Nikolaev Maritime Academy in St Petersburg, graduating in 1908 and commissioned as a lieutenant in the Imperial Russian Navy.
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Nicolas Minorsky then returned to St Petersburg and studied at the Imperator's Petersburg Institute of Technology, receiving a degree in Electro-Mechanical Engineering in 1914.
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From 1916 to 1917, Minorsky was Superintendent of gyro-compasses and lecturer on gyroscopic phenomena and applications at the Nikolaev Maritime Academy.
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Nicolas Minorsky was the adjunct Naval Attache at the Russian Embassy to France in Paris from 1917 to 1918.
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In 1922, Nicolas Minorsky helped in the installation and testing of automatic steering on board the battleship USS New Mexico.
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In relation to this work Nicolas Minorsky authored a paper introducing the concept of Integral and Derivative Control.
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From 1924 to 1934, Nicolas Minorsky was a Professor of Electronics and Applied Physics at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Nicolas Minorsky worked on roll stabilization of ships for the navy from 1934 to 1940, and in 1938 he designed an activated-tank stabilization system into a 5-ton model ship.
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Nicolas Minorsky then moved to California in 1946, joining the Division of Engineering Mechanics at Stanford University, where he continued his work on ship stabilization.
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In 1947, Nicolas Minorsky published a book of new Russian developments titled "Introduction to non-linear mechanics: Topological methods, analytical methods, non-linear resonance, relaxation oscillations".
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Nicolas Minorsky continued to work, giving seminars and lectures in Europe, authoring theoretical papers until the end of his life in 1970.