13 Facts About Wolfgang Klemperer

Dr Wolfgang Benjamin Klemperer was born in Dresden, Germany, the son of the Austrian nationals Leon and Charlotte Klemperer.

Wolfgang Klemperer was in his time a prominent aviation and aerospace scientist and engineer, who ranks among the pioneers of early aviation.

Wolfgang Klemperer is probably best known for his work on Properties of Rosette Configurations of Gravitating Bodies in Homographic Equilibrium, which have been named after him as Klemperer rosettes.

Wolfgang Klemperer became the preeminent missile scientist of Douglas Aircraft Corporation and in 1958 the director of the guided missile research section, staff assistant to the vice-president, and director of product development.

Wolfgang Klemperer grew up in the city of Dresden, where he attended school.

Also in 1924 Wolfgang Klemperer emigrated to the US, where he joined Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation in Akron, Ohio.

From 1936 onwards Wolfgang Klemperer worked for Douglas Aircraft Company, Santa Monica, California, to develop a pressure cabin for civil aircraft.

Wolfgang Klemperer was initially loaned to Douglas from the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation for this project which lasted until 1939.

Dr W B Klemperer stayed at Douglas Aircraft Corporation until the end of his life in 1965.

Wolfgang Klemperer was working for Junkers Aachener Segelflugzeugbau, a glider manufacturer, which used the results obtained in the academic research in its designs.

Wolfgang Klemperer, competing at the Rhon-Rossitten Gesellschaft gliding competition with this glider, scored a distance record at his first attendance in 1920 with a flight of 2.2 kilometres.

Wolfgang Klemperer made his first long-distance flight on the first high-performance sailplane ever built in the US.

Wolfgang Klemperer was chairman of the Southern Californian Soaring Association and later its honorary president.