Presentation Date: November 15, 2012
Dr. Max Platzer
Max Platzer graduated from the Technical University of Vienna, Austria, with two degrees in mechanical engineering: Engineer and Doctor of Technical Sciences.
From 1957 to 1960, he taught fluid dynamics and applied mathematics as an assistant professor at the Technical University of Vienna.
In June 1960, he joined Wernher von Braun’s rocket development team at NASA’s George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. There he participated in the development of the Saturn space launch vehicle for the next six years.
In August 1966, he transferred to the Lockheed-Georgia Research Laboratory in Marietta, Georgia, where he served as chief of the aeromechanics research group during the development of the Air Force C-5 Galaxy aircraft.
In August 1970, he moved to the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, California. There he became professor of aerospace engineering and chairman of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. After the Department’s transfer to the Air Force Institute of Technology in July 2003, he taught there for one more year and retired in May 2004.
Since that time, he is a professor emeritus at the Naval Postgraduate School and an adjunct professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California Davis.
His current research and teaching activities are mostly in the field of wind and hydropower systems. He also serves as editor of the international review journal “Progress in Aerospace Sciences”.
Dr. Platzer is a Fellow of the:
-- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
-- American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
In 1965 he received NASA’s superior performance award signed by Dr. Wernher von Braun. In 1995 the Naval Postgraduate School awarded him the distinguished professor medal.