Schematic Diagram of Proposed Rocket Motor Test Setup for Rocket Propulsive Units Research, 1936 [photograph].

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Schematic Diagram of Proposed Rocket Motor Test Setup for Rocket Propulsive Units Research, 1936 [photograph].

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/733106234

Frank Malina's drawing of first rocket test set-up, 23 October 1968. [Description from photo index.]. In 1936 and 1937 a group of graduate students were working on rocket motor experiments, with guidance from aerodynamicist Theodore von Kármán, director of the California Institute of Technology's Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory (GALCIT) and the first director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The students were given no funds or on-campus facilities, so they used their own money to buy instruments and did their testing (which was noisy and potentially dangerous) in an isolated part of Pasadena's Arroyo Seco, about three miles from the Rose Bowl. The drawing above was created by Frank J. Malina, one of von Kármán's students, and shows the setup used in their rocket motor tests. Malina went on to work as an engineer for JPL and was acting director of the Laboratory during 1944-1946.

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Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives

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SNAC Resource ID: 8108311

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives

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Jet Propulsion Laboratory (U.S.). Photolab.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g26rt0 (corporateBody)

One of the first people hired at GALCIT Project #1 in November 1941 was photographer George Emmerson (1913-1994), an emigrant from Newcastle, Great Britain. Audrey Voice and Mary J. Taylor as photographer's assistants joined Emmerson in 1943. Emmerson took almost all the early photos that became a part of this collection, a collection described in brief as the work product of the JPL Photolab. As JPL grew, so did the assignments to the Photolab to photograph all Laborato...

Malina, Frank J.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z96zdv (person)

Frank Malina (1912-1981) was an American aeronautical engineer and kinetic artist. Born in Brenham, Texas to parents of Czechoslovakian extraction (both musicians), Malina was for many years a scientist and directed American rocket research and UNESCO projects. In 1950 he learned the basics of oil painting from Reginald Weston and began to experiment, eventually leaving his UNESCO work to devote himself entirely to the pursuit of art. An early explorer in the field of digital art and the use of ...