Nikolay Zhukovsky (scientist)

The Joukowsky transform is named after him, while the fundamental aerodynamical theorem, the Kutta–Joukowski theorem, is named after both him and German mathematician Martin Kutta.

Life

Zhukovsky was born in the village of Orekhovo, Vladimir Governorate, Russian Empire. In 1868 he graduated from Moscow University where he studied under August Davidov. From 1872 he was a professor at the Imperial Technical School. In 1904, he established the world's first Aerodynamic Institute in Kachino near Moscow. He was influenced by both Ernst Mach and his son Ludwig Mach. From 1918 he was the head of TsAGI (Central AeroHydroDynamics Institute).

Zhukovsky was the first scientist to explain mathematically the origin of aerodynamic lift, through his circulation hypothesis, the first to establish that the lift force generated by a body moving through an ideal fluid is proportional to the velocity and the circulation around the body. He is credited with the Joukowsky airfoil - an ideal shape of the aerodynamic profile having as essential elements a rounded nose (leading edge), double surface (finite thickness), cambered or symmetrical, and a sharp trailing edge. He built the first wind tunnel in Russia. He was also responsible for the eponymous water hammer equation used by civil engineers.

He published a derivation for the maximum energy obtainable from a turbine in 1920, at the same time as German scientist Albert Betz. This is known controversially as Betz's law, as this result was also derived by British scientist Frederick W. Lanchester. This is a famous example of Stigler's law of eponymy.

In December 1918 at Zhukovsky's proposal and with his active participation, the Soviet government founded the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), of which he became the first head. At the same time, theoretical courses for military pilots were founded, later transformed into the Moscow Aviation Technical College. The Institute of Engineers of the Red Air Fleet was established on its base in 1920, and in May 1922 it became the Air Force Engineering Academy named after Zhukovsky.

Zhukovsky died in Moscow in 1921.