Nikolai Zhukovsky: Founder of Aeronautics

"The Father of Russian Aviation" - was how Professor Nikolai Zhukovsky (1847-1921) was named in a decree of the Council of People's Commissars signed by Lenin and issued on December 2, 1920, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his scientific activity. Indeed, Zhukovsky's contributions to Russian aviation were exceedingly great. He worked out important theories on which the calculations of modern aircraft are based; he trained a large number of qualified aviation engineers and research workers for Soviet aviation; he founded leading research and educational aviation institutions. An outstanding mathematician, Zhukovsky possessed exceptional ability in solving complex engineering problems. His researches covered a vast range of subjects. He contributed to science over 180 works dealing with the most varied problems of science and engineering. With equal success he conducted research work on problems of pure mathematics, theoretical mechanics, astronomy, ballistics, building mechanics, hydraulics, aerodynamics, the theory of the airplane, and more. Many of Zhukovsky's theories have won a permanent place in world science and are successfully applied by engineers throughout the world. His work presented a happy combination of theory and practice, and his findings always constituted a new step forward in the development of the given branch of science. Of particular significance for modern aerohydrodynamics was Zhukovsky's famous theorem of the lift of the wing, which he formulated in 1906.