List Of Aerospace Engineers - Famous Aerospace Engineers

This is a list of notable aerospace engineers, people who were trained in or practiced aerospace engineering.

See also List of engineers for people from other disciplines.

A

• Clément Ader
• Neil Armstrong (1930â€"2012) - first man on the moon
• A.P.J Abdul Kalam (1930â€"2015) - Missile Man of India
• Ron Ayers - designer of ThrustSSC, the first land-based vehicle to break the sound barrier

B

• V. P. Barmin - designer of the rocket launch complex
• Frank Barnwell (1880â€"1938) - chief engineer, Bristol Aeroplane Company
• Thomas W. Benoist (1874â€"1917) - early airline entrepreneur
• Charles Bolden - NASA Administrator
• Ludwig Bölkow - aerodynamicist for the Me 262
• Frank Borman (born March 14, 1928) - first man to circle the moon
• Yvonne Brill (1924â€"2013) - electrothermal hydrazine thruster
• Adolf Busemann - swept wing

C

• Sir Sydney Camm
• Giovanni Caproni (1886â€"1957)
• Sir George Cayley - notable for his research in aerodynamics
• Clyde Cessna (1879â€"1954) - early aircraft designer
• Roy Chadwick
• Roger Chaffee - Apollo 1 fire victim
• Kalpana Chawla (1961â€"2003) - died in Columbia disaster
• Vladimir Chelomei
• Henri Coandă - inventor of the jet engine
• Nicholas Comper (1897â€"1939) - designer of the Comper Swift
• Philip M. Condit - former CEO of Boeing
• Scott Crossfield
• Glenn Curtiss

D

• Leonardo da Vinci (1452â€"1519)
• Werner Dahm
• Marcel Dassault (1892â€"1986)
• Serge Dassault (1925â€")
• Geoffrey de Havilland (1882â€"1965)
• Juan de la Cierva - inventor of the autogyro
• Satish Dhawan (1920â€"2002)
• Paul Bernard Dilworth (1915â€"2007)
• Heini Dittmar (1911â€"1960) - record-breaking pilot
• Claudius Dornier
• Donald W. Douglas
• Iain Dowie
• Sir George Dowty
• Alberto Santos Dumont (1873â€"1932) - inventor of the dirigible; aeronautics pioneer
• Pedro Duque

E

• Joe Engle
• Walter Extra

F

• Maxime Faget (1921â€"2004) - designer of the Project Mercury spacecraft
• Charles Richard Fairey - founder of the Fairey Aviation company
• Roy Fedden - British engine designer for Bristol Engine Company
• Gerhard Fieseler - German aircraft designer
• Anton Flettner
• Anthony Fokker (1890â€"1939)
• Henry Folland

G

• Giuseppe Gabrielli (1903â€"1987) - Italian aircraft designer
• Valentin Glushko
• Robert Goddard
• Tadeusz Góra
• Jay Greene
• Bartolomeu de Gusmão - Portuguese priest; aircraft designer

H

• Wolfgang Haack
• B. J. Habibie
• Raoul Hafner
• Harry Hawker
• Edward H. Heinemann
• Ernst Heinkel
• Homer Hickam
• Peter K. Homer
• Stanley Hooker
• Jiro Horikoshi (1903â€"1982) - chief engineer for the Mitsubishi A6M
• Howard Hughes - aerospace engineer, cineast, entrepreneur
• Rick Husband - died in the Columbia disaster
• François Hussenot - inventor of one of the early forms of the flight recorder

J

• Clarence "Kelly" Johnson (1910â€"1990)
• Robert T. Jones
• Hugo Junkers (1859â€"1935) - pioneered the design of all-metal airplanes

K

• A.P.J Abdul Kalam (born October 15, 1931) - former President of India
• Dutch Kindelberger
• Klapmeier brothers
• Ave K. Kludze, Jr.
• Sergey Korolev
• Chris Kraft
• Eugene Kranz - aeronautical engineer
• Dietrich Küchemann

L

• Samuel Pierpont Langley - aircraft
• Otto Lilienthal
• Alexander Lippisch
• Per Lindstrand - balloons and other aircraft
• Glynn Lunney (1936â€" )

M

• Paul MacCready
• Ernst Mach (1838â€"1916)
• Elsie MacGill (1905â€"1980)
• Frederick Marriott (1805â€"1884)
• Mark D. Maughmer
• William C. McCool - died in Columbia disaster
• Sean McMahon - aeronautical engineer
• Wilhelm Messerschmitt (1898â€"1978)
• R. J. Mitchell
• Montgolfier brothers
• John J. Montgomery
• Albert Mooney

N

• Gerhard Neumann - engineer for General Electric; contributed to the design of the J79

O

• Hermann Oberth (1894â€"1989)

P

• Richard Pearse - early New Zealand aircraft builder
• W. E. W. (Teddy) Petter
• Percy Pilcher
• Curtis Pitts (1915â€"2005)
• Paul Poberezny (1921â€"2013) - founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association
• Boris Popov - invented one of the first successful aircraft ballistic parachute systems
• Henry Potez
• Herman Potočnik (1892â€"1929)
• Ludwig Prandtl

R

• Wilfrid Thomas Reid (1887â€"1968)
• Judith Resnik
• Osborne Reynolds (1842â€"1912)
• Ben Rich - director of Lockheed's Skunk Works; contributed to SR-71 and F-117 development
• John M. Riebe (1921â€"2011)
• Robert brothers - balloonists
• Sir Alliott Verdon Roe
• Jan Roskam
• Ludwig Roth
• Edward J. Ruppelt (1923â€"1960) - director of Project Blue Book
• Burt Rutan
• Tubal Claude Ryan (1898â€"1982) - founder of the Ryan Aeronautical Company

S

• Nevil Shute - aeronautical engineer and author
• Igor Sikorsky - pioneered helicopters
• Ozires Silva - Brazilian founder of Embraer
• Herbert Smith - designer of the Sopwith Triplane
• Sir Tom Sopwith - Sopwith Aviation Company
• Joe Sutter (1921-2016) - chief engineer for the Boeing 747
• Victor Szebehely - aerospace engineering and celestial mechanics

T

• Kurt Tank - design engineer for Focke-Wulf
• Moulton Taylor - experimental aircraft pioneer
• Theodore Theodorsen - aerodynamicist at NACA
• Richard Truly - former astronaut and head of NASA
• Andrei Tupolev - founder of OKB Tupolev

U

V

• Richard VanGrunsven - prolific kit aircraft engineer
• Aurel Vlaicu
• Wernher von Braun (1912â€"1977) - German rocket pioneer
• Theodore von Kármán (1881â€"1963)
• Hans von Ohain (1911â€"1998)
• Traian Vuia - first flight with no other ground devices

W

• Dwane L. Wallace (1911â€"1989) - early Cessna CEO and designer
• Sir Barnes Wallis (1887â€"1979)
• Ken Wallis MBE - autogyro
• Hellmuth Walter (1900â€"1980) - rocket engines
• Johanna Weber
• Fred Weick
• Edward Curtis Wells (1910â€"1986)
• Richard Whitcomb
• Sir Frank Whittle (1907â€"1996) - pioneer of the jet engine
• StanisÅ‚aw Wigura (1901â€"1932)
• Steve Wittman (1904â€"1995) - air-racer and aircraft designer
• Wright brothers

X

• Qian Xuesen

Y

• Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev - founder of OKB Yakovlev

Z

• Engelbert Zaschka (1895â€"1955) - one of the first German helicopter pioneers
• Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838â€"1917)
• Henri Ziegler - father of the Airbus program
• Robert Zubrin