Ilse Essers (24 September 189818 February 1994), was a German engineer who established essential foundations in the field of aeronautical engineering.

Biography

Ilse Essers was born Ilse Kober in 1898. She was the daughter of Anne Boeltz and Theodore Kober who worked on the

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

airship. Before going to college, Essers established a new method for calculating measures against the buckling of steel girders. She studied physics in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

before moving on to study engineering in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

and graduated in 1926. Essers moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

where she worked in the aerodynamics department of the Aviation Research Institute. While there Essers discovered how the balance on flaps and rudders affected wing vibrations. She was the first woman awarded a doctorate in mechanical engineering there for her research in 1929. Essers married Ernst Essers in 1929 and had four children after 1930. She continued to work and write. She wrote an autobiography and a series of books on the pioneers of science. Essers moved several times from

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

in 1929 to

in 1944 and

Radolfzell Radolfzell am Bodensee is a town in Germany at the western end of Lake Constance approximately 18 km northwest of Konstanz. It is the third largest town, after Constance and Singen, in the district of Konstanz, in Baden-Württemberg. Rado ...

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

before returning to

in 1946. She died in Aachen in 1994. An award in her name is given out each year to women students. Ilse-Essers-Strasse is a street in Munich named for her.

Bibliography

* Max Valier - A pioneer of space travel * Hermann Ganswindt * Investigation of wing vibrations in the wind tunnel * Technology on my life path: as a woman and engineer in the early days of aviation technology * From airship to glider: an overview of the beginnings of flight technology

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Essers, Ilse 1898 births 1994 deaths