Olof Ljungström (flygingenjör) 1918-2013

Gustaf Olof "Olle" Ljungström (1918-2013) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

. He was a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

in aircraft design at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

in the United States.

Biography

Olof Ljungström was born in 1918 as the son of

Fredrik Ljungström Fredrik Ljungström (16 June 1875 – 18 February 1964) was a Swedish engineer, technical designer, and industrialist. Considered one of the foremost inventors of Sweden, Fredrik Ljungström accounted for hundreds of technical patents alon ...

and Signe (née Söderberg). He studied at

Whitlockska samskolan Whitlockska samskolan was a Sweden, Swedish private secondary school in Östermalm, Stockholm. The school had its origin as a girls' school founded by the pedagogue and suffragette Anna Whitlock in 1878. In 1893, Whitlock and Ellen Key re-establ ...

, and studied

aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies ...

at the

Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. He undertook military service as an

automotive engineer Automotive engineering, along with aerospace engineering and naval architecture, is a branch of vehicle engineering, incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software, and safety engineering as applied to the design, manufactu ...

in the

Swedish Air Force The Swedish Air Force ( sv, Svenska flygvapnet or just ) is the air force branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. History The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July, 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the es ...

in 1939 and 1940. He acquired a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

and

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

technology at the Royal Institute of Technology in 1973. Ljungström made contributions as an engineer in both his family businesses, notably in

shale oil extraction Shale oil extraction is an industrial process for unconventional oil production. This process converts kerogen in oil shale into shale oil by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. The resultant shale oil is used as fuel oil or up ...

, and beyond. He was recruited for the aircraft development at

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

. As a technical engineer, he worked with models from

Saab 17 The Saab 17 is a Swedish single-engine monoplane reconnaissance dive-bomber aircraft of the 1940s originally developed by ASJA prior to its merger into Saab. It was the first all-metal stressed skin aircraft developed in Sweden. Design and dev ...

and

Saab 29 Tunnan The Saab 29 ''Tunnan'', colloquially ''Flygande tunnan'' or just ''Tunnan'' ( en, "The flying barrel", "The barrel"),. is a Swedish fighter that was designed and manufactured by Saab in the late 1940s. It was the second turbojet-powered combat ...

Saab 35 Draken The Saab 35 Draken (; 'The Kite' or 'The Dragon') is a Swedish fighter-interceptor developed and manufactured by Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (SAAB) between 1955 and 1974. Development of the Saab 35 Draken started in 1948 as the Swedish air fo ...

, the latter which was originally due to employ the

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...

STAL Dovern The STAL Dovern was a Swedish turbojet design of the early 1950s, named after a lake in Finspång municipality in Östergötland, Sweden. Intended to power the Saab 35 Draken, this aircraft was powered by the Rolls-Royce Avon instead. The Dov ...

. He also spearheaded the development of the

hovercraft A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...

Saab 401 The Saab 401 MEFA was an experimental air-cushioned vehicle with a weight of 2 tons and capable of about 40 knots on open water with two people on board. A single prototype was built under contract to the Swedish Navy. The craft was first test ...

for the

Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels o ...

during the 1960s. Due to his wide knowledge in the field, he was appointed

in aircraft design at

1966-1967 and the

1968, both in the United States. Furthermore, Ljungström was an international pioneer in

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...

. He initiated the governmental project of

wind power in Sweden Sweden consumes about 150 terawatt hours of electricity per year, of which about 19.8 TW·h (14.2%) was generated from domestic wind power resources in 2019, up from 2.4% in 2010 and 0.3% in 2000. In its official forecast , the Swedish Win ...

at Styrelsen för teknisk utveckling in 1974. Ljungström has contributed as technical writer and editor in ''Teknisk Tidskrift'' (1960-1975), among other publications. Having worked close to his father Fredrik Ljungström, he wrote an extensive biography on him, ''Fredrik Ljungström 1875-1964 - Uppfinnare och inspiratör'', in 1999.

Distinctions

* Sweden: Honorary member of the Swedish Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ljungstrom, Olof 20th-century Swedish engineers Engineers from Stockholm Swedish military engineers KTH Royal Institute of Technology alumni KTH Royal Institute of Technology faculty Stanford University Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics faculty California Institute of Technology faculty People associated with wind power Olof 1918 births 2013 deaths