Richard V. Rhode (March 2, 1904 – November 13, 1994) was an American

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is sim ...

at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, who researched aerodynamic loading.R. V. Rhode and E. E. Lundquist (1931)
Strength tests on paper cylinders in compression bending and shear
.

NACA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...

TN-370. Retrieved January 29, 2018.R. V. Rhode and E. E. Lundquist (1931)
Preliminary study of applied load factors in bumpy air
.

TN-374.R. V. Rhode and E. E. Lundquist (1931)
The pressure distribution over a semicircular wing tip on an airplane in flight
.

TN-379.R. V. Rhode (1931)
The pressure distribution over the wings and tail surfaces of a PW-9 pursuit airplane in flight
.

TN-364. He was awarded the

Wright Brothers Medal The Wright Brothers Medal was conceived of in 1924 by the Dayton Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the SAE established it in 1927 to recognize individuals who have made notable contributions in the engineering, design, developmen ...

in 1937 for this work. He continued doing secret aerodynamics-related research work during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the results of which were later

declassified Declassification is the process of ceasing a protective classification, often under the principle of freedom of information. Procedures for declassification vary by country. Papers may be withheld without being classified as secret, and event ...

.R. V. Rhode (1944)
Correlation of flight data on limit pressure coefficients and their relation to high-speed burbling and critical tail loads
.

Advance Confidential Report L4127.

Early life and education

Rhode was born on 2 March 1904 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

in 1925.

Career

After gradation he joined the NACA as an aeronautical engineer at the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory. He married Frances Elizabeth May in 1929 and had 4 children:I Elizabeth May, Mary Diana (deceased), Joseph George, II and Richard Valentine, Jr. In 1945 he became chief of the aircraft loads division. In 1949 he transferred to the NACA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and became assistant director for research (aircraft construction and operating problems). When NASA came into existence in 1958, he became assistant director for advanced design criteria in the space vehicle technology division. There, he was responsible for advanced technology supporting the development of space vehicles.

Legacy

He retired in early 1967 and was awarded the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement. He died on 13 November 1994 in North Carolina.

References

External links

Research Papers
from the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

Technical Reports Server American aerospace engineers 1904 births 1994 deaths Engineers from Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering alumni 20th-century American engineers {{US-mechanical-engineer-stub