Adolf Busemann
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Adolph Busemann (* 20 April 1901 in Lübeck, † 3 November 1986 in Boulder, Colorado) was an influential early pioneer in aerodynamics, specialising in supersonic airflows.
Born in Luebeck, Germany he originated the concept of swept winged aircraft which he presented at the Volta Congress in Rome in 1935, which led to the F-86, Soviet MIG-15 and many other modern aircraft. At the time of his proposal flight much beyond 300 miles per hour had not been achieved, and it was considered an academic curiosity. However, Busemann's sweep was kept ahead of the Mach cone in the supersonic airflow[1], unlike the later concept of Robert T. Jones.
He also did early work on magneto-hydrodynamics in the 1920s, as well as his work on cylindrical focusing of shock waves and non-steady gas dynamics. He invented Busemann's Biplane a supersonic design that emits no sonic shockwaves.
He held a professorship at the University of Colorado from 1963 and suggested the use of ceramic tiles on the space shuttle which were used.[2]
