Ferdinand Freudenstein (12 May 1926 – 30 March 2006) was an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and

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 limit ...

known as the "Father of Modern Kinematics." Freudenstein applied digital computation to the

kinematic synthesis In mechanical engineering, kinematic synthesis (also known as mechanism synthesis) determines the size and configuration of mechanisms that shape the flow of power through a mechanical system, or machine, to achieve a desired performance. The wo ...

mechanism Mechanism may refer to: * Mechanism (engineering), rigid bodies connected by joints in order to accomplish a desired force and/or motion transmission *Mechanism (biology), explaining how a feature is created *Mechanism (philosophy), a theory that ...

s. In his Ph.D. dissertation, he developed what became known as the Freudenstein equation, which uses a simple algebraic method to synthesize planar four-bar function generators.

Early life

Ferdinand Freudenstein was born into a Jewish family, on May 12, 1926, in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He was the son of a successful merchant George Freudenstein and Charlotte Rosenberg. At the age of ten, Freudenstein — along with his parents and two sisters — fled

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

for refuge in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In the spring of 1937, Freudenstein moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

after having spent six months in the city of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. In England, he joined his brother and studied in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. During Hitler's blitzkrieg, Freudenstein temporarily moved to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, England, for safety, and then spent several years in Llandudno,

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

. Meanwhile, his father and brother were sent to exile in Australia by the British government which regarded all adult male German citizens as enemy of the state. In 1942, when he was 16 years old, Ferdinand with his mother and two sisters sailed from England to

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

where they remained for six weeks before moving permanently to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Education

Arriving in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1942, Freudenstein enrolled in

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, studying two years before joining the US Army. After the army, he used the financial assistance granted by the GI Bill to study at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, where he earned his M.S. in mechanical engineering in 1948. After receiving his M.S., Freudenstein worked as a development engineer for the American Optical Company in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. After two years, Freudenstein decided to pursue a Ph.D. degree in

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

under the supervision of H. Dean Baker.

Career

In 1954, Freudenstein was appointed as the associate professor of mechanical engineering in Columbia. Then in 1958, he was promoted to the chair of the university's Department of Mechanical Engineering and then full-ranking professor in 1959. Under his leadership, Columbia attracted numerous academics including mathematician Oenne Bottema and British mathematician Eric Primrose. In 1985, Freudenstein became Columbia's Higgins Professor of Mechanical Engineering, a position which he held until his retirement. While working as a faculty at Columbia, Freudenstein also consulted for

Bell Telephone Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

, IBM, and General Motors. His many consultations were later made into open publications. As a professor, Freudenstein mentored many Ph.D. students, including current Stanford professor of mechanical engineering Bernard Roth, engineer George Sandor, and Texas A&M professor Norris Stubbs, a former Olympic sprinter. Freudenstein’s teaching became so influential across the world that a Freudenstein Academic Tree was created in his honor: His Ph.D. students, in turn, mentored younger students, so that — at the time of Freudenstein’s death — over 500 academics could claim membership in the Freudenstein "family tree." Freudenstein's prominence in the field of kinematics of mechanisms inspired the publication of ''Modern Kinematics: Developments in the Last Forty Years'', written during the celebration of his 65th birthday.

Awards and recognition

Freudenstein was elected member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

in 1979. He is an honorary fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the a ...

and a recipient of the Egleston Medal conferred by Columbia University. Freudenstein had served on the advisor panels of the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

and the

United States Army Research Laboratory The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL) is the U.S. Army's foundational research laboratory. ARL is headquartered at the Adelphi Laboratory Center (ALC) in Adelphi, Maryland. Its largest sing ...

References

External links