Peter Bielkowicz (1 February 1902 – 30 September 1993) was a physicist. He worked on designing the Apollo Lunar Module and many other projects. He developed and taught courses in many fields, including

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dy ...

, flight mechanics, ballistics, mathematics, and

astrodynamics Orbital mechanics or astrodynamics is the application of ballistics and celestial mechanics to the practical problems concerning the motion of rockets and other spacecraft. The motion of these objects is usually calculated from Newton's laws of ...

. He created the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT)'s first courses in space mechanics and

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in o ...

. He was a doctor of mathematics working in the Polish aircraft industry when

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 ...

overran

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. He evaded capture and made his way to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

only to be overrun again by the Germans. He escaped to Spain by crossing the Pyrenees Mountains on foot and then walked through Spain. Just as he was about to step onto British soil at

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, the Spanish police arrested him. After two years in a Spanish prison, he was set free when the

Allies of World War II The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy ...

defeated the

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. He worked in the British aircraft industry for a few years after the war, and later was recruited by 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 ...

while the

United States space program The United States has developed many space programs since the beginning of the spaceflight era in the mid-20th century. The United States Government delivers space program solutions from three primary agencies: NASA for civil space; DoD for Mil ...

was still in its infancy. Professor Bielkowicz joined the faculty of the

Air Force Institute of Technology The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) is a graduate school and provider of professional and continuing education for the United States Armed Forces and is part of the United States Air Force. It is in Ohio at Wright-Patterson Air For ...

School of Engineering in July 1953 as an Assistant Professor.Professor Emeritus Peter Bielkowicz
/ref> He worked on designing the Apollo Lunar Module and many other projects including reusable spacecraft. He developed and taught courses in many fields, including

, flight mechanics, ballistics, mathematics, and

. He created AFIT's first courses in space mechanics and

. His astrodynamics courses were a central focus of the AFIT astronautics program introduced in 1958. He also introduced orbital mechanics and familiarized his students with

Moulton Moulton may refer to: Places in the United Kingdom ;In England *Moulton, Cheshire * Moulton, Lincolnshire **Moulton Windmill * Moulton St Mary, Norfolk * Moulton, Northamptonshire ** Moulton College, agricultural college ** Moulton Park, indus ...

’s text on

celestial mechanics Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, to ...

. These classes taught missile trajectories and orbits. The missile ballistics class covered the ballistic flight solutions and various empirical solutions that had been developed.

Publications

* P. Bielkowicz, R. C. Horrigan and R. C. Walsh. "Manual onboard methods of orbit determination", Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 8, No. 3 (1971), pp. 284–289. https://doi.org/10.2514/3.30261 * P. Bielkowicz. "Ground tracks of earth-period /24-hr/ satellites." AIAA Journal, Vol. 4, No. 12 (1966), pp. 2190–2195. https://doi.org/10.2514/3.3875 * P. Bielkowicz, A.F.R.Ae.S., (1947) "The Evolution of Energy in Jet and Rocket Propulsion", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 19 Issue: 1, pp.19-26, https://doi.org/10.1108/eb031459

References

External links

Paradoxes in Astrodynamics.Air Force Institute of Technology Homepage
1902 births 1993 deaths Apollo program Polish aerospace engineers 20th-century Polish physicists {{USAF-bio-stub