Arthur Kantrowitz
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Arthur Robert Kantrowitz (October 20, 1913 – November 29, 2008) was an American
scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...
,
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
, and
educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
. Kantrowitz grew up in
The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
and graduated from
DeWitt Clinton High School DeWitt Clinton High School is a public high school located since 1929 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Opened in 1897 in Lower Manhattan as an all-boys school, it maintained that status for 86 years before becoming co-ed in 1983. From i ...
.Overbye, Dennis
"Arthur R. Kantrowitz, Whose Wide-Ranging Research Had Many Applications, Is Dead at 95"
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', December 9, 2008. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
He earned his B.S., M.A. and, in 1947, his Ph.D. degrees in
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
from
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
.


Early life

Kantrowitz was born in New York City on October 28, 1913. His mother was a costume designer and his father ran a clinic in
the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
. As a child, Arthur built an electrocardiograph from old radio parts, working with his brother
Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the ma ...
(who would go on to perform the first
heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedure is to take a functioning heart ...
in the United States.)Hoffman, Jascha
"Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz, Cardiac Pioneer, Dies at 90"
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', November 19, 2008. Retrieved November 19, 2008.


Career

During his graduate studies at Columbia, Kantrowitz started working as a physicist in 1936 for the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its ...
(NACA), work he would continue for ten years. While obtaining his Ph.D., Kantrowitz was supervised by
Edward Teller Edward Teller (; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian and American Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of ...
. In 1938, he began construction of the Diffusion Inhibitor, the first known attempt to build a working
fusion power Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices d ...
reactor. The name was deliberately chosen to disguise its purpose, but it was eventually found out and the funding was cancelled. He went on to teach at
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
for the next ten years and later founded the Avco-Everett Research Lab (AERL) in Everett, Massachusetts, in 1955. He developed
shock tube : ''For the pyrotechnic initiator, see Shock tube detonator'' A shock tube is an instrument used to replicate and direct blast waves at a sensor or model in order to simulate explosions and their effects, usually on a smaller scale. Shock tube ...
s, which were able to produce the extremely hot gases needed to simulate atmospheric re-entry from orbital speeds, thereby solving the critical nose cone re-entry heating problem and accelerating the development of recoverable spacecraft. He was AERL's director, chief executive officer, and chairman until 1978 when he took on a professorship at
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
. From 1956 to 1978 he also served as a vice president and director of
Avco Corporation Avco Corporation is a subsidiary of Textron, which operates Textron Systems Corporation and Lycoming. History The Aviation Corporation was formed on March 2, 1929, to prevent a takeover of CAM-24 airmail service operator Embry-Riddle Compa ...
.


Scientific contributions

Kantrowitz's interdisciplinary research in the area of
fluid mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasma (physics), plasmas) and the forces on them. Originally applied to water (hydromechanics), it found applications in a wide range of discipl ...
and
gas dynamics Compressible flow (or gas dynamics) is the branch of fluid mechanics that deals with flows having significant changes in fluid density. While all flows are compressible, flows are usually treated as being incompressible when the Mach number (the ...
led to contributions in the field of
magnetohydrodynamics In physics and engineering, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD; also called magneto-fluid dynamics or hydro­magnetics) is a model of electrically conducting fluids that treats all interpenetrating particle species together as a single Continuum ...
and to the development of high-efficiency, high-power
lasers A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...
. He first suggested a system of
laser propulsion Laser propulsion is a form of beam-powered propulsion where the energy source is a remote (usually ground-based) laser system and separate from the reaction mass. This form of propulsion differs from a conventional chemical rocket where both energy ...
to launch bulk payloads into orbit, using energy from ground-based lasers to increase exhaust velocity and thereby reduce the propellant-to-payload mass ratio. His concepts on laser propulsion were published in 1988. His early research included
supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
diffusers and supersonic compressors in the early 40s, which has since been applied to jet engines. He invented the
total energy variometer In aviation, a variometer – also known as a rate of climb and descent indicator (RCDI), rate-of-climb indicator, vertical speed indicator (VSI), or vertical velocity indicator (VVI) – is one of the flight instruments in an aircraft used to in ...
in 1939, used in soaring planes, and is the co-inventor of an early scheme for magnetically contained
nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction, reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei combine to form a larger nuclei, nuclei/neutrons, neutron by-products. The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the rele ...
, patent application, 1941. In 1950, he invented a technique for producing the supersonic source for molecular beams; this was subsequently used by chemists in research that led to two
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
s. In the late 1950s, he returned to magnetic containment fusion, but abandoned that research in 1963, giving a paper saying he saw no way to address what he called "second order instabilities" that emerged in containment, leading to the
tokamak sawtooth A sawtooth is a relaxation that is commonly observed in the core of tokamak plasmas, first reported in 1974. The relaxations occur quasi-periodically and cause a sudden drop in the temperature and density in the center of the plasma. A soft-xra ...
effect, an important negative result. This result stood for decades, though the
ITER ITER (initially the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ''iter'' meaning "the way" or "the path" in Latin) is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject aimed at creating energy through a fusion process s ...
project has finally seen containment times measurable in minutes. In the 1960s and 1970s, he led the design and development at AERL of the first
intra-aortic balloon pump The intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) is a mechanical device that increases myocardial oxygen perfusion and indirectly increases cardiac output through afterload reduction. It consists of a cylindrical polyurethane balloon that sits in the aorta, ...
. The balloon pump is a temporary cardiac assist device which has been used worldwide on three million people. The device was used on his own failing heart. Another contribution to science was the
stagnation point In fluid dynamics, a stagnation point is a point in a flow field where the local velocity of the fluid is zero.Clancy, L.J. (1975), ''Aerodynamics'', Pitman Publishing Limited, London. The Bernoulli equation shows that the static pressure is hi ...
flow experiment in which processes of initial interaction of fresh flowing blood with an artificial surface can be directly visualized under a high-power microscope. This technique has become an important method for experimentally studying this vital interaction and led to a variety of circulatory prostheses, including the artificial heart. Kantrowitz, as an advocate of the separation of science and technology from political or ideological concerns, first proposed in 1967 the creation of an Institution for Scientific Judgment, commonly referred to as the Science Court, to assess the state of knowledge in
scientific controversies Sustained scientific debate, sometimes scientific controversy or persistent disagreement, is any a substantial disagreement among scientists. A scientific controversy may involve issues such as the interpretation of data, which ideas are most s ...
of importance to public policy. He further developed the Science Court as its Task Force Chairman in President Ford's Advisory Group on Anticipated Advances in Science and Technology, 1975–1976. According to
Jerry Pournelle Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and ergonomics, human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. ...
, "We could have developed all this .e. large scale commercial space developmentin the 60s and 70s, but we went another path. Arthur Kantrowitz tried to convince Kennedy's people that the best way to the Moon was through development of manned space access, a von Braun manned space station, and on to the Moon in a logical way that left developed space assets."


Kantrowitz limit

Kantrowitz is known for development of a theoretical concept of fluid choke points at
supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
and near-supersonic inlet velocities. The concept has become known as the Kantrowitz limit.


Technical description


Applications

The Kantrowitz limit has many applications in the
gas dynamics Compressible flow (or gas dynamics) is the branch of fluid mechanics that deals with flows having significant changes in fluid density. While all flows are compressible, flows are usually treated as being incompressible when the Mach number (the ...
of inlet flow for
jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...
s and
rockets A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
, both when operating at high-subsonic and
supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
velocities. Two examples will explain the effect of the Kantrowitz Limit on a
nozzle A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe (material), pipe. A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross ...
. For both cases,
Mass flow rate In physics and engineering, mass flow rate is the Temporal rate, rate at which mass of a substance changes over time. Its unit of measurement, unit is kilogram per second (kg/s) in SI units, and Slug (unit), slug per second or pound (mass), pou ...
= Inlet Velocity multiplied by Area multiplied by Density. Consider a nozzle connected to a vacuum source. As the pressure ratio gets to about 2, the flow through the nozzle will approach the local speed of sound, and the flow becomes
choked flow Choked flow is a compressible flow effect. The parameter that becomes "choked" or "limited" is the fluid velocity. Choked flow is a Fluid dynamics, fluid dynamic condition associated with the Venturi effect. When a flowing fluid at a given pressu ...
. When the absolute pressure of the vacuum is decreased further, the flow speed will not increase. This is the Kantrowitz Limit, which limits the mass flow because the velocity is limited to the speed of sound, and the area, inlet pressure and density are all fixed. Aircraft jet engines are very much affected by this limit, once the inlet flow speed gets to Mach 1 the mass flow rate is limited, regardless of how much suction the engine creates. Next, consider the nozzle connected to a compressed air supply. With a pressure ratio of about 2, the flow becomes choked, and cannot exceed the speed of sound. But the density and resultant mass flow rate can be increased by increasing the inlet pressure. The greater the pressure, the greater the density, and the greater the mass flow. So, while Kantrowitz limits the maximum gas velocity, it does not apply any fixed limit to the mass flow rate. A recent high-speed transportation option for rapid transit between populous city-pairs about apart, the
Hyperloop Hyperloop is a proposed high-speed transportation system for both passengers and freight. The concept was published by entrepreneur Elon Musk in a 2013 white paper, where the hyperloop was described as a transportation system using capsules supp ...
, has the Kantrowitz limit as a fundamental design criterion. Attempting to pass a high-speed passenger-pod through a very low pressure tube runs squarely into the Kantrowitz fluid flow limit. Historically, the solutions to working within the limit have been "go fast" and "go slow". A major innovation in the Hyperloop proposal provides a novel third approach to remain below the Kantrowitz limit while still moving at high-subsonic velocities: adding a front-end inlet compressor to actively transfer high-pressure air from the front to the rear of the high-speed transport capsule, and thus bypassing much of the air that would have resulted in the dynamic shock of the
choked flow Choked flow is a compressible flow effect. The parameter that becomes "choked" or "limited" is the fluid velocity. Choked flow is a Fluid dynamics, fluid dynamic condition associated with the Venturi effect. When a flowing fluid at a given pressu ...
. The flow in the smaller duct through the capsule is also subject to the Kantrowitz Limit, this is relieved by increasing the pressure and the density to achieve the required mass flow. In the Hyperloop alpha design of 2013, the air-inlet pump also provides a low-friction air-bearing
suspension system Suspension is the system of tires, tire air, springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two. Suspension systems must support both road holding/ handling and ride q ...
for traveling at over .


Honors and awards

Kantrowitz was a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
,
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
,
American Astronautical Society Formed in 1954, the American Astronautical Society (AAS) is an independent scientific and technical group in the United States dedicated to the advancement of space science and space exploration. AAS supports NASA The National Aeronau ...
,
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecra ...
(honorary),
American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...
,
American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991, and headquartered in Washington, D.C. It represents 50,000 medical and Biomedical engineering, biomedical engineers, and academic i ...
and member of the
National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...
and
United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
and
International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is a Paris-based non-government association for the field of astronautics. It was founded in Stockholm, Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán. It was recognised by the United Nation ...
. In 1953–1954, he held both
Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
and
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
s at Cambridge and Manchester Universities. Kantrowitz was an honorary trustee of the
University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...
, an honorary life member of the Board of Governors of
The Technion ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
, and an honorary professor of the Huazhong Institute of Technology, Wuhan, China. Kantrowitz also served on the Board of Advisors for the
Foresight Institute The Foresight Institute (Foresight) is a San Francisco-based research non-profit that promotes the development of nanotechnology and other emerging technologies, such as safe AGI, biotech and longevity. Foresight runs four cross-disciplinary p ...
, an organization devoted to preparing for
nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...
. Kantrowitz held 21 patents and wrote or co-authored more than 200 scientific and professional papers and articles. He also co-authored ''Fundamentals of Gas Dynamics'', 1958, Princeton Univ. Press. Kantrowitz died at age 95, November 29, 2008, while visiting relatives in New York. He had suffered a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
on the previous day.


See also

*
Hyperloop pod competition The Hyperloop Pod Competition was an annual competition sponsored by SpaceX from 2015 to 2019 in which a number of student and non-student teams participated to design—and for some teams, build—a subscale prototype transport vehicle in orde ...
– practical ground transport vehicle prototypes dealing with the ''Kantrowitz limit''


References

* *


External links

* * * * Interviewed at Avco Everett Research Laboratory, Everett, Massachusetts. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kantrowitz, Arthur 1913 births 2008 deaths Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Engineers from New York (state) Cornell University faculty Thayer School of Engineering faculty Jewish American scientists DeWitt Clinton High School alumni 20th-century American engineers Fellows of the American Physical Society Columbia University School of General Studies alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni