Ilse Essers (24 September 189818 February 1994), was a German engineer who established essential foundations in the field of aeronautical engineering.

Biography

Ilse Essers was born Ilse Kober in 1898. She was the daughter of Anne Boeltz and Theodore Kober who worked on the

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155� ...

airship. Before going to college, Essers established a new method for calculating measures against the buckling of steel girders. She studied physics in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

before moving on to study engineering in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

and graduated in 1926. Essers moved to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

where she worked in the aerodynamics department of the Aviation Research Institute. While there Essers discovered how the balance on flaps and rudders affected wing vibrations. She was the first woman awarded a doctorate in mechanical engineering there for her research in 1929. Essers married Ernst Essers in 1929 and had four children after 1930. She continued to work and write. She wrote an autobiography and a series of books on the pioneers of science. Essers moved several times from

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

in 1929 to

in 1944 and

Radolfzell Radolfzell am Bodensee (, ) is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located at the western end ( Zeller Lake) of Lake Constance, approximately northwest of the city of Konstanz (Constance). It is the third largest town, after Ko ...

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

before returning to

in 1946. She died in Aachen in 1994. An award in her name is given out each year to women students. Ilse-Essers-Strasse is a street in Munich named for her.

Bibliography

* Max Valier - A pioneer of space travel * Hermann Ganswindt * Investigation of wing vibrations in the wind tunnel * Technology on my life path: as a woman and engineer in the early days of aviation technology * From airship to glider: an overview of the beginnings of flight technology

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Essers, Ilse 1898 births 1994 deaths