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JACK N
.
1918-1990
NIELSEN
BY DEAN R. CHAPMAN
jACK N. NIELSEN, a pioneering developer of engineering meth-
ods for analyzing the aerodynamic characteristics and interfer-
ence effects of various aerospace configurations, died in his
sleep on October 31, 1990, at age approaching seventy-two.
During his forty-nine-year professional career, Jack contrib-
uted extensively to both government service and the aerospace
industry. Early in his career he served for thirteen years as a
research engineer with the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics (NACA), and near the end of his career served for
six years as chief scientist at the Ames Research Center of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In the
private sector, he was first a cofounder and director of research
of Vidya, Inc., and later the president and founder of Nielsen
Engineering and Research, Inc. In his professional activities, in
both government and private industry, Jack's main technical
contributions were to research and development of advanced
methods for the aerodynamic engineering of aerospace ve-
hicles.
lack was born on November 21, 191S, in Carnarvon, Wales,
the son of a captain of a merchant marine ship. Although born
in Great Britain, ~ack's family moved to the United States when
he was young, enabling him to become a naturalized U.S. citizen
at age twelve. He graduated from the University of California,
Berkeley, in 1941 with a B.S. in mechanical engineering, but
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146
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
soon thereafter served with the U.S. Army Engineers during
World War II. Following military service, Jack stuclied aeronau-
tics and mathematics at the California Institute of Technology,
receiving an M.S. in 1949, en cl two years later his Ph.D.
lack Nielsen is internationally renowned in aerospace engi-
neering, especially for his highly original contributions to mis-
sile aerodynamics. These began with his Ph.D. thesis research
wherein he developed a special set of transcendental mathemati-
cal functions that could be applied to analyze the effects of wing-
body-tail interference. In the 1950s relatively little was known
about missile aerodynamics except that the then existing body of
knowledge about aircraft aerodynamics could not be applied to
the greatly different shapes of missiles. Jack conducted many
aerodynamic research investigations during his years with the
NACAArnes Aeronautical Laboratory, leading to publication of
his book Missile Aerodynamics in 1960. Although published de-
cades ago, this book is still used regularly and is deemed a classic.
It has been translated into foreign languages, including Russian,
and has become a standard in the field.
During his years in private industry, Jack's research contribu-
tions continued and extended to a variety of other areas of
supersonic and subsonic aerodynamics. He made fundamental
contributions in the 1960s to methods of computing separated
flows on aircraft and missiles, and in the 1970s to methods of
computing vortex flows behind bodies and aircraft. He then
developed new methods for computing trajectories of store
separation from their carrier aircraft. Beginning in the 1970s
before the subject became popular, Jack pioneered in develop-
ing engineering methods for analyzing the nonlinear aerody-
namics of vehicles such as modern fighter aircraft that must
operate atvery high angles of attack. He also contributed several
key papers on orbital mechanics and atmosphere entry. Alto-
gether, lack published nearly two hundred technical papers
between 1943 and 1984, some on quite different subjects includ-
ing parawings, sail rotors, dispersion in estuaries, and wake
turbulence.
In recognition of his many fundamental contributions to
aerodynamics engineering, and to his status as the leading
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JACK N. NIELSEN
147
authority on missile aerodynamics in the United States, Jack was
selected in 1979 to present the distinguished Wright Brothers
Lecture of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronau-
tics. His subjectwas missile aerodynamics. Jack was a fellow of the
Royal Aeronautical Society and of the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was elected to the National
Academy of Engineering in 1985.
Jack did not confine his work to research accomplishments or
corporate entrepreneurship. The breadth of his professional
work is reflected in the various national committees he served
on: AIAA technical committees of fluid dynamics, of atmosphere
flight mechanics, and of missile systems; NASA committees for
aerodynamics stability and control, and for configurations and
aerodynamics; and U.S. Navy panels for gas dynamics and for
missile stability and performance.
In personal character, Jack Nielsen was a man very tolerant of
those whose life-styles and beliefs were far from his own. He was
always sympathetic to people less fortunate than most, and
invariably exhibited professional integrity without facade or
pretense. Very direct and forthright in his demeanor, Jack would
state clearly if something appeared good, and would not hesitate
to exclaim even more clearly, sometimes in deep stentorian
voice, if it did not.
His integrity and strong feelings about what he believed was
right were revealed early. United States participation in World
War II started shortly after his professional career began as a
young graduate mechanical engineer engaged in research at
NACAs Langley Field, Virginia. Jack felt strongly about his
country s war effort. Believing that he could contribute more
directly and effectively by being in the military service, Tack
resigned his comfortably secure research position with NACA,
and enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army. It was while serving
with the armed forces in Germany that he met Gisele, who
became his wife of more than four decades.
Individuals of the personal character, integrity, and profes-
sional capability of Jack Nielsen are not common. He is indeed
missed by his family, friends, professional colleagues, and em-
ployees of the company he founded.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
engineering methods
