On 17th January 1847, a Russian scientist, mathematician and engineer, as well as founding father of aerodynamics, was born.
Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky (Николай Егорович Жуковский, sometimes transliterated Joukovsky) was born in Orekhovo village, in the vicinity of Vladimir, Russia. He was born into a Russian military family – his grandfather was an officer who fought in the 1812 war; and his father, Staff Captain Yegor Zhukovsky, was a military engineer.
Nikolay Zhukovsky received a thorough education. Initially, he wanted to become a railroad engineer, but fulfilling that dream meant to study at university in St. Petersburg what was beyond his parents´ financial capabilities. Therefore, the young Zhukovsky chose the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, where the fees were lower.
In 1868, after graduating the university, Zhukovsky made another unsuccessful attempt to study railway engineering in St. Petersburg, but finally in 1870 he became the teacher of physics in one of Moscow gymnasiums.
Shortly after, Zhukovsky moved to the Imperial Moscow Technical School, one of the higher technical educational institutions in Russia, where he started to teach mathematics and mechanics. In 1874, he was appointed the associate professor and five years later, the supernumerary professor of mechanics.
Over the years, Zhukovsky continued his scientific career and successively became a professor of analytical mechanics and lectured practical mechanics and hydrodynamics at several universities in Moscow. In 1894, he became a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences and in 1905, the president of the Moscow Mathematical Society.
Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky is often called the ´father of Russian aviation´, in recognition of his merit in the field of aerodynamics and theory of flight.
Zhukovsky was the first scientist to mathematically explain the origin of aerodynamic lift. He is credited with conformal map showing principles of airfoil design, named the Joukovsky transform and defining the ideal shape of an aerodynamic profile, as well as the Kutta-Joukovsky theorem, one of the fundaments of the aerodynamics (together with German mathematician Martin Kutta).
In 1902, Zhukovsky supervised the construction of the first Russian wind tunnel. Two years later, he became the head of the first aerodynamics institution in Europe, financed by Russian millionaire and fluid dynamicist Dimitri Riabouchinsky, and established in Kuchino, near Moscow.
In 1908, at the aforementioned higher technical school, Zhukovsky founded the Aeronautical Club (Воздухоплавательный кружок). One year later, it turned into an official aerodynamics laboratory, with a dedicated test bureau established there in 1916. While working at this facility, Zhukovsky developed methods of calculation of aerodynamic and strength characteristics of aircraft, which soon were officially published.
In the meantime, Zhukovsky participated in creating ´Short Theoretical Aviation Courses´ (Краткие теоретические курсы авиации) that were launched in 1913 and soon transferred into the Moscow Aviation College (Московский авиационный техникум) and later the Institute of Engineers of the Red Air Fleet (Институт инженеров Красного воздушного флота).
Shortly afterwards, the Institute became the basis of two new educational and scientific entities – the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute and the Air Force Engineering Academy, established in 1918 and 1920, respectively.
An interesting fact is that both abovementioned institutions survived until the 21st century and were named after N.Y. Zhukovsky. The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute Zhukovsky / TsAGI (Центральный аэрогидродинамический институт имени профессора Н. Е. Жуковского) is still active and became the Russian national research centre for aerospace industry. The Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy (Военно-воздушная инженерная орденов Ленина и Октябрьской Революции Краснознамённая академия имени профессора Н. Е. Жуковского) existed until 2008, when it merged with the Gagarin Air Force Academy.
In 1920, on the 50th anniversary of Zhukovsky´s scientific work, the Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet Russia – with personal approval of V.I. Lenin – established the Zhukovsky Prize, an award for the milestone achievements in mathematics and mechanics.
At that time, Zhukovsky was already seriously ill. In addition, he suffered greatly after loss of his beloved daughter Lena, due to tuberculosis.
On 17th March 1921, Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky died in Usovo sanatiorium, at the age of 74.
Zhukovsky and his works had an enormous impact on aviation development and understanding of aerodynamics. Apart of his theoretical studies, he also managed to gather around him a group of enthusiasts in aeronautics who then became the pioneers of the Russian and world aviation.
In 1947, by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, a village in the Moscow area, formerly known as Stakhanovo, received a town status and was renamed Zhukovsky, in honour of the scientist. Shortly afterwards, the city of Zhukovsky became the centre of Russian aviation, with population exceeding 100 thousand inhabitants and the seat of Gromov Flight Research Institute, Scientific Research Institute of Avionics, National Aircraft Industry Centre, Myasishchev Experimental Machine-building Plant, several aviation design bureaus and, certainly, the TsAGI.
The Zhukovsky airfield is used as test ground by all the aforementioned aviation entities and additionally works as an international airport. Every two years, it also hosts the biggest aviation event in Russia, the International Aviation and Space Show MAKS (Международный авиационно-космический салон МАКС).
Several Soviet and then Russian aviation and scientific institutions were also named in honour of N.Y. Zhukovsky. There is also a Zhukovsky crater on the Moon and a mountain in Antarctica. In 1978, the Kharkiv Aviation Institute in now Ukraine was named after him, today known as National Aerospace University Zhukovsky – ´Kharkiv Aviation Institute´ (Національний аерокосмічний університет імені М. Є. Жуковського «Харківський авіаційний інститут»).
Cover photo: N.Y. Zhukovsky on a Soviet post stamp from 1963 (Wikipedia, Public Domain)
