Caltech Library News

A New Oral History of Wolfgang Knauss

Wolfgang Knauss, Caltech’s von Kármán Professor of Aeronautics and Applied Mechanics, Emeritus, shares recollections of his life and career in a newly published oral history. Knauss, who is internationally known for his pioneering research in fracture mechanics, talks about Caltech’s GALCIT program, his work with NASA, the aerospace industry, and the US Navy, and his lifelong interest in music, among many other topics. Born in Germany in 1933, the year Hitler came to power, he also recalls his childhood experiences under the Nazi regime and during World War II. In 1954, he emigrated to the United States and began undergraduate studies at Caltech, commencing a relationship that has spanned nearly seven decades.