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IN MEMORIAM
VICTOR G. SZEBEHELY
Victor Szebehely was one of a truly remarkable
group of immigrants who came to the United States from Hungary
as a result of the upheavals caused by the Second World War in
Europe. Among these were Theodore von Karman, who was the guiding
spirit of technology for the U.S. Air Force during the post World
War II years, John von Neumann, the inventor of the modern computer,
Eugene Wigner, who won a Nobel Prize for contributions to nuclear
physics, Edward Teller, the "father" of the Hydrogen
Bomb, and more recently, Andrew Grove, the current Chief Executive
Officer of INTEL Corporation. It is no exaggeration to say that
the history of our country would not have been the same without
them. Victor was a significant member of this group.
Victor Szebehely was born in Budapest in 1921.
He was educated in Budapest and received a Master of Science
in Mechanical Engineering in 1943 from the Budapest Technical
University and a Doctor of Science in Engineering from the same
university in 1946. Victor's Ph.D. thesis dealt with an analysis
of the three body problem and therefore foreshadowed his later
work on this most important subject. While in graduate school,
Victor served as a lecturer (Assistant Professor equivalent)
at the Budapest Technical University. In 1947, Victor left Hungary
and emigrated to the United States. While waiting to become a
U.S. citizen he served as Associate Professor of Applied Mechanics
at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He also held visiting and
temporary posts at the University of Maryland and George Washington
University. Upon becoming a U.S. citizen in 1954, Victor went
to work for the U.S. Navy in Washington, D.C. at the David Taylor
Model Basin where he headed the Ship Dynamics Branch. His work
on the motion of small warships in heavy seas was done during
this period and it was the first effort for which he received
international recognition. In 1956, he was awarded the Distinguished
Order of Merit by the Government of the Netherlands for applying
these results to the behavior of their naval vessels under the
stormy conditions that exist in the North Sea.
Victor Szebehely began his work on the U.S. Space
Program as a Manager of Space Mechanics at the General Electric
Missiles Space Division near Philadelphia in 1957. For the next
six years he worked on a number of programs of importance to
the U.S. Space exploration effort. It was here that he began
to apply the methods of treating the three body problem he had
developed as part of his thesis work to the problem of going
to the Moon. In 1963, Victor moved to Yale University as Associate
Professor of Astronomy and he continued his work and the application
of the restricted three body to the Apollo missions in the group
headed by Dirk Brouwer. He served on the Yale faculty until 1968
and then he moved to Texas to assume a position as Professor
in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
at The University of Texas at Austin. Eventually (in 1983), he
was appointed to the R.B. Curran Centennial Chair in Engineering.
In Austin, Victor continued his work on celestial
mechanics which involved the development of methods to navigate
spacecraft to the Moon and to other planets in the solar system.
In doing this work, he developed relationships with NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory and the NASA-Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center,
which have the missions of developing and operating spacecraft
for planetary exploration and developing spacecraft to carry
people, respectively. He made important contributions to the
development of both of these institutions.
In addition to his technical and scientific work,
Victor Szebehely also held significant leadership positions in
the University. The most important of these was his service as
Chairman of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering
Mechanics from 1977 to 1981.
Victor Szebehely was a widely known and respected
consultant. Among other organizations with which he worked were
the U.S. Air Force Space Command, the University of California's
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and the Institute for Defense Analysis
in Washington, D.C. He was also a member of a number of professional
and honorary societies. Victor was a fellow both of the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Association
for the Advancement of Science. He was a member of the American
Astronomical Association and in 1977 received the Dirk Brouwer
Award for Dynamical Astronomy from that organization. Victor
also served as president of the Commission on Celestial Mechanics
of the International Astronomical Union. He was a member of the
European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Literature, and in 1982
he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. In
1991, Victor was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree
by Eotvos University in Budapest. A few months before his death
in September 1997, he received an award for his work in Mathematical
Physics from the Academia Nazionale Dei Lincei in Rome.
Victor Szebehely was a prolific contributor to
professional journals with about 200 articles to his credit.
He also wrote or edited 18 books. Among these was a definitive
treatise on the three body problem, "Theory of Orbits: The
Restricted Problem of Three Bodies" (Academic Press, New
York and London, 1967). He also published a text book on celestial
mechanics, "Adventures in Celestial Mechanics" (University
of Texas Press, 1989). In 1994, Victor decided that a second
edition of the book might be appropriate and one of us (H.M.)
was asked by him to collaborate with him in this project. The
second edition of "Adventures in Celestial Mechanics" was
published in February 1998. Unfortunately, Victor never lived
to see the publication of this work. Victor Szebehely died at
his home in Austin on September 13, 1997.
Victor Szebehely was unique in his deep understanding
of celestial mechanics and in his ability to apply this knowledge
to the solution of practical problems. Victor did not hesitate
to tackle the toughest scientific question in his field, the
problem of three bodies. He had the intellectual courage to take
on the hardest challenges and the intellectual power to make
critical contributions of lasting value. In addition to being
a man of intellect, Victor was also a man of good will who was
respected and honored by all who knew him. He was a great man
whose influence was widespread. We were his colleagues who came
into his orbit, and we are grateful to have had the opportunity
to know him. We mourn him, and we miss him.
<signed>
Larry R. Faulkner, President
The University of Texas at Austin
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The General Faculty
This Memorial Resolution was prepared by a special
committee consisting of Professors Hans Mark (chair), Roger Broucke,
and Byron D. Tapley.
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