- Birthdate
- 1919/12/14
- Birthplace
- Wartha, Germany
- Death date
- September 2011
- Associated organizations
- NASA Lewis Research Center, IEEE
- Fields of study
- Physics, Electrical Engineering
- Awards
- 1973 NASA Award for his work "Technique for Refocusing, Decompressing and Conditioning Spent Electron Beams", 1974 NASA medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement for work on depressed collector for TWT.
Biography
Born in 1919 in Wartha, Germany, Dr. Heinrich Kosmahl earned a degree from the University of Dresden in 1943 and a doctorate from the University of Darmstadt in 1949, where he was an assistant professor in 1949 and 1950. Dr. Kosmahl then worked as a research physicist from 1950 to 1956 before emigrating to the US.
Dr. Kosmahl joined NASA’s Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio in 1963 as a member of the Space Technology Division’s Electromagnetic Technology Section. He focused much of his research on improving the efficiency of TWT’s for NASA. His pioneering work led to the Multi Stage Depressed Collector (MSDC) being used with Klystrons and other Vacuum Electron Devices. After his retirement in 1984 he was a consultant to Hughes Aircraft Co., Electron Dynamics division 1984 -1989 and to the USAF Aeronautical Systems and Space divisions.
A pioneer in the development of traveling wave tube technology, Dr. Kosmahl's many patents and achievements in the field are cited by engineers and organizations worldwide.
A complete biography of Dr. Kosmahl is available on the NASA webpage: https://www.nasa.gov/people-of-nasa/henry-kosmahl/
