Malina, Frank Joseph (Aerospace Engineer, Rocketry Pioneer, Artist)

Person

Staff Only

Dates

Existence: 1912 - 1981

Biographical/Historical

Background: Caltech Assistant Professor of Aeronautics, 1942-1946; Research Fellow, 1940-1942; Co-founder GALCIT Rocket Research Project; Co-founder Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL); Caltech alumnus (M.S., 1935 and 1936; Ph.D., 1940).

Biographical/Historical

Collection Notes: Oral history, 1978. This 27-page oral history focuses on Malina's work with rockets at Caltech in the late 1930s and his role as a founder of JPL. There is a short section on his life after moving to Paris.

Papers, 1912-1981 (on microfiche--originals on deposit at the Library of Congress). Notes on rocket propulsion, early technical papers, manuscripts, and reports dealing with jet propulsion and rocket projectiles, Aerojet correspondence and documents, files from his Caltech graduate student days, and correspondence with individuals and organizations, including the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) of which Malina was a founding member and early president. The latter part of the collection documents Malina's involvement in the art world, and in particular the interdisciplinary art journal Leonardo which Malina started in 1967.

Collection size: 624 microfiche cards.

Finding aid available.

Photo of Frank J. Malina (PhotoNet).

Found in 8 Collections and/or Records:

Frank Malina

File — Box Z23: Series II

Identifier: Z23

Scope and Contents

Includes general material as well as Memoir on the GALCIT Rocket Research Project, 1936-1938; and PhD thesis (original typescript), 1940.

Dates: 19th century to present

Found in: California Institute of Technology Archives and Special Collections / California Institute of Technology Historical Files / Series II: California Institute of Technology / Individuals

Frank Malina Oral History Interview with Mary Terrall, 1978-12-14 - 1978-12-14

Item

Dates: 1978-12-14 - 1978-12-14

Found in: California Institute of Technology Archives and Special Collections / Caltech Oral History Interviews / Uncategorized Items

Frank Malina Oral History Interview with Mary Terrall [sound recording], 1978-12-14 - 1978-12-14

Item

Scope and Contents Interview in one session with Mary Terrell, December 14, 1978. Frank J. Malina was research fellow (1940-1942) and assistant professor of aeronautics (1942-1946) at the California Institute of Technology. The interview begins with his arrival at Caltech as a graduate student in 1934 to begin a master's degree in mechanical engineering (MS, 1935). He then undertook a second master's in the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory, known as GALCIT and then under the direction of Theodore von Kármán....

Dates: 1978-12-14 - 1978-12-14