He conceived and directed the design, construction and testing of the United States' first successful high altitude sounding rocket, the WAC Corporal (White Sands, New Mexico, 1944-1945). In 1994, he was a co-founder, with the noted aeronautical engineer, Theodore von Kármán, of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, California), and was its first director from 1944 to 1946. in Aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) in 1940 with a thesis on rocket propulsion and rocket flight. He became interested in rocket engineering in the 1930s, when rocketry and space travel were scoffed at as 'science-fiction dreams'. Malina obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University in 1934. He was internationally famous for his work on early rocket development, his pioneering contribution to Kinetic Art, his creation and development of the journal Leonardo, and his lifelong efforts to promote international cooperation in science and technology and the visual arts.īorn in 1912 in Brenham, Texas (U.S.A.), Frank J. Malina was a rare combination of scientist-artist-editor-humanist. Malina, the Founder-Editor of Leonardo, died of a heart attack on 9 November 1981 at his home in Boulogne sur Seine, a suburb of Paris, France.
The Editors of Leonardo are deeply grieved to announce that Dr.
