Paul Kollsman

Paul Kollsman (February 22 1900 in Germany – March 17 1982 in Beverly Hills, California) was an American inventor. He invented barometers and instruments for the blind flight of airplanes.

Kollsman studied civil engineering in Stuttgart und Munich. In 1923 he emigrated from Germany to the USA. He worked as lorry-driver until he found a position at Pioneer Instruments Co. in Brooklyn/New York. In 1928 he founded his own company Kollsman Instruments Co. with $500 starting money. He was searching a long time until James Doolittle tested his instruments in a real flight. His intruments were needful in the Apollo programme of the NASA. 1944 he married Julie Dorothea Baronin von Bodenhausen in New York City. Kollsman died in 1982.

Sources:

• www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0931166.html
• www.thepeerage.com/p9503.htm
• www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0931166.html
• web.mit.edu/invent/iow/kollsman.html