{{Short description|Romanian engineer and aircraft designer (1901–1983)}} [[File:Elie Carafoli.jpg|thumb]] '''Elie Carafoli''' (September 15, 1901, [[Veria]], [[Salonica Vilayet]], [[Ottoman Empire]]–October 24, 1983, [[Bucharest]], [[Romania]]) was an accomplished Romanian [[engineer]] and aircraft designer. He is considered a pioneering contributor to the field of [[aerodynamics]].
== Biography == === First years, education === Carafoli was of [[Aromanians|Aromanian]] descent. In 1915, he left Greece for [[Bitola]], and then Bucharest, where he studied at [[Gheorghe Lazăr National College (Bucharest)|Gheorghe Lazăr High School]]. In 1919 he entered [[University Politehnica of Bucharest]], graduating with a degree in [[electrical engineering]]. He pursued his studies at the [[University of Paris]], while also working at the [[Institut aérotechnique]] in [[Saint-Cyr-l'École]], [[France]]. He obtained a [[Ph.D.]] in 1928, with a thesis entitled ''Contribution to the theory of aerodynamic lift''.
=== Activity in Romania === In 1928, Carafoli returned to Bucharest, where he joined the faculty at the [[Polytechnic University of Bucharest|Polytechnic University]], and founded the Aerodynamics chair; later in 1936 he was promoted to full professor. It was here that he built the first [[wind tunnel]] in South-Eastern Europe, and elaborated some of the theory on which calculations of [[wing]] profiles of [[supersonic aircraft]] are based.<ref name="acad">[http://www.acad.ro/academia2002/acadrom/pag05_09.htm "Technical Sciences"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214121140/http://www.acad.ro/academia2002/acadrom/pag05_09.htm |date=2007-12-14 }}, at the Romanian Academy</ref>
From 1930 to 1937 Carafoli worked at [[Industria Aeronautică Română]] in [[Braşov]]. Together with Lucién Virmoux from [[Blériot Aéronautique]], he designed the [[IAR CV-11]], a single-seat, low-wing [[monoplane]] [[fighter aircraft]]. A prototype was flown in 1931 by Captain Romeo Popescu, in an attempt at breaking the [[flight airspeed record]], but the plane crashed, and the pilot lost his life. Carafoli also designed the [[IAR 14]] and [[IAR 15]] aircraft, and later in 1937 initiated the development of the legendary [[IAR 80]] fighter aircraft, at the urging of [[Prime Minister of Romania|Prime Minister]] [[Armand Călinescu]].<ref>{{in lang|ro}} Ion Cernei, [http://www.timpul.mdl.net/Rubric.asp?idIssue=424&idRubric=4556 "IAR-80, legenda zburătoare românească şi părinţii ei basarabeni"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213074246/http://www.timpul.mdl.net/Rubric.asp?idIssue=424&idRubric=4556 |date=2007-12-13 }}, ''Timpul'', November 10, 2006</ref>
=== Recognition === In 1948, he was elected to the [[Romanian Academy]]. In 1949 he became director of the Institute of Applied Mechanics of the academy.
Carafoli was President of the [[International Astronautical Federation]] from 1968 to 1970.<ref name="acad"/><ref>[http://www.iafastro.com/index.php?id=86 "IAF Presidents"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210183653/http://www.iafastro.com/index.php?id=86 |date=2007-12-10 }}, at the International Astronautical Federation</ref> In 1971, he reorganized, along with [[Henri Coandă]], the Department of Aeronautical Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, spinning it off from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Carafoli was awarded the [[Louis Charles Breguet|Louis Breguet]] Prize (Paris, 1927), the [[Carl Friedrich Gauss|Gauss]] Medal, and the [[Apollo 11]] Medal (1971).
== Selected publications == * {{cite book |author=Carafoli, Elie |title=Recherches expérimentales sur les ailes monoplanes (exécutées à l'Institut aérotechnique de Saint-Cyr) |publisher=E. Blondel La Rougery |location=Paris |year=1932 |oclc=6705912 }} * {{cite book |author=Carafoli, Elie |title=High-speed aerodynamics, compressible flow |publisher=Pergamon Press |location=New York |year=1956 |oclc=1455552 }} * {{cite book |author1=Nastase, Adriana |author2=Carafoli, Elie |author3=Mateescu, Dan |title=Wing theory in supersonic flow |publisher=Pergamon Press |location=New York |year=1969 |isbn=0-08-012330-9 }}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{in lang|ro}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20061006041227/http://www.incas.ro/english/people/elie_carafoli/elie%20carafoli.htm "Academician Elie Carafol"] – short bio, at incas.ro * {{in lang|ro}} [http://www.aviatori.ro/v2/dict_pers.php?sel=C "Elie Carafoli"] – short bio, at aviatori.ro
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carafoli, Elie}} [[Category:1901 births]] [[Category:1983 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Romanian inventors]] [[Category:Aerodynamicists]] [[Category:Romanian aircraft designers]] [[Category:Romanian aerospace engineers]] [[Category:Aviation history of Romania]] [[Category:Members of the Romanian Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:Titular members of the Romanian Academy]] [[Category:Academic staff of the Politehnica University of Bucharest]] [[Category:Gheorghe Lazăr National College (Bucharest) alumni]] [[Category:Politehnica University of Bucharest alumni]] [[Category:University of Paris alumni]] [[Category:Greek people of Aromanian descent]] [[Category:Romanian people of Aromanian descent]] [[Category:People from Veria]] [[Category:People from Salonica vilayet]] [[Category:Aromanians from the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:Romanian expatriates in France]] [[Category:Greek emigrants to Romania]]