Theodore von Karman was a Hungarian-born engineer and physicist who was active primarily in the fields of aeronautics during the seminal era in the 1940s and 1950s. Von Karman was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1881, and as early as six years of age was recognized as a mathematical prodigy. He won the prestigious Eotvos Lorand Prize for the best student in mathematics and science in the entire country upon his graduation from the Minta Gymnasium in Budapest at the age of 16. Von Karman was the third of five children of Maurice and Helene von Karman. His father, a professor at the University of Budapest and commissioner of the Ministry of Education.

He studied engineering at the city's Royal Joseph Technical University, known today as Budapest University of Technology and Economics. In 1963, he was awarded the first National Medal of Science by President John Kennedy. He died that same year in Aachen, Germany.