Wolfgang Gustav Knauss (12 December 1933 in Mandel at Bad Kreuznach ) is a German-born American engineer scientist. He was Theodore von Kármán Professor of Aeronautics and Applied Mechanics at Caltech.In 2010 he received the Timoshenko Medal for fundamental contributions to fracture mechanics, including fractures of the mixed type, dynamic breaks, interfacial adhesion and breaks, and the characterization of material behavior and failure at the micro scale with emphasis on experimental mechanics.