PINKEL, BENJAMIN

PINKEL, BENJAMIN (1909–1992), U.S. aeronautical engineer. Pinkel was born in Gloversville, N.Y., and graduated in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (1930). He joined the National Advisory Council for Aeronautics where he was head of the engine analysis section (1938–42), the fuel and thermodynamic division (1945–50), and the materials and thermodynamic research division (1950–56). He was associate head of the aero-astronautics department of Rand Corporation from 1956. Pinkel was an early supporter of the superiority of jet propulsion and the gas turbine engine in aircraft design and a pioneer in rocket propulsion technology. Later in life he was interested in the philosophy of the mind in the light of scientific advances. (Michael Denman (2nd ed.)