Age, Biography and Wiki

Frank Malina (Frank Joseph Malina) was born on 2 October, 1912 in Brenham, Texas, U.S., is an American aeronautical engineer and painter. Discover Frank Malina's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 69 years old?

Popular As Frank Joseph Malina
Occupation N/A
Age 69 years old
Zodiac Sign Libra
Born 2 October 1912
Birthday 2 October
Birthplace Brenham, Texas, U.S.
Date of death 9 November, 1981
Died Place Paris, France
Nationality Mali

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 2 October. He is a member of famous engineer with the age 69 years old group.

Frank Malina Height, Weight & Measurements

At 69 years old, Frank Malina height not available right now. We will update Frank Malina's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Dating & Relationship status

He is currently single. He is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, He has no children.

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Not Available
Sibling Not Available
Children Not Available

Frank Malina Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Frank Malina worth at the age of 69 years old? Frank Malina’s income source is mostly from being a successful engineer. He is from Mali. We have estimated Frank Malina's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income engineer

Frank Malina Social Network

Instagram
Linkedin
Twitter
Facebook
Wikipedia
Imdb

Timeline

1912

Frank Joseph Malina (October 2, 1912 — November 9, 1981) was an American aeronautical engineer and painter, known for his pioneering work in early rocketry.

Malina was born in Brenham, Texas.

His father came from Moravia.

1930

Malina's interest in the Communist Party, Caltech's "Unit 122," and labor activism while he was a graduate student in the 1930s had also attracted the attention of the FBI.

However, there is "scant evidence" that Unit 122 or its "communist offshoot" ever passed rocket information to the Soviet Union in the 1930s or 1940s.

("The surveillance of suspected 'communists' hardly ever revealed espionage and served mainly to feed prejudice.")

He moved to France and joined the fledgling United Nations as secretariat of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) under Julian Huxley.

1934

Frank's formal education began with a degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University in 1934.

1935

In 1935, while a graduate student at Caltech, Malina persuaded Professor of Aeronautics Theodore von Kármán to allow him to pursue studies into rocketry and rocket propulsion.

The formal goal was development of a sounding rocket.

Malina and five associates (including Jack Parsons and Hsue-Shen Tsien) became known at Caltech as the "Suicide Squad" because of their dangerous experiments (and failures) when testing rocket motor designs.

Malina's group was forced to move their operations away from the main Caltech campus into the more remote Arroyo Seco.

This site and the research Malina was conducting would later become the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Malina served as the second Director of JPL.

1939

In 1939, the Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society) awarded Malina the Prix d'Astronautique for his contribution to the study of interplanetary travel and astronautics.

In 1939, he married Liljan Darcourt, a daughter of French Catholic immigrants; they divorced in 1945 (she later married advertising executive Lester Wunderman).

1940

The same year he received a scholarship to study mechanical engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he obtained his doctoral degree in 1940.

1942

In 1942, von Kármán, Malina and three other students started the Aerojet Corporation.

1945

By late 1945, Malina's rockets had outgrown the facility at Arroyo Seco, and his tests were moved to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Here, the project's WAC Corporal sounding rocket was the first U.S. rocket to break the 50-mile altitude mark, becoming the first sounding rocket to reach space.

1947

During 1947, with rocket research in high gear, Malina's demanding travel and administrative schedule, along with a dislike of so much rocketry research being devoted to weapons systems and not scientific research, caused him to re-evaluate his career and leave Aerojet.

1951

In 1951, Malina became head of UNESCO's division of scientific research.

Two years later, Malina left UNESCO to pursue an interest in kinetic art.

1952

In 1952, at the height of the Red Scare, Malina was indicted for having failed to list his Communist Party membership on an old security questionnaire from Caltech.

He was declared a fugitive, to be arrested if and when he returned to the United States.

1968

In 1968 in Paris he founded Leonardo, an international peer-reviewed research journal that featured articles written by artists on their own work, and focused on the interactions between the contemporary arts with the sciences and new technologies.

The Leonardo journal is still published as a project of Leonardo/ISAST, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology.

1981

Frank Malina died in 1981 in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France.

1990

In 1990, Malina was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame.

Malina married twice.

2006

His widow Marjorie Duckworth Malina died in 2006.

Their sons Roger and Alan Malina live and work in the Dallas, TX area and Portugal, respectively.