Born: 1890 in Hamburg, Germany

Education: doctorate of engineering degree from the University of Göttingen, Germany

Career:

• Associate of Professor Ludwig Prandtl, University of Göttingen, Germany
• N.A.C.A. researcher  1920/21 - 1926/27

Inventions:

• Linear theory of aerodynamics (greatly simplifies airfoil calculations)
• Variable-Density wind tunnel (1923)

Quotes:

"NACA's growing team of engineers contended with the conventional problems of trying to correlate results from wind tunnel models with measurements from actual planes in flight, but with little success until a breakthrough came the outstanding NACA researcher Dr. Max Munk.  Munk had been an associate of Professor Ludwig Prandtl, whose original and brilliant work in theoretical aerodynamics at Göttingen, Germany, had contributed so much to German and European leadership in aeronautical science.  Following his arrival in the United States in 1921, Munk probed NACA's tunnel problems and suggested compressing the air in a tunnel to 20 atmospheres.  By using a one-twentieth scale model under these conditions, he argued, test results should correlate with data from a full-scale plane at normal atmospheric pressure.  NACA's first variable-density tunnel went into operation in 1923.... ".

from: Roger E. Bilstein, "Flight in America 1900- 1983 ",
The Johns Hopkins University Press, (Baltimore and London), p. 70

NOTE: Roger E. Bilstein is also the author of NASA's special publication-4406
in the NASA History Series (1989) entitled:
"Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990."

Listing of NACA Technical Notes written by Dr. Max Munk:

1. Max Munk, The Caproni Seaplane, NACA TN 57, Jul 1921, pp. 16.

2. Max Munk, Absolute coefficients and the graphical representation of airfoil characteristics, NACA TN 58, Jun 1921, pp. 12.

3. Max Munk, On a new type of wind tunnel, NACA TN 60, May 1921, pp. 20.

4. Max M. Munk, Notes on aerodynamic forces I : rectilinear motion, NACA TN-104, July, 1922, pp. 14.

5. Max M. Munk, Notes on aerodynamic forces II : curvilinear motion, NACA TN-105, July, 1922, pp. 11.

6. Max M. Munk, Notes on aerodynamic forces III : the aerodynamic forces on airships, NACA TN-106, July, 1922, pp. 11.

7. Max M. Munk, Stresses produced on an airship flying through gusty air, NACA TN-111, September, 1922, pp. 6.

8. Max M. Munk, The choice of the speed of an airship, NACA TN-89, March, 1922, pp. 10.

9. Max M. Munk, Notes on propeller design I : the energy losses of the propeller, NACA TN-91, April, 1922, pp. 11.

10. Max M. Munk, Full scale determination of the lift and drag of a seaplane, NACA TN-92, April, 1922, pp. 7.

11. Max M. Munk, Notes on propeller design II: The Distribution of Thrust Over a Propeller, NACA TN-94, April, 1922, pp. 10.

12. Max M. Munk, Notes on propeller design III, NACA TN-95, May, 1922, pp. 11.

13. Max M. Munk, Notes on propeller design IV : general proceeding in design, NACA TN-96, May, 1922, pp. 11.

14. Max M. Munk, The determination of the angles of attack of zero lift and of zero moment, based on Munk's integrals, NACA TN-122, January, 1923, pp. 12.

15. .Max M. Munk and Gunther Cairo, Downwash of airplane winds, NACA TN-124, January, 1923, pp. 13, Technische Berichte,. Vol. III, Part I.

16. .Max M. Munk and Wilhelm Molthan, Tests on an airplane model, AEG D I of the Allgemeine Elektricitats Gesellschft, A-G, airplane construction section conducted at the Göttingen Model Testing Laboratory for Aerodynamics, NACA TN-128, February, 1923, pp. 30, Technische Berichte, Volume III, Part 2.

17. Max M. Munk, Analysis of Dr. Schaffran's propeller model tests, NACA TN-158, September, 1923, pp. 12.

18. Max M. Munk, General theory of windmills, NACA TN-164, October, 1923, pp. 8.

19. Max M. Munk, Reduction in efficiency of propellers due to slipstream, NACA TN-170, December, 1923, pp. 7, Technische Berichte,. Vol. III, No. 7, pp. 315-316, 1918. 

20. Max M. Munk, Note on the relative effect of the dihedral and the sweep back of airplane wings, NACA TN-177, January, 1924, pp. 5.

21. Max M. Munk, Note on vortices on their relation to the lift of airfoils, NACA TN-184, March, 1924, pp. 16.

22. Max M. Munk, The induction factor used for computing the rolling moment due to the ailerons, NACA TN-187, April, 1924, pp. 6.

23. Max M. Munk and Edward P. Warner, Comparing the performance of geometrically similar airplanes, NACA TN-190, April, 1924, pp. 28.

24. Max M. Munk, Note on the pressure distribution over the hull of elongated airships with circular cross section, NACA TN-192, May, 1924, pp. 5.

25. Max M. Munk, On the distribution of lift along the span of an airfoil with displaced ailerons, NACA TN-195, June, 1924, pp. 9.

26. Max M. Munk, Remarks on the pressure distribution over the surface of an ellipsoid, moving translationally through a perfect fluid, NACA TN-196, June, 1924, pp. 9.

27. Max M. Munk, Some tables of the factor of apparent additional mass, NACA TN-197, July, 1924, pp. 8.

28. Max M. Munk, The simplifying assumptions, reducing the strict application of classical hydrodynamics to practical aeronautical computations, NACA TN 207, Nov 1924, pp. 17.

29. Max M. Munk, The velocity distribution caused by an airplane at the points of a vertical plane containing the span, NACA TN 216, Mar 1925, pp. 9.

30. Max M. Munk, Note on the air forces on a wing caused by pitching, NACA TN 217, Mar 1925, pp. 7.

31. Max M. Munk, Model tests on the economy and effectiveness of helicopter propellers, NACA TN 221, Jan 1925, pp. 26.

32. Max M. Munk, Determination and classification of the aerodynamic properties of wing sections, NACA TN 227, Sep 1925, pp. 23.

33. Max M. Munk, The spacing of orifices for the measure of pressure distributions, NACA TN 230, Jan 1926, pp. 52.