Chul Park

Dr. Chul Park, world-renowned aerospace scientist, educator, and pioneer in aerothermodynamics, passed away peacefully in southern California on December 31st, 2025. He was 91.

Born in 1934 in Daegu, Korea, Dr. Park graduated from Jeonju High School and then obtained Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in aeronautical engineering at Seoul National University. After completing service as a lieutenant in the Republic of Korea Air Force, Dr. Park moved to London, where he received a doctorate in aeronautics at the Imperial College. He also married his childhood friend Chyon Sue Son in London, and the couple had their first of three children there before emigrating to the United States in 1964, where Dr. Park began a 27-year career at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

At NASA Ames, Dr. Park served as chief of the Experimental Aerothermodynamics Section, and later as a staff scientist, contributing to national programs in hypersonics, thermal protection, and planetary exploration. His pioneering research in nonequilibrium gas dynamics and radiative heating remains central to spacecraft design today, and it continues to influence the human and robotic missions of NASA and other national, international and private space-exploration organizations.

Dr. Park authored an extensive body of work — over 250 publications, including the seminal 1990 book Nonequilibrium Hypersonic Aerothermodynamics — whose impact is reflected in thousands of citations and in the continued use of his models and methods throughout the aerospace community. He received numerous prestigious awards - the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement (1989); the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Thermophysics Award (1994); the NASA Medal for Exceptional Achievement (1996); and the Alvin Seiff Memorial Award (2017), to name a few - and was named an AIAA Fellow in 2000.

In addition to his vast research contributions, Dr. Park was a gifted and revered mentor and educator, holding teaching positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, the University of Stuttgart (Germany), Tohoku University (Japan) and the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. He was motivated, both as scientist and student of history, by broader concerns for the wellbeing of our planet and life on it. He authored and presented technical papers on novel approaches to reduce global warming and predicting the spread and impact of meteor fragments descending through Earth's atmosphere. In 2023 he published a book (in Korean), Alchemy and the Naked Emperor: How Did Science and Technology Develop?

Dr. Park also pursued numerous passions outside of science and technology. Along with history, he loved opera, Wagner particularly, and languages - speaking, besides his native Korean, fluent English and Japanese, while studying German, Spanish, Russian, Thai and Italian. He obtained a private pilot's license at age 70, a lifelong dream, and was an avid swimmer well into his 80s.

Dr. Chul Park was and will remain a defining, visionary figure in aerothermodynamics and the physics of atmospheric entry, remembered for his intellectual rigor and unwavering devotion to scientific pursuit. And, by those who knew him as teacher, colleague or friend, he will be remembered equally for his generous, humble and often whimsical nature. He is survived by his wife, Chyon Sue Park; daughters Sora Park Tanjasiri, Pora Park, and Marie Park; and grandchildren Suriya Park Tanjasiri, Daniel Shanhao Chang, Sran Park Tanjasiri, and Thomas Jacob Gazeley Park. He will be greatly missed.