Richard Magnus

1924 - 2015

Magnus, Richard 06/07/1924 ~ 03/11/2015 SAN DIEGO -- Richard Jeffrey Magnus was born in Duluth, Minnesota to Jennie Champagne and Adolphe Henry Magnus. His father who worked as a steam shovel operator on the Mesabi Iron Range, dropped his first name in the early Thirties, for obvious reasons, and was known has "Hank" for the rest of his life. Richard excelled at his studies and at the opening of WWII rushed to receive a B. Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. Pressed into service with the Navy he went to Midshipman's School at Notre Dame, then sent to North Carolina State for Diesel Engineering. Commissioned as Executive Officer, he served on a PC Submarine Chaser in the Pacific. After the war he returned to the University of Minnesota and attained a Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering. Richard then went to California Institute of Technology where he received a Ph.D. in Aeronautics, and a Ph.D. in Mathematics. He then went to UCLA where he did Post- Doctoral work in Atomic and Plasma Physics. After working at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica, he became a Aerodynamics Specialist at the now legendary Aerophysics Development Corp. There he designed the Rocket with two booster rockets that launched America's opening salvo in the Space Race against the U.S.S.R's Sputnik. Operation Orbiter became better known for its payload, Explorer 1. Married to Helen Sinclair (d.) and trailing two children, the family moved to Santa Barbara in 1957 where Richard became Chief of Aerodynamics at Aerophysics. In 1960 he was lured away to San Diego by Solar Aircraft and subsequently General Dynamics where he stayed for three decades as Senior Staff Scientist. An avid gardener, a fan of model aircraft, and an active member of several honorary scientific societies, Richard Magnus passed in his home in Point Loma on March 11, 2015 of Alzheimer's disease. He is survived by his three children Karen, Viginia, and John Magnus; and, his sister Barbara Major. Services will be held at El Camino Memorial Park on Friday, March 27th, at 11 a.m..