Victor Szebehely
Victor G. Szebehely (1921–September 13, 1997) was a key figure in the development and success of the Apollo program.
Szebehely was born in Budapest, Hungary. He went to the United States in 1947 and became a naturalized citizen in 1956. In 1956, a dimensionless number used in time-dependent unsteady flows was named “Szebehely’s number,” and in 1957, he was knighted by HRH Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. In the September and October 1977 issues of the journal Celestial Mechanics, volume 16, an equation used to determine the gravitational potential of the Earth, planets, satellites, and galaxies was named “Szebehely’s equation”.
He worked with General Electric, Yale University, the Royal Netherlands Navy, the United States Air Force, NASA, and the University of Texas at Austin.
He was the author of several books.
His first book, The Theory of Orbits, is an important work in orbital mechanics, being the definitive text on the restricted three-body problem as applicable to an Earth-Moon spacecraft system such as Apollo. In 1978 he received the Dirk Brouwer Award from the Dynamical Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society.
He died in Austin, Texas at age 76.
Sample recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup white flour
- 1/2 cup wheat flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 egg
- 1 cup mashed banana (3 medium)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 tsp. lemon zest (optional)
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Instructions
- Grease a bread loaf pan and set aside. In a medium mixing bowl combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and make a well in the center.
- In a separate bowl combine the egg, bananas, sugar, oil and lemon zest.
- Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just till moist. Fold in nuts, if desired.
- Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350F (175C) for 50 to 55 minutes (or convection bake at 330F (165C) for 40 minutes). Bread is done when a knife or toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
- Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
- Optional: You can also sprinkle brown sugar and/or chopped pecans on top of the bread before cooking, for added tastiness.
- Banana nut bread - chopped nuts, often walnuts or pecans, are added to the recipe.
- Chocolate chip banana bread - chocolate chips are added to the recipe.
- Other variations: try adding raisins, or substituting nutmeg for cinnamon
External links
- "In Memoriam - Victor G. Szebehely", at the University of Texas at Austin