engineering

Kermit Van Every

Kermit Van Every is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kermit Van Every rather than just read about it. In short: Kermit Van Every (March 5, 1915 – November 20, 1998) was a noted American aeronautical engineer best known for his work in the area of very high-speed flight. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and had the unusual distinction of receiving the Wright Brothers Medal twice, in 1948 and 1958.

Key takeaways

Kermit Van Every belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kermit Van Every to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kermit Van Every from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kermit Van Every (March 5, 1915 – November 20, 1998) was a noted American aeronautical engineer best known for his work in the area of very high-speed flight. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and had the unusual distinction of receiving the Wright Brothers Medal twice, in 1948 and 1958. Van Every was a native of San Jose, California. In 1937 he transferred from San Jose State University to Stanford University, where he earned his undergraduate and aeronautical engineering degrees in 1938 and 1939 respectively, and was elected to the honorary science fraternity Sigma Xi. Van Every worked for Douglas Aircraft Company for 25 years, ultimately serving as Chief Aeronautical Engineer, in which role he won widespread respect for leading the design of high-speed aircraft that set several speed and altitude records, including the Douglas Skyrocket with Ed Heinemann. After leaving Douglas, he became responsible for aircraft design at Northrop and General Dynamics Aircraft Co., and eventually headed up his own aeronautical consulting company in San Diego located near Point Loma. He died November 20, 1998, in Menlo Park, California.

Selected writings Ed Heinemann, Rosario Rausa, and Kermit Van Every, Aircraft Design, Nautical and Aviation Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1985.

References

Obituary, Palo Alto Online, December 16, 1998. Obituary, Stanford Alumni Magazine, March/April 1999.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kermit Van Every

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kermit Van Every claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kermit Van Every before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kermit Van Every ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kermit Van Every

In research: Kermit Van Every appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kermit Van Every in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kermit Van Every is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1915 births, 1998 deaths, 20th-century American engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kermit Van Every outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kermit Van Every in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kermit Van Every means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kermit Van Every out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kermit Van Every in simple terms?

Why does Kermit Van Every matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kermit Van Every?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kermit Van Every.