engineering

Paul Weidlinger

Paul Weidlinger 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 Paul Weidlinger rather than just read about it. In short: Paul Weidlinger (22 December 1914 – 5 September 1999) was a Hungarian structural engineer. Paul was born in Budapest on December 22, 1914.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Paul Weidlinger (22 December 1914 – 5 September 1999) was a Hungarian structural engineer. Paul was born in Budapest on December 22, 1914. He attended the Brno University of Technology, Czechoslovakia followed by Swiss Polytechnic Institute, Zürich. After his graduation in 1937 Weidlinger went to London looking for work. Whilst sitting in his room at 3 Bedford Square reading the telephone directory he came across the name of László Moholy-Nagy. He decided to cold call him and was successful in being taken on as a draftsman. During his stay in London he visited the Paris World Fair and particularly appreciated the Pavilion des Temps Nouveaux, (Pavilion of New Times), a tent pavilion designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. From April to August 1938 he was working for Le Corbusier. After leaving Europe in 1939 he worked and taught in La Paz, Bolivia. In 1943 he moved on to the United States where he started working for Charles Wohlstetter designing modular aircraft hangars that could be assembled quickly. With Charles' brother Albert Wohlstetter and Weidlinger worked at the United States Housing Authority applying these modular principles to domestic residential buildings. He started his own practice, Weidlinger Associates, in 1949. He designed his home, the Paul and Madeleine Weidlinger House, in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. He and his first wife, Madeleine (née Freidli, d. mid-1970s), had a son Tom, born c. 1953, and an older daughter. Paul Weidlinger died on 5 September 1999.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul Weidlinger

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul Weidlinger 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 Paul Weidlinger 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 Paul Weidlinger 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 Paul Weidlinger

In research: Paul Weidlinger 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 Paul Weidlinger 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: Paul Weidlinger is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1914 births, 1999 deaths, 20th-century American engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul Weidlinger 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 Paul Weidlinger in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Paul Weidlinger 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 Paul Weidlinger out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Paul Weidlinger in simple terms?

Paul Weidlinger (22 December 1914 – 5 September 1999) was a Hungarian structural engineer. Paul was born in Budapest on December 22, 1914.

Why does Paul Weidlinger 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 Paul Weidlinger?

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 Paul Weidlinger.