View source for George de Bothezat

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{{Infobox engineer
| image = George de Bothezat 1905.jpg
| image_size = 
| caption = De Bothezat in 1905
| name = George de Bothezat
| nationality = [[Russian Empire]], United States
| birth_date = 7 June 1882
| birth_place = [[Saint Petersburg]],<ref name="Who's Who in Engineering 1922">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FUAmAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA352|title=Who's who in Engineering|first1=John William|last1=Leonard|first2=Winfield Scott|last2=Downs|first3=M. M.|last3=Lewis|date=15 April 2019|publisher=John W. Leonard Corporation|accessdate=15 April 2019|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Sun">[http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2018/New%20York%20NY%20Sun/New%20York%20NY%20Sun%201940/New%20York%20NY%20Sun%201940%20-%201135.pdf Dr. George de Bothezat death announcement] in ''[[The Sun (New York)|The New York Sun]]'' – February 1940</ref> [[Russian Empire]]<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1940|2|1|1882|6|7|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], United States
| education = [[Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute|Kharkov Polytechnic Institute]]<br />[[University of Paris]]
| spouse = Julia Ramsay Hilton<ref name="Sun"/>
| parents = 
| children = 
| discipline = 
| institutions = 
| practice_name = 
| significant_projects = [[de Bothezat helicopter]] <!-- [[de Bothezat SV]] --> <!-- I am not confident that SV is the correct reverse translit from English to Russian and back to Russian -->
| significant_design = 
| significant_advance = 
| significant_awards = 
}}

'''George de Bothezat''' ({{langx|ro|Gheorghe Botezatu|italic=yes}}, {{langx|ru|Георгий Александрович Ботезат|italic=yes}}; 7 June 1882 – 1 February 1940) was a [[Romanian American|Romanian]]-[[Russian American]]<ref name="Sun"/> engineer, businessman, and pioneer of [[helicopter]] flight.

==Biography==
George de Bothezat was born in 1882 in [[Saint Petersburg]],<ref name="Who's Who in Engineering 1922"/> [[Russian Empire]], to Alexander Botezat and Nadine Rabutowskaja.<ref name="bnrm">[http://www.bnrm.md/publicatii/files/5/iunie2012.pdf Gheorghe Botezatu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429051515/http://www.bnrm.md/publicatii/files/5/iunie2012.pdf |date=29 April 2014 }} at The National Library of Moldova {{in lang|ro}}</ref><ref name="Boyne2011">{{cite book|author=Walter Boyne|title=How the Helicopter Changed Modern Warfare|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T3hCO8j9YfAC&pg=PA313|date=4 March 2011|publisher=Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.|isbn=978-1-4556-1568-1|pages=313–}}</ref> His father Alexander Il'ich Botezat belonged to a family of [[Bessarabia]]n landlords, graduated from the department of history and philology of the [[Saint Petersburg State University|Saint Petersburg University]] and worked in the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire|Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs]], first in Saint Petersburg and then in [[Paris]]. Mother, Nadezhda (Nadine) L'vovna Rabutovskaya, belonged to [[Russian nobility]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://orelgazeta.ru/article/akcent/dom-s-istoriey|title=Дом с историей – Орловская Городская Газета|website=orelgazeta.ru|accessdate=15 April 2019|archive-date=2 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902232626/http://orelgazeta.ru/article/akcent/dom-s-istoriey|url-status=dead}}</ref> After the father's death in 1900, the family returned to Russia and settled in [[Chișinău|Kishinev]], where the family friend and local manufacturer Egor Ryshkan-Derozhinsky supported the educational expenses of all three children: George and his sisters Vera (born 1886) and Nina (born 1884).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://klub-mastera.narod.ru/publ/istorija_orlovskogo_kraja/kak_amerikanskij_aviakonstruktor_svoju_sestru_i_plemjannicu_v_orle_ot_goloda_spas/22-1-0-661|title=Как американский авиаконструктор свою сестру и племянницу в Орле от голода спас – История Орловского края – "МАСТЕРА" – Клуб творческих личностей "Мастера"|website=klub-mastera.narod.ru|accessdate=15 April 2019}}</ref>

After graduating the School of Exact Sciences ([[Realschule]]) in [[Chișinău|Kishinev]] in 1902,<ref>[http://www.nationalmuseum.md/en/press_releases/journal_tyragetia/school_of_exact_science_activity_in_chisinau_in_period_of_1873_1918 School of exact science activity in Chişinău in period of 1873–1918] at nationalmuseum.md</ref> he started attending the [[Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute|Kharkov Polytechnic Institute]], then [[Montefiore Institute|Montefiore Electrotechnical Institute]] in [[Liège]], [[Belgium]] (between 1905 and 1907), and graduated as [[engineer]] from Kharkov Polytechnical in 1908.<ref name="bnrm"/> He then continued his postgraduate studies at the [[University of Göttingen]] and [[Humboldt University of Berlin]] (1908–1909), and received, in 1911, his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] at [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]], for a study of [[Flight dynamics|aircraft stability]] (''Étude de la Stabilité de l`aeroplane'').<ref>[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001115103 Étude de la stabilité de l'aéroplane] at catalog.hathitrust.org</ref> In 1911, he joined the Faculty of Shipbuilding from the [[Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University|Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University]],<ref name="bnrm"/> and continued theoretical studies of flight along with [[Stephen Timoshenko]], [[Alexey Lebedev]] and [[Alexander Vanderfleet]]. His scientific interests gradually moved from general aerodynamic theory to applied studies of [[Propeller (aircraft)|propellers]].<ref name=inst>[http://www.ihst.ru/projects/emigrants/botezat.htm Ботезат Георгий Александрович], Institute of history of science and technology, Russian Academy of Sciences {{in lang|ru}}</ref><ref name=MI175>Mikheev, p. 175.</ref>

In 1914, de Bothezat accepted the position of director at the Polytechnical Institute in [[Novocherkassk]], but the outbreak of World War I compelled him to return to Saint Petersburg and join the Technical Commission of the [[Imperial Russian Air Force]]. In 1915, de Bothezat published standard bombing tables for the Air Forces, and in 1916 he was appointed chief of the ''Main Airfield'' in Saint Petersburg – Russia's first flight research facility. He managed the design team of the DEKA aircraft plant in Saint Petersburg, and was credited with the design of a single-engined aircraft that was tested in 1917.<ref name=inst/><ref name=MI175/>

[[File:De Bothezat Flying Octopus.jpg|thumb|left|The de Bothezat helicopter.]]

In May 1918, with his homeland in the throes of the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]], de Bothezat fled from the [[Bolsheviks]] to the United States. In June 1918, he was hired by the [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics]]. He lectured at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] and the [[Columbia University]].<ref name=inst/><ref name=MI176>Mikheev, p. 176.</ref>

[[File:De Bothezat patent.png|thumb|left|Top view of de Bothezat helicopter as depicted in US Pat. 1,749,471.]]

In 1921, the US Army Air Service hired de Bothezat to build a prototype [[helicopter]]. The [[quadcopter|quadrotor helicopter]], known simply as the [[de Bothezat helicopter]], was built by de Bothezat and [[Ivan Jerome]] in the hangars of [[Wright Field]] near [[Dayton, Ohio]].<ref name=MI176/> The first flight turned out to be surprisingly successful for a machine that had been built without prototyping.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VycDAAAAMBAJ "Why Don't We Fly Straight Up?"]. ''[[Popular Science]]'', February 1928 (Vol. 112, No. 2) p. 126.</ref> In 1922, their "flying octopus" flew many times, although slowly and at low altitudes.<ref name=L25>Leishman, p. 25.</ref> In fact, its horizontal motion was induced by wind more than by the pilot's controls.<ref name=L25/> He was granted US Patent number 1,749,471 for his design.

In March 1923 ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine reported Thomas Edison sent Dr. Bothezaat a congratulations for a successful helicopter test flight. Edison wrote, "So far as I know, you have produced the first successful helicopter." The helicopter was tested at [[McCook Field|McCook's Field]] and remained airborne for 2 minutes and 45 seconds at a height of 15 feet.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=A Successful Helicopter |url=https://time.com/vault/issue/1923-03-03/page/23/ |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |page=23 |date=3 March 1923 |access-date=2 March 2021}}</ref>

The US Army, now more interested in [[autogyro]]s, cancelled the underperforming project.<ref name=inst/><ref name=L25/>

[[File:De Bothezat stamp.png|thumb|George de Bothezat stamp issued by Moldova Post]]

De Bothezat returned to New York City and started his own business in making industrial fans, which was incorporated in 1926 as de Bothezat Impeller Company, Inc.<ref>The company survived its founder. A notable [[Civil law (common law)|civil law]] case, ''American Machine & Metals, Inc. v. de Bothezat Impeller Co., Inc.'' took place in 1948.</ref> The company's axial fans were installed on US Navy cruisers, but this was as far as de Bothezat would go in dealing with the government. He continued publishing essays on topics ranging from flight dynamics to economics of the [[Great Depression]].<ref name=MI176/> His 1936 book ''Back to Newton'' attacked [[Albert Einstein]]'s [[Special relativity|theory of relativity]] and the whole world of contemporary academics "who are utterly unable to acquaint themselves with the subject".<ref>Gardner, p. 84.</ref> Einstein personally refuted de Bothezat's claim at a public lecture given by de Bothezat at Princeton on 15 June 1935.<ref>Chiles, pp. 62–64.</ref> He worked for the film industry, designing mechanical [[special effect]]s props for [[Dudley Murphy]]'s ''[[The Love of Sunya]]'' (1927).<ref>Delson, pp. 74–75.</ref>

In 1938 de Bothezat returned to designing and building helicopters. His new company was incorporated as Air-Screw Research Syndicate and later renamed Helicopter Corporation of America. [[Boris Sergievsky]], former test pilot of [[Sikorsky Aircraft]], became de Bothezat's partner and test pilot.<ref>He was laid off by Sikorsky Aircraft as the company imploded due to falling demand for [[flying boat]]s.</ref> De Bothezat's new helicopter was a [[Coaxial rotors|coaxial design]], with the engine mounted ''between'' two rotors. The first machine, SV-2, was built and tested on [[Roosevelt Field, New York|Roosevelt Field]] in 1938; after the tests de Bothezat and Sergievsky rebuilt it into a heavier SV-5. However de Bothezat, who was also designing a one-man "[[Backpack helicopter|personal helicopter]]" for infantrymen,<ref>[http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/PopularScience/3-1940/one_man_copter.jpg "One-Man Helicopters Give Soldiers Wings"]. ''Popular Science'', March 1940 p. 129.</ref> died before the SV-5 could be properly tested.<ref name=MI177>Mikheev, p. 177.</ref> The new machine proved to be unstable and crashed; Sergievsky escaped unharmed.

==See also==
* [[de Bothezat helicopter]]
* [[Cornu helicopter]]
* [[Multirotor]]
* [[Quadcopter]]

==Selected works==
*''[https://web.archive.org/web/20210309192944/http://naca.central.cranfield.ac.uk/reports/1920/naca-report-29.pdf The general theory of blade screws]'' (1920). National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
*''[https://web.archive.org/web/20201204063242/http://naca.central.cranfield.ac.uk/reports/1921/naca-report-97.pdf General theory of the steady motion of an airplane]'' (1921). National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
*''The Depression, Its Real Causes and the Remedy'' (1933). Economic Security League.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|2}}
*Delson, Susan (2006). ''[https://archive.org/details/dudleymurphyholl00dels Dudley Murphy, Hollywood wild card]''. University of Minnesota Press. {{ISBN|0-8166-4654-6}}.
*Chiles, James (2007). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=jBOhU4tU0wgC God Machine]". Bantam Books. {{ISBN|978-0-553-80447-8}}.
*Gardner, Martin (1957). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=TwP3SGAUsnkC Fads and fallacies in the name of science]''. Courier Dover Publications. 2nd edition: {{ISBN|0-486-20394-8}}.
*Leishman, Gordon J (2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=nMV-TkaX-9cC Principles of helicopter aerodynamics]. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-85860-7}}. pp.&nbsp;25–26.
*Mikheev, V. R. (2001, in Russian). ''[http://www.ihst.ru/projects/sohist/books/rusemigration/167-178.pdf Russkaya aviatsionnaya emigratsia (Российская научная эмиграция)]'', in: Bongard-Levin, G. M. (editor, 2001, in Russian). ''Rossiyskaya nauchnaya emigratsia (Российская научная эмиграция. Двадцать портретов)''. Editorial URSS. {{ISBN|978-5-382-00998-8}}. pp.&nbsp;167–178.
*Sergievsky, Boris; Forsyth, Allan; Hochschield, Adam (1999). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=M8nJ31K0lAkC Airplanes, women, and song: memoirs of a fighter ace, test pilot, and adventurer]''. Syracuse University Press. {{ISBN|0-8156-0545-5}}.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bothezat, George de}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Chișinău]]
[[Category:Aircraft designers]]
[[Category:American people of Romanian descent]]
[[Category:Aviation pioneers]]
[[Category:Aviation inventors]]
[[Category:Russian inventors]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from New York City]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:Expatriates from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Expatriates in Belgium]]
[[Category:Expatriates from the Russian Empire in France]]
[[Category:Expatriates from the Russian Empire in Germany]]
[[Category:Russian scientists]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]