Joseph Szydlowski - Biography

Joseph Szydlowski (Józef Szydłowski) (November 21, 1896, Skryhiczyn (in Chełm County, Poland), – July 16, 1988 in Israel), was a Jewish-Polish-French-Israeli aircraft engine designer who founded Turbomeca in France.

Biography and career

At the time of his birth Chełm was part of Russian Empire , Lublin Governorate. He was taken prisoner by German Empire during the First World War. He started working in Germany and applied for his first patents in 1920. With the rise of Nazism he emigrated to France in 1930. He founded Turbomeca in Paris in 1938 and built the company on licensed production during World War II. In June 1940, when Germany invaded France he evacuated his company to Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre in southern France. Once the war was over he developed small turbine engines for helicopters. Turbomeca became a major supplier of helicopter turboshaft engines, providing 30% of the non-USA market according to the company.

After the Six-day war, in response to Charles De Gaulle's embargo on Israel, Szydlowski established a factory for the production of jet engines, Beit Shemesh motors, in Israel.

In 1984, Szydlowski received an honorary PhD from the Technion.

• Biography of Joseph Szydlowski