Dr. Maurice Zucrow, who was employed as an engineering technical assistant to the Executive Vice President of Aerojet Engineering Company in Pasadena, California. Aerojet was one of the pioneering companies in the field of rocket propulsion systems and was organized in 1942 by Theodore Von Kármán with such future luminaries as Martin Summerfield and Frank Malina on the staff as Vice Presidents. An offer was extended to Dr. Zucrow in April 1946 of a position of Professor of Gas Turbines and Jet Propulsion in the Schools of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautical Engineering. Dr. Zucrow accepted the offer and joined the Purdue University Staff in September 1946. Professor Zucrow immediately set about setting up a course in jet propulsion and published his groundbreaking text entitled Principles of Jet Propulsion and Gas Turbines.