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The old professor was a stocky little man who wore wild eyebrows, bushy hair, a hearing aid and a German-Hungarian accent like a certified eccentric. Nothing about him seemed remotely in tune with military men or the military mind. But through much of his long life, professional soldiers of many nations courted him, coaxed him, hung on his every word. For the intelligence of Professor Theodore von Karman was devoted to unlocking the powerful secrets of air and space. Born in Budapest in 1881, when air was hardly more than something to breathe, Von Karman was...