Philip Kirmser

Philip G. Kirmser, 92, died Thursday, July 26, 2012 at the Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community. Dr. Kirmser's family provided the following information. Philip was born on Dec.17, 1919 in St. Paul, Minn. to Philip and Helen Kirmser. His father, Philip, was a Master Chef, trained in Europe, who owned and operated Kirmser's Restaurant, located on the West Side of St. Paul. His mother, Helen Mendler Kirmser, managed the business-end of the restaurant. Both emigrated from Alsace, which at the time belonged to Germany and now is part of France. Philip was an extremely astute and hard-working student, skipping several grades, and graduating high school at the early age of 15. He got his Bachelor's Degree of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1939. He went on to complete his M.S. in Mathematics in 1944 and his Ph.D. in Math in 1958. From 1942-44 he was an instructor at (then) Kansas State College, after which he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and remained in active service until his discharge in 1948. As a Lieutenant and First Officer on the USS Whitney, he participated as a mechanical engineer in the Pacific Islands of Bikini Atoll, performing tests on America's first Atomic Bomb. Later he was stationed in Washington D.C. at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory, testing and calibrating various ordnances being used by the Navy. His office at the Naval Ordnance Lab was located just down the hall from the office assigned to Albert Einstein. After his discharge from the Navy, he returned to the University of Minnesota, where he was an instructor. In 1948 he returned to K-State as an Associate Professor of Applied Mechanics. In 1958 he became a full Professor and served as head of the Applied Mechanics Department at KSU from 1962-1975. He continued teaching at KSU in various departments in the School of Engineering up to, and after, his retirement in 1990. Dr. Kirmser was a registered professional Engineer in Kansas. He was a visiting scientist at the Institute Battelle in Geneva, Switzerland in 1970; a visiting professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1978; and a consultant to the Digital Equipment Company in Geneva in 1985. Dr. Kirmser was a member of the American Society for Engineering Education, the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the American Mathematics Association, Het Koninklijk Instituut van Ingenieurs, Sigma Xi, Phi Lambda Upsilon, Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Mu Epsilon. Dr. Kirmser was a prolific writer of scientific articles and was widely published in technical and scientific journals and magazines throughout his career. He was also an independent consultant to companies like Phillips Petroleum and Boeing Aircraft Co. and participated as an 'expert witness' in a Kansas trial. Philip was an accomplished classical musician, playing piano, flute, and oboe. He played flute for many years with the Kansas State University Orchestra and, while in his 80s, actively participated in a local flute ensemble. He had a life-long love of languages, first learning German from his parents, then teaching himself French, Russian and Chinese with the help of a few audits in their respective classes at K-State. He traveled extensively often presenting at international conferences at venues which included (then) the USSR and East Germany. Throughout his professional life, Dr. Kirmser has significantly affected the world with a number of his inventions and innovations. For example, in 1957, along with a colleague, he formed a team of individuals tracking the Russian satellite Sputnik, and later, other Russian and U.S. satellites. Within a year of tracking satellites, and providing other scientists all over the world with their data, their team had gained the interest and sponsorship of the U.S. Air Force. In the early months of the satellite tracking project, Dr. Kirmser published his own 'Apparent Position Satellite Calculator', a device and method, by which others could accurately track and document satellite information and other data. The team, while routinely tracking these known satellites, actually discovered a number of Russian satellites, launched in secret, and previously unknown to anyone outside the Soviet Union. Another piece of research, for an athletic gear company in Salina, helped realize major design advancements to the old-style rigid pole used in pole vaulting. After implementing his calculated improvements and design changes to a flexible pole in pole vaulting, the world record in pole vaulting was increased by over one foot within one year. Dr. Kirmser holds patents for 'Heated Melt Recycle Responsive to Temperature Differential of Crystal Mass'; 'A Method and Apparatus for Reproducing Ideographs' (the first computerized Chinese Typewriter); 'A Pavement Slab Load Transfer Device'; and 'A Decoupler for Protection of Buildings in Earthquakes'. Dr. Kirmser is preceded in death by his parents, his older brother, Earl Kirmser, and his loving wife of 70 years, Jeune Kirmser. He is survived by his sister, Helen Anderson, of Forest Lake, Minn., his son Larry Kirmser and wife Ada, of Covington, Wash.; his daughter, Sandy Chastan and husband David, of Manhattan; one grandson, Philip J. Kirmser and wife Beth, of Everett, Wash. and numerous nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held at noon on Thursday, August 2 at the Unitarian/Universalist Fellowship on Zeandale Road with the Reverend Thea Nietfeld officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to 'KSU Foundation' with 'Phil Kirmser Memorial' on the memo line. Contributions may be left in care of Irvin-Parkview Funeral Home, 1317 Poyntz Avenue.