Paul Kollsman

Infobox Scientist
name = Paul Kollsman
box_width =

---

image_width = 150px
caption = Paul Kollsman
birth_date = February 22, 1900
birth_place = Beverly Hills, California
death_date = March 17, 1982
death_place =
residence =
citizenship =
nationality = United States, Germany
ethnicity =
field =Engineer, Inventor
work_institutions =
alma_mater =
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for = Barometer, Flight instruments
author_abbrev_bot =
author_abbrev_zoo =
influences =
influenced =
prizes =
footnotes =

Paul Kollsman (February 22 1900 in Germany – March 17 1982 in Beverly Hills, California) was an American inventor. He invented barometers and instruments for instrument flight in airplanes.

Kollsman studied civil engineering in Stuttgart and Munich. In 1923 he emigrated from Germany to the USA. He worked as truck-driver until he found a position at Pioneer Instruments Co. in Brooklyn/New York. In 1928 he founded his own company, Kollsman Instruments Co., with $500 of seed money.

He was searching for the right opportunity to launch his product a long time until Jimmy Doolittle flight tested his instruments. His instruments were later used in the NASA Apollo program. The altimeter setting window of the sensitive aircraft altimeter is named the "Kollsman Window" after him.

In 1939, Kollsman, who was then residing in Greenwich, Conn., sold his company for more than $4,000,000. In 1940 he purchased convert|800|acre|km2 of land outside of Manchester Vermont from International Paper Company, and founded Snow Valley, which formally opened in January 1942, and was one of the earliest ski areas in the United States. Snow Valley operated continuously until 1984, and in 1983 hosted the first U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships (now held annually at Stratton Vermont). Snow Valley is being redeveloped as a private sporting community.

In 1944 Kollman married Julie Dorothea Baronin von Bodenhausen in New York City. In 1945 Kollsman purchased The Enchanted Hill, a fabulous estate in Beverly Hills, California, which contained a Mediterranean Revival house on 120 acres designed by acclaimed architect Wallace Neff. The estate, which was described by architectural historian Sam Watters as “fantastical”, had been built in 1925 in Benedict Canyon by MGM screenwriter Frances Marion and her cowboy-star husband, Frederick Clifton Thomson. Among other features, the estate included a mahogany-floored stable for Thomson’s horse. It was considered one of the finest in all of Los Angeles, and has been called a “poetic hilltop paradise, a timeless homage to the natural beauty that was once Los Angeles.” Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen acquired the estate from Kollsman’s widow in 1997 for $20 million, and razed the landmark house in 2000, and has plans to build a 55,000-square-foot mansion in its place.

Kollsman died in Beverly Hills, California in 1982.

Sources:
* [http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0931166.html www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0931166.html]
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p9503.htm www.thepeerage.com/p9503.htm]
* [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0931166.html www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0931166.html]
* [http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/kollsman.html web.mit.edu/invent/iow/kollsman.html]