Fluid dynamics is a topic that is more than 2000 years old. Archimedes, da Vinci, Galileo, and Newton are all classic precursors of modern fluid dynamics researchers such as Bernoulli and Euler (Anderson 42). However, until the early 19th century, this topic was not well quantified; instead, textbooks consisted of endless tables and figures demonstrating the phenomena. When Daniel Bernoulli, Claude Navier, and George Stokes introduced mathematics to the field of fluid flow, new research was possible, but this work was highly theoretical and required extensive use of differential equations (Eckert 15). Ludwig Prandtl was the man who quantified many principles of fluid flow and created his theories on boundary separation and airfoil dynamics. Ludwig Prandtl was born in Freising, Bavaria, on February 4, 1875. An only child, Prandtl often followed his father closely due to his mother's “prolonged illness” (Anderson 46). His father was an engineering professor and is said to have continually motivated Ludwig to look beyond observations to discover the natural principles at work. Regardless of his motivation, Prandtl attended the Technische Hochschule in Munich, Germany, and eventually graduated with a Ph.D. of the University of Munich under the guidance of August Foppl (Anderson 46). After a few years in industry and three years as a professor of mechanics at the Hanover technical school, Prandtl accepted a position at the University of Göttingen in 1904. By 1898 both his parents had died and in 1909 he married Gertrude Foppl, the daughter of his academic speaker (Anderson 47). The event that launched Prandtl into the limelight of fluid dynamics was the delivery of his paper “Ueber Flussigkeitsbewe...... half of the paper...... Commission. Network. 29 March 2011. ."Ludwig Prandtl “Father of modern aerodynamics."" DLR (German Aerospace Center). 2/9/2007. Network. 29 March 2011.2565/4432_read-7449/>.Prandtl, Ludwig. Essentials of fluid dynamics. Translated. New York: Hafner Publishing Company, 106-136. Print.Wikipedia contributors. "Adolf Busemann." Wikipedia, TheFree Encyclopedia, 3 October 2010 . Wikipedia contributors. "Michael Max Munk." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 19 November 2010. Web. 30 March 2011. Wikipedia contributors. "Theodore von Kármán." free. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 19 March 2011. Web. 30 March. 2011.