Frank Wiesner, retired chief aerodynamicist of the United Technology Corp., died peacefully March 1, 2018, at the age of 94.
Wiesner graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1940 and began his mechanical engineering studies at Clarkson College of Technology before enlisting in the Army in 1942. He served in the Asia-Pacific campaign and then graduated from Clarkson in 1946.
He earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Princeton in 1950. That year, he was hired by Carrier Corp. and was assigned to the product-engineering department with air and gas centrifugal compressors for air conditioning and refrigeration. He was proud of designing the air conditioner and water chiller for the new Chase Manhattan Building, the bank’s headquarters in downtown New York City. The Carrier air-conditioning company became a part of the conglomerate United Technology Corp.
A member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, he received its Gas Turbine Award for the most outstanding technical paper in 1978. Wiesner retired in 1984, but continued as a consultant in retirement.
Wiesner was predeceased in 2008 by Elizabeth, his wife of 64 years. He is survived by four children, two granddaughters, and three great-grandchildren.
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