Paul Kollsman

Who was Paul Kollsman?

Paul Kollsman 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, Connecticut, sold his company for more than $4,000,000. In 1940 he purchased 800 acres 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.