In 1964, shortly before the first spade of dirt was turned for construction of the UT Space Institute, Dr. B. H. Goethert was named its first director. Goethert, a German-born scientist who became a naturalized US citizen in 1954, earned the BS in mechanical engineering in 1930 from the Technical University of Hanover (Germany); the MS in aeronautical engineering from the Technical University of Danzig in 1934; and the PhD in aeronautical engineering from the Technical University of Berlin in 1938. From 1934 to 1945 he was on the staff of the German Research Institute of Aeronautics in Berlin, serving from 1939 until the end of World War II as department chief in high-speed aerodynamics.
In 1945 Goethert became consultant for aerodynamical problems and test facilities with the US Air Force Wright Aeronautical Center in Dayton, Ohio; and in 1949, he was named chief of wind tunnel test activities at the facility. In 1952 he became chief of the propulsion wind tunnel facility of the Arnold Engineering Development Center at Tullahoma to develop and operate the largest and most advanced transonic, supersonic, and vertical spin wind tunnels of the United States Air Force. He became chief of the Arnold Center’s engine test facility (rocket test facility) in 1956. He was named director of engineering for ARO Inc. (the organization that operated Arnold Engineering Center) in 1959 to head the planning, development, and operation of all technical development and research facilities at the Tullahoma Center. He became research vice president and research scientist for ARO in January 1964. He was instrumental in expanding the relationship of UT with Arnold Engineering Center (begun in 1952) into the UT Space Institute. He retired from the Space Institute in 1975 but continued to direct a short course in aero propulsion.
As part of the UT Space Institute’s 25th anniversary celebration in 1989, the Goethert Memorial Garden was dedicated. UTSI Support Council members donated shrubs and trees for the garden, and Retired Air Force Colonel Jean Jack, who helped initiate UTSI’s original construction, donated a plaque and a sundial for the garden.