Alexander Alexandrovitch Nikolsky (Russian: Александр Александрович Никольский, 1903–1963) was a Russian-born American aeronautical engineer who worked in the domain of rotary-wing aircraft.
He arrived in Philadelphia in 1928, jumped ship, and worked his way to Boston, where the Russian community again sponsored his further education, entering him in the Aeronautical Engineering Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He rose to the rank of Professor two years later, and overcoming the handicap of illness, in 1954, became the first incumbent of the Robert Porter Patterson Chair in Aeronautical Engineering.
He profoundly influenced the growth of research in the expanding Aeronautical Engineering Department, especially with rotary wing, to the point where Princeton became the foremost center of knowledge in that area.
[3] In 1981, the American Helicopter Society (now AHS International) created the annual Alexander A. Nikolsky Honorary Lectureship, "Given to an individual who has a highly distinguished career in vertical flight aircraft research and development and is skilled at communicating their technical knowledge and experience.