He obtained his PhD in 1946 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison under Farrington Daniels and Theodore von Kármán.
He moved to the U.S. when he was 15 and he earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry at Union College in New York in 1942.
He obtained his PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison under the supervision of Farrington Daniels and Theodore von Kármán, specializing in the development of rocket engines, and became a researcher at Jet Propulsion Laboratory after finishing his doctorate.
Penner died at his home in La Jolla on July 15, 2015, at the age of 95.
Penner[11] has published around 320 journals in his lifetime and authored many books and monographs.