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abhyankar ...
Joined: 26 Jan 2003 Posts: 94
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Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 7:14 am Post subject: Prof. S. TIMOSHENKO :- Father of Engineering Mechanics |
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Quote: | <<...OLE_Obj...>> <<...OLE_Obj...>> Timoshenko: Father of Engineering Mechanics The legend of Timoshenko has few parallels in the annals of publishing technical books. For reading and understanding engineering mechanics the books of Timoshenko permeate a Shakespearean aura of authenticity and authority somewhat like Chandrasekhar's books on astrophysics. Timoshenko's books have been printed, sold, translated and reprinted in millions across the world ever since 1908 with the publication of his first book on strength of materials in Russian. His books have been translated into many major and minor languages including Arabic, Bengali, Fanti, French, Ga, Malay, Swahili, Urdu.... The list goes on and on as the Timoshenko legend grows bigger and bigger all the time.... The reputation of Timoshenko's books is built on the solid foundation of solving practical problems with artistic boldness and elegant mathematics. There is no place for hollow claims or mathematical sophistry in his books. He wielded such powerful influence on American engineering education and design practice that they call him "the Father of engineering mechanics". This is indeed a remarkable tribute considering that Timoshenko arrived in the US in 1922 at the age of 44! Timoshenko was indeed a giant of a teacher guiding 29 PhDs in the years 1927-37 at the University of Michigan and 9 more at Stanford during 1938-1947. Before beginning his academic career in the US, Timoshenko was a technical consultant at the Westinghouse Corporation for five years. At Westinghouse, he organized the Applied Mechanics Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This has always been one of the largest and most active ASME sections, which publishes the famous Journal of Applied Mechanics. He also wrote two books: Applied Elasticity and Vibration Problems in Engineering while employed there. Before emigrating to America, Timoshenko had already become an accomplished teacher and engineer in Russia and Europe. He had first-hand experience of life in Russia before and during the Communist Revolution. He studied in St. Petersburg during 1896-1901. During this period his fascination for bridges, harbours, cathedrals and ships spurred his summer trips to Western Europe twice, and, Germany, particularly, stimulated his mind greatly. Later, Timoshenko became an instructor at St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. While touring Europe many times Timoshenko was greatly inspired and influenced by Foppl and his student Prandtl in Germany. In 1906 Timoshenko became the chair of Strength of Materials at the Polytechnic Institute in Kiev and rose fast to become the dean of Structural Engineering in 1909. Political conflict led to his dismissal from Kiev in 1911 and this perhaps drove him to leave Russia. Before he eventually reached America, Timoshenko worked in Yugoslavia founding the School of Engineering in Zagreb. Despite numerous torrid events and experiences that he endured during 1912-1922, Timoshenko contributed steadily to engineering mechanics. He also continued his habitual visits to Europe and interacted with Love, Southwell, Taylor, von Karman and others besides his German mentors: Foppl and Prandtl. It is indeed remarkable that although Prandtl, Taylor and von Karman began with solids and structures and switched over to fluid mechanics and aeronautics, Timoshenko never ventured outside his favourite field of structural mechanics. His last book As I Remember written in 1963 when he was 85 is a moving account of his bitter-sweet Russian, European and American life. That his last book was first written in Russian underlines the deep feeling he had for Russia throughout his life. (This was later translated into English in 1967). The legion of students and colleagues that Timoshenko advised and assisted includes names like Jacobsen, Soderberg, Hetenyi, Frocht, Goodier, Lee, Marin, Woinowosky-Kreiger, Nadai, Westergaard and many others. These people became the principal architects in building up the reputation of higher education in American universities in the latter half of the twentieth century. This year marks the hundredth anniversary of Timoshenko joining the noble profession of teaching and also of his marriage in August 1902 to Alexandra. In his autobiography, Timoshenko remembers how his teachers helped him and how he managed with just a hundred roubles salary taking care of himself, his wife attending medical school, and his two brothers all under the same roof! This year also marks the two hundredth anniversary of Young joining the Royal Institution as a professor and conducting the famous experiments to measure the Youngs, modulus of materials in 1802. Thomas Young initiated tension and torsion tests on circular shafts, and raised a brilliant issue pertaining to the nonlinear dependence of the twisting moment on the angle of twist under end constraints. As it turned out some hundred years later, at the suggestion of Prandtl, Timoshenko took up the torsion problem for his dissertation. He formulated the torsion bending problem of non-circular beams with fixed ends with the help of a differential equation. This equation adorns the postage stamp issued in Ukraine in 1998 to commemorate Timoshenko. Timoshenko was a champion at bringing universities and industries together without ever com-promising on the quality of education. This special blending of science and technology produced spectacular results at many American schools, but more conspicuously at Stanford and MIT where Timoshenko and his students were directly associated. Timoshenko's demise in 1972 signalled the end of a romantic era of teaching and writing books to promote engineering science education. The new era of computer simulation based education dominating modern universities has removed the need for qualified teachers and well equipped laboratories. Internet education has further reduced the investment on facilities while expanding the marketplace internationally. This new form of marketing education globally has brought in more administrators and advertising agents in the place of teachers. While it is true that the marketplace decides the short term outcome of a specific education, market de-mands are highly unpredictable. Only those who possess genuine education can hope to turn market fluctuations to their advantage. Recently, Nobel laureate Stiglitz debated such issues in his book Globalization and its Discontents (W W Norton 2002). State universities and government schools appear to be the only hope for teaching and learning the fundamentals of engineering science through the reading of great books like those authored by Timoshenko. For eons to come, the monuments erected by Timoshenko in the form of his books will continue providing great inspiration and confidence to students, teachers, scientists and designers pursuing structural engineering design and analysis.
References : 1) http://www.ias.ac.in/resonance/Oct2002/Oct2002ArticleInABox.htm 2) http://smitu.cef.spbstu.ru/timoshenko_en.htm 3) http://ece.clemson.edu/crb/misc/scientists/timoshenko.htm
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Stephen Prokofyevich TIMOSHENKO
Outsanding mechanical scientist of the XXth century Stephen Prokofyevich Timoshenko's work in St.Petersburg Polytechnical Institute was often interrupted by different missions and trips abroad. He combined his work in St.Petersburg Polytechnical Institute with work in other institutes and didn't have here any administrative posts. Nevertheless, his first scientific article "On the resonanse phenomenon in shafts" (1905) was published in "St.Petersburg Polytechnical Institute transactions", and later the scientist wrote, that he had never seen such high level of students training in any other engineering schools of Russia, Europe and America, he had visirted or worked in, as in St.Petersburg Polytechnical Institute, during the first years of its work. Stephen Prokofyevich Timoshenko was born in 1878 in settl. Shpotovka of Chernigov region (Ukraine) in the famaly of land surveyer. In 1896 he graduated from school in Romny and in 1901 from St.Petersburg Railway Engineering Institute. After graduation he was on military service in a field-engineer company for one year. Since 1903 S.P.Timoshenko worked in St.Petersburg Polytechnical Institute as senior laboratory assistant in applied mechanics and teached students statics of structures. In 1904 S.P.Timoshenko travelled to Europe to get familiar with German technical school achievements and educational methods in European universities and engineering schools. Lord Ralay's books, particulary "The Theory of Sound", influenced greatly on S.P.Timoshenko's activities. He became interested in complex structures eigen frequences computation and developed simple approximate methods for this problem solution. After Quebec Bridge crash in Canada S.P.Timoshenko started working in the field of complex beams and frames stability analysis and also developed simple methods of solving such kinds of problems. Since 1907 S.P.Timoshenko on V.L.Kirpichov's <kirpichov_en.htm> recommendation was invited to Kiev Polytechnical Institute, where he defended a thesis, and since 1908 became a professor in materials strength, since 1909 -a dean of civil-engineering faculty. In 1907-1908 S.P.Timoshenko developed and read the course of materials strength, which later was published and became a classical book on this discipline, as well as his other book on the theory of elasticity. In 1911 after students' disturbances S.P.Timoshenko was dismissed from Kiev Polytechnical Institute. He returned to St.Petersburg and simultaniously hold two professor chairs - in Electrotechnical and Railway Institutes, working also in Polytechnical Institute as an applied and theoretical mechanics, theory of elasticity and structural mechanics teacher. In 1912 S.P.Timoshenko was on mission in Great Britain. In 1915 S.P.Timoshenko was elected a professor in St.Petersburg Polytechnical Institute. In 1917 S.P.Timoshenko was sent on mission to Kiev, where he participated in Ukrainian Academy of Sciences organizing and in 1918 became one of its first academicians. In 1920 S.P.Timoshenko left the Soviet Ukraine for Yugoaslavia, where he took up a chair of materials strength in Zagreb Polytechnical Institute. In 1922 S.P.Timoshenko moves to the USA, where he worked as an engineer in "Westinghaus" company, but later became a professor in the University of Michigan. Stephen Prokofyevich Timoshenko's lectures on applied mechanics in the University of Michigan attracted a great number of students and young scientisis and teachers. Such stars of science from Europe as Prandtl and Westergard went to the USA to meet with S.P.Timoshenko. At that time S.P.Timoshenko has published number of books on materials strength, theory of elasticity and theory of stability. Since 1936 S.P.Timoshenko worked in Stanford University, where his books on technical mechanics, theory of plates and shells, dynamics were published. A great popularity was gained by his book on the history of materials strength, which he traced from Galliley and Leonardo-da-Vinchi to the latest developments. Since 1964 S.P.Timoshenko lived in Germany, where he died in 1972.
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Stephen Prokofyevich Timoshenko was known as a teacher, author of numerous publications and books, researcher and scientific consultant. S.P.Timoshenko is considered to be the founder of the technical mechanics scientific school in the USA. S.P.Timoshenko has developed the theory of beams and plates bending with taking in account shear strains (in modern structural mechanics terms "Timoshenko plate", "Timoshenko element" are widely used), published numerous works on torsion, thrust and pivot vibration, solved the problem about stresses concentration near holes (Timoshenko problem). S.P.Timoshenko was elected a member of the USA National Academy of Sciences, Royal Scientific Soceity of Great Britain, member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (since 1918 -corresponding member, since 1968 - foreign member), received honor doctoral degrees in many universities. His name is given to the laboratory in Stanford University and American Soceity of Mechanical Engineers medal.
**************************** Stephen Timoshenko STEPHEN P. TIMOSHENKO was born in 1878 in Russia. His father Timofeyevich was a surveyor and his mother was a voracious reader. During his early childhood, Timoshenko enjoyed playing in piles of sand near building construction sites - he built fortresses, castles and especially rail roads. When he was five years old his schooling started. Timoshenko never liked his class room studies and at home he worked with pleasure. He felt sitting five hours every day in a class room is a waste of time. He always pushed himself forward or to display his knowledge to the teacher. Timoshenko studied mathematics with pleasure and solved various problems for amusement and not because they were assigned. When he was promoted to grade four, Timoshenko learnt how to operate a harvesting machine. At the age of 14 he learnt to sketch and draw, and participated in planning and building a house. At the age of 18 he joined an institute at the Ministry of Ways of Communication in St.Petersburg. During the summers of 1899 and 1900 Timoshenko spent practicing on construction of Volchansk- Kupyansk rail road so that he could learn all the important types of construction. His student years coincided with the start of political quickening in Russia manifested primarily in student disturbances. In the summer of 1900, the international exposition opened in Paris and he went as a student who knew foreign language to serve at the ways of communications exhibit. With 200 roubles and a free ticket Timoshenko set out from Petersburg for Paris. This was his first trip abroad. Upon graduation from the institute, Timoshenko was faced with a year of compulsory military service at the time when most of the youths opposed military service. Military service not only afforded him an opportunity to become better acquainted with low class people but gymnastics and living in a tent in summer improved his physical health. After military service Timoshenko got married to Aledxandra Archangleskya in 1902 who was a medical student. At that time he worked at the mechanics laboratory with a salary of 100 roubles a month. He became well acquainted with testing machines and soon saw that apart from learning the techniques of mechanical testing of building materials he could accomplish nothing at the laboratory. Timoshenko felt that for a scientific work a more thorough grounding in mathematics and mechanics was needed and he tried to use every opportunity available at the institute to expand his education. Then he joined The Petersburg Polytechnic in 1903. In 1904 he travelled to Europe with a specific purpose of becoming better acquainted with German technical school and their teaching methods. Timoshenko took interest in reading Rayleigh's book The Theory of Sound and he was particularly captivated by the approximate methods of calculating vibration frequencies of complex structures. In 1907-1908 he gave a full course on Strength of materials and later on published in lithographic form. He investigated a number of new problems involving the stability of compressed bar. In connection with the Quebec Bridge disaster in Canada he started working on the theory of stability of composite beams and found simpler methods of solving problems. In 1908, in addition to teaching duties, Timoshenko was given administrative responsibility which interested him little. In 1912 when he went to England and found that the lab facility at Cambridge University was poorer than those in German laboratories. The books of Lord Raleigh exerted a large influence on the development of Timoshenko's scientific work. In 1913 Timoshenko became Professor of Ministry of Ways of Communications and Electrical Engineering Institute. Then he joined as Professor at Zagreb Polytechnic and he continued up to 1922 and for some time Timoshenko worked at Westing House. In the U.S, Timoshenko felt the thoroughness of the training in mathematics and basic engineering subjects gave him enormous advantage over Americans especially in solving nonstereotyped problems. He also observed that there is a good communication between scientists and engineers in America than in Europe. In 1927 a special Chair of Research in Mechanics was offered to Timoshenko. His lectures on Applied Mechanics at the University of Michigan attracted a large number of students from other departments and also young teachers. In Michigan summer session in applied Mechanics was instituted and many luminaries from Europe like Prandtl, Southwell, Westergaard and Karman participated. During this period he published a number of books such as Strength of Materials, Theory of Elasticity and Elastic Stability. In 1936 he moved to Stanford University and during this period he published Engineering Mechanics, Theory of Plates and Shells, Theory of Structures and Advanced Dynamics. He wrote his last book on History of Strength of Materials where he traced the history from Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo to the present. The Stanford University laboratory of Engineering Mechanics was named after him. He was elected to a number of many reputed Societies such as National Academy of Science, U.S, and the Royal Society, London. He received many honorary doctoral degrees from various universities such as Lehigh, Zurich Tech Institute and Glasgow University. In 1935, American Society of Mechanical Engineers conferred upon him the Worcester Reed Warner Medal for achievement in the field of Mechanics. Stephen Timoshenko enriched the lives of thousands of his students and colleagues during his many years of active work. He is known to many as a teacher, writer, researcher and adviser and he can be called as the father of engineering mechanics. <<...OLE_Obj...>> TIMOSHENKO MEDALISTS 1957 Stephen P. Timoshenko 1971 Howard W. Emmons 1988 George K. Batchelor 1958 Arpad L. Nadai 1972 Jacob P. Den Hartog 1989 Bernard Budiansky Sir Geoffrey Taylor 1973 Eric Reissner 1990 Stephen H. Crandall Theodore von Karman 1974 Albert E. Green 1991 Yuan-Cheng B. Fung 1959 Sir Richard Southwell 1975 Chia-Chiao Lin 1992 Jan D. Achenbach 1960 Cornelius B. Biezano 1976 Erastus H. Lee 1993 John L. Lumley Richard Grammel 1977 John D. Eshelby 1994 James R. Rice 1961 James N. Goodier 1978 George F. Carrier 1995 Daniel D. Joseph 1962 Maurice A. Biot 1979 Jerald L. Ericksen 1996 J. Tinsley Oden 1963 Michael James Lighthill 1980 Paul M. Naghdi 1997 John R. Willis 1964 Raymond D. Mindlin 1981 John H. Argyris 1998 Olgierd C. Zienkiewicz 1965 Sydney Goldstein 1982 John W. Miles 1999 Anatol Roshko 1966 William Prager 1983 Daniel C. Drucker 2000 Rodney J. Clifton 1967 Hillel Poritsky 1984 Joseph B. Keller 2001 Ted Belytschko 1968 Warner T. Koiter 1985 Eli Sternberg 2002 John W. Hutchinson 1969 Jakob Ackeret 1986 George R. Irwin 2003 Lambert B. Freund
1970 James J. Stoker 1987 Ronald S. Rivlin 2004 Morton E. Gurtin
BOOK BY TIMOSHENKO :- (rates as on Yr'2004)
1) History of Strength of Materials Author(s): Stephen P. Timoshenko Average Customer Rating: Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 2 days
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3) Theory of Elastic Stability Author(s): Stephen P. Timoshenko, J. Gere Average Customer Rating: Availability: This item is currently not available.
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abhyankar ...
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