- Maurice Anthony Biot
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Maurice Anthony Biot Born May 25, 1905
Antwerp, BelgiumDied September 12, 1985 (aged 80)
New York City, New York, U.S.Fields Physics Institutions Harvard University
Catholic University of Leuven
Columbia University
Brown UniversityAlma mater Catholic University of Leuven
California Institute of TechnologyKnown for Poroelasticity Notable awards Timoshenko Medal (1962) Maurice Anthony Biot (May 25, 1905 – September 12, 1985) was a Belgian-American physicist and the founder of the theory of poroelasticity.
Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Biot studied at Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium where he received a bachelor's degrees in philosophy (1927), mining engineering (1929) and electrical engineering (1930), and Doctor of Science in 1931. He obtained his Ph.D. in Aeronautical Science from the California Institute of Technology in 1932.
In 1930s and 1940s Biot worked at Harvard University, the Catholic University of Leuven, Columbia University and Brown University, and later for a number of companies and government agencies. During the period between 1932 and 1942, he conceived and then fully developed the response spectrum method (RSM) for earthquake engineering[1] which was further promoted by George W Housner.
In the period between 1935 and 1962 Biot published a number of scientific papers that lay the foundations of the theory of poroelasticity (now known as Biot theory), which describes the mechanical behaviour of fluid-saturated porous media. He also made a number of important contributions in areas of aerodynamics, irreversible thermodynamics and heat transfer, viscoelasticity and thermoelasticity, among others.
Biot was interested in reports of unidentified flying objects, and in a 1952 interview with Life expressed his support of the extraterrestrial hypothesis.[2]
Biot is a recipient of the Timoshenko Medal (1962) and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences the same year.[3] He died in New York City aged 80.
References
- ^ Biot, M.A. (1941). Bull. of Soc. Seism. of Amer., v.31, N.2. ed. Mechanical Analysis for the Prediction of Earthquake Stresses.
- ^ "Have We Visitors From Space?" Darrach, H. B. and Robert Ginna. Life Magazine. 07 April 1952
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
External links
Categories:- 1905 births
- 1985 deaths
- Alumni of the Catholic University of Leuven before 1968
- American physicists
- Belgian emigrants to the United States
- Belgian physicists
- Brown University faculty
- California Institute of Technology alumni
- Columbia University faculty
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Harvard University staff
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- People from Antwerp
- Belgian scientist stubs
- Physicist stubs
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