Howard Wilson Emmons

Howard Wilson Emmons (1912-1998) was a professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering at Harvard university [Land and Trefethen, 1999] . During his career he conducted original research on fluid mechanics, combustion, and fire safety. He helped design the first supersonic wind tunnel, identified a signature of the transition to turbulence in boundary layer flows (now known as "Emmons spots"), and was the first to observe compressor stall in a gas turbine compressor (still a major item of research today) [Kronauer et al, 2007] . Today he is most widely known for his pioneering work in the field of fire safety engineering, and was eventually awarded the Timoshenko Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has been called "the father of modern fire science" for his contribution to the understanding of flame propagation and fire dynamics [Beyler, 1999] .

Upon Professor Emmons' death, Professor Patrick Pagni wrote:

"It is not possible to properly summarize the magnitude of Professor Emmons' unique contributions to the establishment of fire safety science as a discipline, other than to call him "Mr. Fire Research". [Bryner 2000, p.425-427.]

Biography

*Born in Morristown, New Jersey on August 30, 1912.
*Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1933.
*Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1935.
*Doctor of Science in Mechanical Engineering for Harvard University in 1938.
** Advisors were John Finnie Downie Smith and Charles Harold Berry.
*Worked briefly for Westinghouse and the University of Pennsylvania.
*Professor at Harvard from 1940 onwards.
** Notable student was Richard Ernest Kronauer, who later became an expert on human circadian rhythms.
*US National Academy of Engineering member in 1965.
*US National Academy of Science member in 1966.
*Wife Dorothy
*Children Beverly, Scott, and Keith
*Died November 20, 1998

Awards and Honors

*Honorary ScD from Stevens Institute of Technology, 1963
*US National Academy of Engineering member, 1965
*US National Academy of Science member, 1966
*Egerton Gold Medal from the Combustion Institute, 1968
*100th Anniversary Medal from Stevens Institute of Technology, 1970
*Timoshenko Medal from ASME, 1971
*Stevens Honor Award Medallion from Stevens Institute of Technology, 1970
*Named Fire Protection Man of the Year by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, 1982
*Office of Naval Research Prize from the American Physical Society, 1982

elected Publications

ole Author:

"The Drop Condensation of Vapors"
Harvard University Thesis (S.D.), 1938.

"Gas dynamics tables for air"
Dover: New York, NY, 1947.

"Fundamentals of Gas Dynamics"
Princeton University Press: Princeton NJ, 1958.

"Fluid mechanics and combustion"
Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Combustion, p. 1-18Pittsburgh, Pa., Combustion Institute, 1971.

Joint:

"Thermodynamic properties of helium to 50.000°K"
by Wilbert James Lick, Howard Wilson EmmonsHarvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, 1962.

"Transport properties of helium from 200 to 50.000°K"
by Wilbert James Lick, Howard Wilson EmmonsHarvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, 1965.

"The fire whirl"
by Howard W. Emmons and Shuh-Jing YingProceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Combustion, p. 475-486Pittsburgh, Pa., Combustion Institute, 1967.

ee also

[http://www.imechanica.org/node/1045 The Web of Mechanicians]

Notes

References

* [http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/12.03/emmons.html Howard W. Emmons, Authority on Fire Safety, Dies at 86] , "Harvard University Gazette" (Dec 3 1998).
*Kronauer, Land, Stone, and Abernathy, [http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/03.01/13-mm.html Howard Wilson Emmons, Faculty of Arts and Sciences - Memorial Minute] , "Harvard University Gazette" (March 1 2007).
*Bryner, S.L., ed. "Symposium in Memory of Professor Howard Emmons", Fifteenth Meeting of the UJNR Panel on Fire Safety, Volume 2, March 2000.
*Land, R.I. and Trefethen, L.M. "A Tribute To Howard Wilson Emmons, 1912–1998", "Journal of Fluids Engineering" 121(2), p.234-235 (June 1999).
*Beyler, Craig. "Professor Howard Emmons 1912-1998", "Fire Technology" 35(1), p.1 (Feb 1999).