Alexander Pavlovich Hrennikoff (russian: Александр Павлович Хренников; 11 November 1896 — 31 December 1984) was a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

structural engineer Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of safety, technical, economic ...

, a founder of the Finite Element Method.

Biography

Alexander was born in

, graduated from the Institute of Railway Engineering in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, received M.A.Sc. degree from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

(1933), and

D.Sc Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degree from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(1941). From 1933 until his death in 1984 he worked as a professor of Civil Engineering at the

.The University of British Columbia - Calendar
/ref>

Work

During his work at the

he developed the lattice analogy which models membrane and plate bending of structures as a lattice framework. While this work received little attention at the time because of the lack of computational power, it is often considered as the turning point in the Time-Line of the Structural Analysis leading to development of the Finite Element Method. He later extended the lattice models to plate and shell buckling problems, and made important contributions to the plastic design theory of metal structures.

References

Bibliography

*A. Hrennikoff, ''Solution of Problems of Elasticity by the Frame-Work Method'' (1941). ASME J. Appl. Mech. 8, A619–A715. *C. A. Felippa, ''The Amusing History of Shear Flexible Beam Elements'', 2005, available online a

*J. T. Oden, ''Historical Comments on Finite Elements'', available online a

External links

Photograph of Alexander Hrennikoff
1896 births 1984 deaths 20th-century Canadian inventors Canadian civil engineers Structural engineers 20th-century Russian engineers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Canada University of British Columbia faculty People associated with the finite element method 20th-century Canadian engineers {{Russia-scientist-stub