Arthur B. Metzner (13 April 1927 – 4 May 2006) was a
Canadian born
United States professor of
chemical engineering and noted
rheologist
Rheology (; ) is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in a fluid (liquid or gas) state, but also as "soft solids" or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an applie ...
.
Life
Metzner was born 13 April 1927 in
Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan and grew up in
Barrhead, Alberta.
[''Physics Today'', vol 59 no 9 (Sept 2006), p7]
Obituaries: Arthur B. Metzner
/ref> He gained a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Alberta in 1948 and a doctorate Sc.D
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 ...
from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1951.[ ''Rheology Bulletin'' (2006) vol 75 no 2, pp 6-7, 21] He joined the faculty of University of Delaware in 1953 and remained there until his retirement in 1993. He became a full professor in 1961, and in 1991 the H. Fletcher Brown Professor of Chemical Engineering, which title he held emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
until his death.[U of Alberta Faculty of Engineering Magazine]
The Rules of Rheology He died on 4 May 2006, survived by his wife, Elisabeth.[
]
Work
Metzner realised that conventional theories of heat and mass transfer were very poor in designing many industrial processes with non-Newtonian fluids, and set about producing new design methods.[ His work had direct industrial relevance to the processing of composite materials, polymer processing, and fiber spinning. His studies of fluid mechanics produced the ''Otto-Metzner correlation'' for power consumption in mixing of non-Newtonian fluids][AIChE Profiles]
Arthur Metzner and the '' White-Metzner'' equation for stress which is used in computational fluid dynamics for polymer processing.[ He was also renowned as an educator.][
]
Honours and awards
Metzner was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and received awards from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was actually established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as a profession independent of chemists and mechanical engineer ...
, the American Society for Engineering Education, the American Chemical Society and in 1977 the Bingham Medal The Bingham Medal is an annual award for outstanding contributions to the field of rheology awarded at the Annual Meeting of The Society of Rheology. It was instituted in 1948 by the society to commemorate Eugene C. Bingham (1878–1945).
List o ...
from the Society of Rheology
The Society of Rheology is an American professional society formed in December, 1929 to represent scientists and technologists working in the field of rheology, the science of the deformation and flow of matter.
Current membership is of the order ...
.[
]
References
University of Delaware Daily, October 10, 2006
In Memoriam: Arthur B. Metzner
1927 births
2006 deaths
People from Barrhead, Alberta
People from Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan
Canadian chemical engineers
Rheologists
Canadian emigrants to the United States
{{Canada-engineer-stub