Dr. Hiroshi Tada was a mechanical engineer with highly notable works in the field of fracture mechanics. He was also well known as a performer of a Japanese style of top spinning known as ''koma-mawashi''.

''Koma-mawashi'' performances

Although is traditionally a children's play activity in Japan, Dr. Tada performed this art at an expert level and included in his act elements of juggling, yo-yo and magic, with some comedy thrown in. He was a regular performer at many festivals in the

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

area, such as the

Missouri Botanical Garden The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropist Henry Shaw. Its herbarium, with more than 6.6 million spe ...

's Japanese Festival,

Missouri History Museum The Missouri History Museum in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri, showcases Missouri history. It is operated by the Missouri Historical Society, which was founded in 1866. Museum admission is free through a public subsidy by the Metropolitan ...

's International FunFest, Queeny Park's International Folk Fest, and

Tower Grove Park Tower Grove Park is a municipal park in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Most of its land was donated to the city by Henry Shaw in 1868. It is on 289 acres (1.17 km²) adjacent to the Missouri Botanical Garden, another of Shaw's legacies. I ...

's Festival of Nations.

Personal and professional life

Hiroshi Tada was born in

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

, Japan. He graduated from the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

and moved to the United States to obtain his PhD. He spent most of his life in

. Dr. Tada was an affiliate professor of mechanical engineering at the

McKelvey School of Engineering The James McKelvey School of Engineering is a part of Washington University in St. Louis. Founded in 1854, the engineering school is a research institution occupying seven buildings on Washington University's Danforth Campus. Research emphasis ...

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

and co-author of ''Stress Analysis of Cracks Handbook''.

References

Living people Mechanical engineers Jugglers 1939 births University of Tokyo alumni Washington University in St. Louis faculty {{Japan-academic-bio-stub