Walter Noll (January 7, 1925 June 6, 2017) was a mathematician, and Professor Emeritus at
Carnegie Mellon University. He is best known for developing mathematical tools of
classical mechanics
Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, and astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. For objects governed by classi ...
,
thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of th ...
, and
continuum mechanics.
Biography
Born in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, Noll had his school education in a suburb of Berlin. In 1954, Noll earned a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universi ...
under
Clifford Truesdell.
His thesis "On the Continuity of the Solid and Fluid States" was published both in ''
Journal of Rational Mechanics and Analysis'' and in one of Truesdell's books. Noll thanks
Jerald Ericksen
Jerald LaVerne Ericksen (December 20, 1924 – June 11, 2021) was an American mathematician specializing in continuum mechanics.
Biography
Ericksen was born in Portland, Oregon. His father Adolf worked at a Portland creamery and became adept a ...
for his critical input to the thesis.
Noll has served as a visiting professor at the
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
, the
University of Karlsruhe
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association.
KIT was created in 2009 w ...
, the
Israel Institute of Technology
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, the
Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine in
Nancy, the
University of Pisa
The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe.
History
The Origins
The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...
, the
University of Pavia
The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...
, and the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
In 2012 he became a fellow of the
American Mathematical Society
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...
. Noll died on June 6, 2017 at the age of 92.
Principle of material objectivity
In
continuum mechanics, Noll introduced the so-called principle of material objectivity, which states that the constitutive laws governing the internal conditions of a physical system and the interactions between its parts should not depend on whatever external
frame of reference is used to describe them.
"Principle of material objectivity" is now an obsolete term that has been replaced by principle of material frame-indifference.
[Miroslav Šilhavý, ''The Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Continuous Media'', Springer, 1997]
"The Principle of Material Frame Indifference"
Books
*Noll, Walter and
Truesdell, Clifford (1965) ''The Non-Linear Field Theories of Mechanics''. Springer-Verlag, New York. .
*Noll, Walter; Coleman, B. D.; and Markovitz, H. (1966) ''Viscometric Flows of Non-Newtonian Fluids, Theory and Experiment''. Springer-Verlag, New York.
ASIN
Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononymously as Asin, is a former Indian actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She has received three Filmfare Awards. She ...
B0006BN90G.
*Noll, Walter (1974) ''Foundations of Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Selected Papers''. Springer-Verlag, New York. .
*Noll, Walter (1987) ''Finite-Dimensional Spaces: Algebra, Geometry, and Analysis, Vol. I''. Kluwer Academic Publishers. . A corrected version (2006) is published on Professor Noll's website.
*Noll, Walter (2004) ''Five Contributions to Natural Philosophy''. Published on Professor Noll's website
References
External links
*
Professor Noll's Carnegie Mellon home pageProfessor Noll's websiteObituary: Walter Noll, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 11, 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noll, Walter
2017 deaths
1925 births
20th-century American mathematicians
21st-century American mathematicians
Carnegie Mellon University faculty
Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
German emigrants to the United States
Indiana University alumni
Johns Hopkins University faculty
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology faculty
Scientists from Berlin
University of Pavia faculty
University of Pisa faculty