Melvin Ernest Stern (January 22, 1929 – February 2, 2010) was a U.S. academic oceanographer who focused on fluid dynamics. He served as the Ekman Professor of Oceanography at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

and was an elected member of both the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

and the

American Academy of Arts & Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States of America, United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bow ...

. Dr. Stern was the first researcher in the world to mathematically describe

salt fingering Salt fingering is a mixing process, example of double diffusive instability, that occurs when relatively warm, salty water overlies relatively colder, fresher water. It is driven by the fact that heated water diffuses more readily than salty water ...

, a phenomenon produced by

Double diffusive convection Double diffusive convection is a fluid dynamics phenomenon that describes a form of convection driven by two different density gradients, which have different rates of diffusion. Convection in fluids is driven by density variations within them u ...

Biography

Born January 22, 1929, and a native of New York City, Melvin received his B.E.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from Cooper Union in 1950; a M.S. in Physics from Illinois Tech in 1952; and a Ph.D. in Meteorology from M.I.T. in 1956. He began his career at

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

as a research assistant in Physics from 1951- 1952. On military leave to serve in the Air Force from 1952-1957, he returned to WHOI in the same position from 1957- 1964. He went on to join the faculty at th
Graduate School of Oceanography

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

in 1964 and then to

in 1987 where he was a professor for many years. A pioneer in his field, Melvin was one of the founders of the WHOIbr>Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (GFD) program
which he continued to attend through 2004. He returned for the program's 50th year celebration in 2008 and then again in 2009 to deliver a lecture at a special dinner for Lou Howard. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1998. Melvin Stern died on February 2, 2010, in Philadelphia, PA.Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
/ref> He was 81. He is survived by Astrid, his wife of 55 years, and children Darienne Stern, Amanda Stern, and Philip Stern.

Published works

Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions

References

External links

Florida State University faculty profile

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

National Academy of Sciences Memoir Profile
1929 births 2010 deaths Florida State University faculty University of Rhode Island faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences {{US-academic-bio-stub

Biography

Published works

Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions

See also

References

External links