Professor Raymond Viskanta (16 July 1931 – 27 December 2021) was the W. F. M. Goss Professor of Engineering at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

. His field of study encompassed a range of topics in

convection Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the conve ...

and radiation heat transfer. Dr. Viskanta was born in

Marijampolė Marijampolė (; also known by several other names) is a cultural and industrial city and the capital of the Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The population of Mar ...

, Lithuania. His family fled Lithuania in 1944 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and settled near the city of Nienburg in Germany. Following the war, his family moved to a

displaced persons camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peop ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. They emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1949. Viskanta eventually moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where he worked in a factory and attended evening high school. He received his diploma in 1951, and enrolled as a full-time student at the University of Illinois at Navy Pier. He received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in 1955 and he completed his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 1956. He worked as a mechanical engineer at Argonne National Laboratory and received a

U.S. Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President ...

fellowship. Following this, he returned to Purdue to complete his PhD. He joined the Purdue faculty as a professor in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

in 1962. He was named W.F.M. Goss Distinguished Professor of Engineering in 1986. Dr. Viskanta has published ove
540 publications
in 50 different journals in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Viskanta has been listed as an ISI Highly Cited Author in Engineering by the ISI Web of Knowledge, Thomson Scientific Company.ISI Highly Cited Author - Raymond Viskanta
/ref> Several awards are given in his honor, including th
Viskanta Fellowship Lecture
by Purdue, and Elsevier'
Raymond Viskanta Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viskanta, Raymond 1931 births 2021 deaths Purdue University faculty University of Illinois alumni Purdue University College of Engineering alumni Scientists from Chicago American people of Lithuanian descent Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering People from Marijampolė