Ronald Samuel Rivlin (6 May 1915 in London – 4 October 2005) was a British-American physicist, mathematician,

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 ...

and a noted expert on rubber.''New York Times'' November 25, 2005 "Ronald Rivlin, 90, Expert on Properties of Rubber, Dies" Barenblatt GI and Joseph DD (2008) ''Ronald Samuel Rivlin'', Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering, 12, 234-239.

Life

Rivlin was born in London in 1915. He studied physics and mathematics at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, being awarded a BA in 1937 and a ScD in 1952.Rheology Bulletin vol 75, no 1 (2006) page pp 19 & 27 He worked for the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

, then the UK

Ministry of Aircraft Production Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

, then the British Rubber Producers Research Association, to which he was recruited to at the suggestion of

L. R. G. Treloar Professor Leslie Ronald George Treloar, OBE (30 July 1906 – 18 March 1985) was a leading figure in the science of rubber and elasticity, and writer of a number of influential texts. Leslie Treloar graduated in Physics from University College, R ...

John Wilson John Wilson may refer to: Academics * John Wilson (mathematician) (1741–1793), English mathematician and judge * John Wilson (historian) (1799–1870), author of ''Our Israelitish Origin'' (1840), a founding text of British Israelism * John Wil ...

, over a “lavish meal” and game of pool. This included one sabbatical year at the National Bureau of Standards, USA. His post at the

BRPRA The Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre, originally known as the British Rubber Producers' Research Association, carries out research into rubber and is funded by the Malaysian government. Early years: as the British Rubber Producers Research Associa ...

was the start of his interest in rubber. In 1953 he took up the post of Professor of Applied Mathematics at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, moving to Lehigh University in 1967 to become director of the Center for the Application of Mathematics until his retirement in 1980. He married Violet LoRusso in 1948 (they had a son, John) and became an American citizen in 1955.

Work

His work began with his 1944 observation that "although very little force is required to detach Scotch tape from an adherend, the work expended in doing so is very large". This is from the elastic effects of the adhesive, on which he commented even if "one idealized the adhesive as a perfectly elastic material there appeared to be no body of mathematical theory which would provide a basis for calculations". Existing theories were only on very small deformations, so from 1945 to 1951, Rivlin was one of the creators of the modern theory of large elastic deformations, including theory of Neo-Hookean solids and Mooney-Rivlin solids.A. N. Gent (2005) "Ronald N. Rivlin", Journal of Elasticity (2005) 81: 111–113 He also made major contributions to the theory of non-Newtonian fluid flow, including in the Rivlin-Ericksen expansion.Ronald Rivlin
biography of 2007, Symposium on Materials

Honours and awards

* Bingham Medal of the Society of Rheology in 1958. * Timoshenko Medal of the ASME in 1987 * Charles Goodyear Medal of the American Chemical Society's Rubber Division in 1992. * von Karman Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1993 * Member of the National Academy of Engineering * Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences * President of the Society of Rheology * Chairman of th
Society for Natural Philosophy
* Chairman of the U
National Committee for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
* Chairman, Applied Mechanics Division, ASME Rivlin was invited to speak in 1972 at the induction of Melvin Mooney into the

International Rubber Science Hall of Fame The International Rubber Hall of Fame recognizes the careers of notable professionals in rubber technology. It is jointly sponsored by the Maurice Morton Institute of Polymer Science at The University of Akron and the Rubber Division of the Americ ...

. At first he understood that he was to be inducted, but when he was told that candidates had to be deceased, he said "That's too great a price to pay". It was in 2008 that Rivlin was inducted into the

(IRSHF) by the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society.

References

* Tomas Carlsson &

Frank Matthews Leslie Professor Frank Matthews Leslie FRS FRSE (8 March 1935 – 15 June 2000) was a Scottish mathematical physicist specializing in continuum mechanics. He is remembered for the Ericksen–Leslie Theory which he developed with Jerald Ericksen to d ...

(1999) "The development of theory for flow and dynamic effects for nematic liquid crystals", ''Liquid Crystals'' 26(9):1267–80.

External links

*
Rivlin's contribution to Fracture Mechanics in Rubber

An early photograph of Ronald Rivlin
fro
AIP

photograph of Rivlin
fro

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivlin, Ronald 1915 births 2005 deaths Mathematicians from London Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge English physicists 20th-century English mathematicians Polymer scientists and engineers Rheologists Brown University faculty Lehigh University faculty Solid mechanics 20th-century American mathematicians