Stepan Prokofyevich Timoshenko (russian: Степан Прокофьевич Тимошенко, p=sʲtʲɪˈpan prɐˈkofʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tʲɪmɐˈʂɛnkə; uk, Степан Прокопович Тимошенко, Stepan Prokopovych Tymoshenko; – May 29, 1972), later known as Stephen Timoshenko, was a Russian Imperial and later, an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and academician of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

descent. He is considered to be the father of modern engineering mechanics. An inventor and one of the pioneering mechanical engineers at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. A founding member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Timoshenko wrote seminal works in the areas of engineering mechanics,

elasticity Elasticity often refers to: *Elasticity (physics), continuum mechanics of bodies that deform reversibly under stress Elasticity may also refer to: Information technology * Elasticity (data store), the flexibility of the data model and the cl ...

and strength of materials, many of which are still widely used today. Having started his scientific career in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, Timoshenko emigrated to the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

during the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

and then 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 territorie ...

Biography

Timoshenko was born in the village of Shpotovka, Uyezd of Konotop in the Chernigov Governorate which at that time was a territory of the

(today in

Konotop Raion Konotop Raion ( uk, Конотопський район, ) is a raion in Sumy Oblast in Central Ukraine. The administrative center of the raion is the town of Konotop. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine ...

Sumy Oblast Sumy Oblast ( uk, Сумська́ о́бласть, translit=Sumska oblast; also referred to as Sumshchyna – uk, Су́мщина) is an oblast (province) in the northeastern part of Ukraine. Population: The oblast was created in its most r ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). He studied at a Realschule (russian: реальное училище) in

Romny Romny ( uk, Ромни́, ) is a city in northern Ukraine, Ukrainian Sumy Oblast. It is located on the Romen (river), Romen River. Romny serves as the administrative centre of Romny Raion. It is administratively incorporated as a City of region ...

, Poltava Governorate (now in

) from 1889 to 1896. In Romny his schoolmate and friend was future famous semiconductor physicist

Abram Ioffe Abram Fedorovich Ioffe ( rus, Абра́м Фёдорович Ио́ффе, p=ɐˈbram ˈfʲɵdərəvʲɪtɕ ɪˈofɛ; – 14 October 1960) was a prominent Russian/Soviet physicist. He received the Stalin Prize (1942), the Lenin Prize (1960) (po ...

. Timoshenko continued his education towards a university degree at the St Petersburg Institute of engineers Ways of Communication. After graduating in 1901, he stayed on teaching in this same institution from 1901 to 1903 and then worked at the

Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, abbreviated as SPbPU (also, formerly "Saint Petersburg State Technical University", abbreviated as SPbSTU), is a Russian technical university located in Saint Petersburg. Other former names i ...

under

Viktor Kirpichov Viktor Lvovich Kirpichov (russian: Ви́ктор Льво́вич Кирпичё́в; , Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire – , Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a prominent Russian Imperial engineer, physicist, and educational organizer, know ...

1903–1906. In 1905, he was sent for one year to the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

where he worked under Ludwig Prandtl. In the fall of 1906, he was appointed to the Chair of Strengths of Materials at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. The return to his native Ukraine turned out to be an important part of his career and also influenced his future personal life. From 1907 to 1911, as a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

at the Polytechnic Institute he did research in the earlier variant of the Finite Element Method of elastic calculations, the so-called Rayleigh method. During those years he also pioneered work on buckling, and published the first version of his famous ''Strength of Materials'' textbook. He was elected dean of the Division of Structural Engineering in 1909. In 1911 he signed a protest against Minister for Education Kasso and was fired from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. In 1911 he was awarded the D. I. Zhuravski prize of the St.Petersburg Ways of Communication Institute that helped him survive after losing his job. He went to

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

where he worked as a lecturer and then a Professor in the ''Electrotechnical Institute'' and the St Petersburg Institute of the Railways (1911–1917). During that time he developed the

theory of elasticity Solid mechanics, also known as mechanics of solids, is the branch of continuum mechanics that studies the behavior of solid materials, especially their motion and deformation under the action of forces, temperature changes, phase changes, and ot ...

and the theory of

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

deflection, and continued to study buckling. In 1918 he returned to Kyiv and assisted Vladimir Vernadsky in establishing the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences – the oldest academy among the Soviet republics other than Russia. In 1918–1920 Timoshenko headed the newly established Institute of Mechanics of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, which today carries his name. After the

Armed Forces of South Russia The Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR or SRAF) () were the unified military forces of the White movement in southern Russia between 1919 and 1920. On 8 January 1919, the Armed Forces of South Russia were formed, incorporating the Volunteer Army ...

of general

Denikin Anton Ivanovich Denikin (russian: Анто́н Ива́нович Дени́кин, link= ; 16 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New St ...

had taken Kyiv in 1919, Timoshenko moved from Kyiv to

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don ( rus, Ростов-на-Дону, r=Rostov-na-Donu, p=rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu) is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East Eu ...

. After travel via

Novorossiysk Novorossiysk ( rus, Новоросси́йск, p=nəvərɐˈsʲijsk; ady, ЦIэмэз, translit=Chəməz, p=t͡sʼɜmɜz) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities hono ...

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

and

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

to the

, he arrived in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, where he got professorship at the Zagreb Polytechnic Institute. In 1920, during the brief liberation of Kyiv from Bolsheviks, Timoshenko travelled to the city, reunited with his family and returned with his family to

. He is remembered for delivering lectures in Russian while using as many words in Croatian as he could; the students were able to understand him well.

United States

In 1922, Timoshenko moved to the

where he worked for the

Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...

from 1923 to 1927, after which he became a faculty professor in the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

where he created the first bachelor's and

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

programs in engineering mechanics. His textbooks have been published in 36 languages. His first textbooks and papers were written in Russian; later in his life, he published mostly in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. In 1928 he was an Invited Speaker of the ICM in Bologna. From 1936 onward he was a professor at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Timoshenko's younger brothers, architect Serhii ( Sergius Timoshenko, Ukrainian Minister of Transport, participant in the 1921

Second Winter Campaign The Second Winter Campaign was a failed military campaign by the Ukrainian National Army in October and November 1921 against the Bolsheviks. It was the last campaign of the Ukrainian armed forces in post-World War I attempt to achieve independe ...

against the Soviet regime, and member of the Polish Senate), and economist Volodymyr, both immigrated to the United States as well. In 1957, ASME established a medal named after Stephen Timoshenko; he became its first recipient. The

Timoshenko Medal The Timoshenko Medal is an award given annually by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to an individual "in recognition of distinguished contributions to the field of applied mechanics." The Timoshenko Medal, widely regarded as th ...

honors Stephen P. Timoshenko as the world-renowned authority in the field of

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, and ...

and it commemorates his contributions as author and teacher. The Timoshenko Medal is given annually for distinguished contributions in applied mechanics. In 1960 he moved to

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

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 ...

to be with his daughter. In addition to his

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...

s, in 1963 Timoshenko wrote a book ''Engineering Education in Russia'' and an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, ''As I Remember'' in the Russian language. It was translated into English in 1968 by sponsorship of the Stanford University.

Jacob Pieter Den Hartog Jacob Pieter Den Hartog (July 23, 1901 Ambarawa, Dutch East Indies – March 17, 1989) was a Dutch–American mechanical engineer and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Biography J. P. Den Hartog was born in 1901 in Ambarova, the Dutc ...

, who was Timoshenko's co-worker in the early 1920s at Westinghouse, wrote a review in the magazine ''Science'' stating that "between 1922 and 1962 he .P. Timoshenkowrote a dozen books on all aspects of engineering mechanics, which are in their third or fourth U.S. edition and which have been translated into half a dozen foreign languages each, so that his name as an author and scholar is known to nearly every mechanical and civil engineer in the entire world.. Then, Den Hartog stressed: "There is no question that Timoshenko did much for America. It is an equally obvious truth that America did much for Timoshenko, as it did for millions of other immigrants for all over the world. However, our autobiographer has never admitted as much to his associates and pupils who, like myself often have been pained by his casual statements in conversation. That pain is not diminished by reading these statements on the printed page and one would have wished for a little less acid and a little more human kindness." The celebrated theory that takes into account

shear deformation image:boudin_vein.jpg, Boudinaged quartz vein (with strain fringe) showing ''Fault (geology), sinistral shear sense'', Starlight Pit, Fortnum Gold Mine, Western Australia In geology, shear is the response of a rock to Deformation (engineering), ...

and rotary inertia was developed by Timoshenko in collaboration with

Paul Ehrenfest Paul Ehrenfest (18 January 1880 – 25 September 1933) was an Austrian theoretical physicist, who made major contributions to the field of statistical mechanics and its relations with quantum mechanics, including the theory of phase transition an ...

. Thus it is referred to as Timoshenko-Ehrenfest beam theory. This fact was testified by Timoshenko. The interrelation between Timoshenko-Ehrenfest beam and Euler-Bernoulli beam theory was investigated in the book by Wang, Reddy and Lee. He died in 1972 and his ashes are buried in

Alta Mesa Memorial Park Alta Mesa Memorial Park is a non-denominational burial ground located in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California. It was established in 1904 as a 72-acre cemetery. It includes traditional burial plots, a mausoleum and a columbarium. Notable b ...

, Palo Alto,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. An archive of his manuscripts, letters, and handwritten materials are available online.

List of Timoshenko's doctoral students in the U.S.A.Timoshenko S., "As I Remember", D. Van Nostrand, 1968, ASIN: B000JOIJ7I

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

* Coates, W. M., (1929) * Donnell, L. H., (1930) * Billevicz, V., (1931) * Everett, F. L., (1931) * Frocht, M. M., (1931) * Goodier, J. N., (1931) * Brandeberry, J. B., (1932) * MacCullough, G. H., (1932) * Jamieson, J., (1933) * Taylor, W. H., (1933) * Verse, G. L., (1933) * Vesselowsky, S. T., (1933) * Weibel, E. E., (1933) * Jakkula, A. A., (1934) * Maugh, L. C., (1934) * Schoonover, R. H., (1934) * Way, S., (1934) * Wojtaszak, I. A., (1934) * Allan, G. W. C., (1935) * Horger, O. J., (1935) * Maulbetsch, J. L., (1935) * Miles, A. J., (1935) * Young, D. H., (1935) * Anderson, C. G., (1936) * Fox, E. N., (1936) * Hetenyi, M. I., (1936) * Hogan, M. B., (1936) * Marin, J., (1936) * Zahorski, A. T., (1937)

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

* Bergman, E. O., (1938) * Kurzweil, A. C., (1940) * Lee, E. H., (1940) * Huang, Y. S., (1941) * Wang, T. K., (1941) * Weber, H. S., (1941) * Hoff, N. J., (1942) * Popov, E. P., (1946) * Chilton, E. G., (1947)

Publications

*''Applied Elasticity'', with J. M. Lessells, D. Van Nostrand Company, 1925 *''Vibration Problems in Engineering'', D. Van Nostrand Company, 1st Ed. 1928, 2nd Ed. 1937, 3rd Ed. 1955 (with D. H. Young) *''Strength of Materials'', Part I, Elementary Theory and Problems, D. Van Nostrand Company, 1st Ed. 1930, 2nd Ed. 1940, 3rd Ed. 1955 *''Strength of Materials'', Part II, Advanced Theory and Problems, D. Van Nostrand Company, 1st Ed. 1930, 2nd Ed. 1941, 3rd Ed. 1956 *''Theory of Elasticity '', McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1st Ed. 1934, 2nd Ed. 1951 (with J. N. Goodier) *''Elements of Strength of Materials'', D. Van Nostrand Co., 1st Ed. 1935, 2nd Ed. 1940, 3rd Ed. 1949 (with G.H. MacCullough), 4th Ed. 1962 (with D.H. Young) *''Theory of Elastic Stability'', McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1st Ed. 1936, 2nd Ed. 1961 (with J. M. Gere) *''Engineering Mechanics'', with D.H. Young, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1st Ed. 1937, 2nd Ed. 1940, 3rd. Ed. 1951, 4th Ed. 1956 *''Theory of Plates and Shells '', McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1st Ed. 1940, 2nd Ed. 1959 (with S. Woinowsky-Krieger) *''Theory of Structures'', with D. H. Young, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1st Ed. 1945, 2nd Ed. 1965 *''Advanced Dynamics'', with D. H. Young, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1948 *''History of The Strength of Materials'', McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1953 *''Engineering Education in Russia'', McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1959 *''As I Remember'', D. Van Nostrand, 1968, ASIN: B000JOIJ7I *''Mechanics of Materials'', with J. M. Gere, 1st edition, D. Van Nostrand Company, 1972 *''Erinnerungen'', Translation from the Russian original edition (Translator: Albert Duda), Berlin: Wiley, 2006, (in German)

Biography

United States

List of Timoshenko's doctoral students in the U.S.A.Timoshenko S., "As I Remember", D. Van Nostrand, 1968, ASIN: B000JOIJ7I

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Publications

See also

References

Further reading