Forman A. Williams
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Forman Arthur Williams (born January 12, 1934) is an American academic in the field of
combustion Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combusti ...
and
aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...
who is
Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the
University of California San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
.


Education

Williams received his bachelor's degree from
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
in 1955 and on
Martin Summerfield Martin Summerfield (20 October 1916 – 18 July 1996) was an American physicist and rocket scientist, a co-founder of Aerojet, head of Princeton University propulsion and combustion laboratory.
's advice, he moved to
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
to pursue his PhD, graduating it in 1958 under the supervision of
Sol Penner Stanford Solomon Penner (5 July 1921 – 15 July 2016) also known as Sol Penner, was a German-American scientist and engineer, a major figure in combustion physics, especially in rocket engines, and a founder of the Engineering program at Universit ...
, with
Richard Feynman Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superflu ...
on the thesis committee. He presented his PhD thesis to von Kármán at his home, who had influenced Williams greatly.


Career

After finishing his PhD, Williams worked in the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
until 1964, after which he joined the faculty at
UCSD The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
. He was the fourth faculty member to be appointed, when
Sol Penner Stanford Solomon Penner (5 July 1921 – 15 July 2016) also known as Sol Penner, was a German-American scientist and engineer, a major figure in combustion physics, especially in rocket engines, and a founder of the Engineering program at Universit ...
founded the
Engineering department An engine department or engineering department is an organizational unit aboard a ship that is responsible for the operation, maintenance, and repair of the propulsion systems and the support systems for crew, passengers, and cargo. These includ ...
in
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
. In January 1981, he accepted the
Robert H. Goddard Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945) was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first Liquid-propellant rocket, liquid-fueled rocket. ...
chair at
Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...
, eventually returning to UCSD in 1988. Williams also served as an adjunct Professor at
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
for one month of each year starting in 1997 and culminating after ten years. He was also the director of Center for Energy Research from 1990 to 2006 at UCSD. He served as a department chair at UCSD for four years.


Research

Williams' research interests includes
combustion Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combusti ...
,
propulsion Propulsion is the generation of force by any combination of pushing or pulling to modify the translational motion of an object, which is typically a rigid body (or an articulated rigid body) but may also concern a fluid. The term is derived from ...
applications,
micro-gravity The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the ...
flames etc. He made seminal contributions to the combustion field for the past six decades and considered as one of the prominent scientist in combustion. He wrote the
Williams spray equation In combustion, the Williams spray equation, also known as the Williams–Boltzmann equation, describes the statistical evolution of sprays contained in another fluid, analogous to the Boltzmann equation for the molecules, named after Forman A. Willi ...
in 1958 when he was still a PhD student, as a statistical model for spray combustion analogous to
Boltzmann equation The Boltzmann equation or Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) describes the statistical behaviour of a thermodynamic system not in a state of equilibrium, devised by Ludwig Boltzmann in 1872.Encyclopaedia of Physics (2nd Edition), R. G. Lerne ...
. Though Activation Energy Asymptotics were known to Russian scientists forty years ago, it was Williams' call in 1971 in
Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics ''Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research on fluid mechanics. It is published once a year by Annual Reviews and the editors are Parviz Moin and Howard Stone. As of 2022, ''Journal Citation Rep ...
which made the western scientific community to start using the analysis. He wrote down the
G equation In Combustion, G equation is a scalar G(\mathbf,t) field equation which describes the instantaneous flame position, introduced by Forman A. Williams in 1985 in the study of premixed turbulent combustion. The equation is derived based on the Level-se ...
in 1985, a model for premixed turbulent flame as a wrinkled flame. The classification of Combustion instabilities was first introduced by Williams and Barrère in 1969. He introduced the concepts
flame stretch In combustion, flame stretch (K) is a quantity which measures the amount of stretch of the flame surface due to curvature and due to the outer velocity field strain. The early concept of flame stretch was introduced by Karlovitz in 1953, although th ...
and laminar flamelets. Further, he introduced the Williams diagram which classifies different regimes in turbulent combustion. He worked on number of projects with NASA, Air force and other organizations. He is the principal investigator of the following
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
experiments, MDCA (Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus), FSDC (Fiber Supported Droplet Combustion), FSDC-2 (Fiber Supported Droplet Combustion - 2), DCE (Droplet Combustion Experiment), FLEX (Flame Extinguishment Experiment), FLEX-2 (Flame Extinguishment Experiment - 2), Cool Flames Investigation. He conducted lot of experiments, some of his recent experiments include spiral flames in
von Kármán swirling flow Von Kármán swirling flow is a flow created by a uniformly rotating infinitely long plane disk, named after Theodore von Kármán who solved the problem in 1921. The rotating disk acts as a fluid pump and is used as a model for centrifugal fans or ...
, ethanol flames, fire spread etc.


Publications

Williams ''Combustion Theory'', second edition published in 1985, is still an authoritative book in the combustion field.


Books

* * * * * * * *


Lecture Notes

*


Honors

Williams is an elected member of
National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...
(1988) and also in
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
(2010). He is a fellow of
The Combustion Institute The Combustion Institute is an educational non-profit, international, scientific and engineering society whose purpose is to promote research in combustion science. The institute was established in 1954, and its headquarters are in Pittsburgh, Penn ...
. He is elected as a fellow of
APS APS or Aps or aps or similar may refer to: Education * Abbottabad Public School * Adarsh Public School, a public school in New Delhi, India * Alamogordo Public Schools * Albuquerque Public Schools, New Mexico, US school district * Allendale Publ ...
in 2002. He is also a member of
AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...
,
SIAM Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...
etc. He holds an honorary doctorate degree from
Technical University of Madrid The Technical University of Madrid or sometimes called Polytechnic University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) is a public university, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different Te ...
. He has been in the editorial board of various journals, currently he is in the editorial board of
Progress in Energy and Combustion Science ''Progress in Energy and Combustion Science'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed review journal published by Elsevier. Established in 1975, the journal publishes review articles on all aspects of energy and combustion science. All contributions are by ...
,
Combustion Science and Technology ''Combustion Science and Technology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research on combustion. The editor-in-chief is Richard A. Yetter ( Pennsylvania State University). It is published by Taylor & Francis and was establishe ...
. He was a member of the National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee in reporting the
Collapse of the World Trade Center The collapse of the World Trade Center occurred during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, after the Twin Towers were struck by two hijacked commercial airliners. One World Trade Center (WTC 1, or the North Tower) was hit at 8:46  ...
. Some of his awards include: *
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
(1970) from
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been ...
* Silver Combustion Medal (1978) from
The Combustion Institute The Combustion Institute is an educational non-profit, international, scientific and engineering society whose purpose is to promote research in combustion science. The institute was established in 1954, and its headquarters are in Pittsburgh, Penn ...
*
Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, p ...
U.S. Senior Scientist Award (1982) *
Bernard Lewis Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near E ...
Gold Medal (1990) from
The Combustion Institute The Combustion Institute is an educational non-profit, international, scientific and engineering society whose purpose is to promote research in combustion science. The institute was established in 1954, and its headquarters are in Pittsburgh, Penn ...
* Pendray Aerospace Literature Award (1993) from
AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...
* Numa Munson Medal (1995) from ICDERS * Thermal Engineering Award for International Activity (1999) from JSME *Propellants & Combustion Award (2004) from
AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...
* Distinguished Public Service Medal (2017) from
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
A conference titled ''Symposium on Advancements in Combustion Theory'' was conducted at
UCSD The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
in 2004 in honor of Williams 70th birthday.
Combustion Science and Technology ''Combustion Science and Technology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research on combustion. The editor-in-chief is Richard A. Yetter ( Pennsylvania State University). It is published by Taylor & Francis and was establishe ...
released a special issue in honor of Williams 80th birthday.Law, C. K., & Yang, V. (2015). Preface to the Special Issue Celebrating Professor forman a. Williams’ S 80th Birthday. Combustion Science and Technology, 187(1-2), 1-2. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00102202.2015.975005


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Forman A. 1934 births Living people Engineers from California People from New Brunswick, New Jersey Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Fluid dynamicists California Institute of Technology alumni University of California, San Diego faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Engineers from New Jersey Fellows of The Combustion Institute Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics