Charles E. Taylor (March 24, 1924 — December 18, 2017) was an American engineer. He was a Professor of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (TAM) Department at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univers ...

. He was known as Chuck.

Education

Taylor earned a BS 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, ...

in 1946 and MS in

engineering mechanics Applied mechanics is the branch of science concerned with the motion of any substance that can be experienced or perceived by humans without the help of instruments. In short, when mechanics concepts surpass being theoretical and are applied and e ...

in 1948 from

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 ...

. He received his PhD in

Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Applied mechanics is the branch of science concerned with the motion of any substance that can be experienced or perceived by humans without the help of instruments. In short, when mechanics concepts surpass being theoretical and are applied and e ...

from the

in 1953. Taylor received an honorary PhD from his alma mater Purdue University in 2006.

Research and career

Taylor served in the Army in the Philippines during World War II. While pursuing his doctoral studies in the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (TAM) Department at the

he was an instructor (1948 to 1951) and assistant professor (1951 to 1952). During this time, he worked on three-dimensional photoelasticity with support from TAM Professor Thomas J. Dolan and took on his first graduate student, co-advising

Daniel Post Daniel Post is an American engineer and was a professor at the Virginia Tech. Education Post studied at the Pratt Institute of New York from 1947 to 1948, completing his BS at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1950. He received h ...

who obtained an MS in 1951. However, Taylor's own doctoral studies were interrupted by the Korean War, with him serving as a civilian engineer at the David Taylor Model Basin at Carderock, Maryland from 1952 to 1954. In 1954 Chuck returned to academic life as a Professor of

from the

. He was an internationally recognized authority on optical stress analysis technique, including for his introduction of coherent optics to photoelasticity and dynamic photoelasticity with a ruby laser as an intense polarized monochromatic light source. He contributed to Moire interferometry and dynamic fracture mechanics. Upon his retirement in 1981 he moved to Florida where he taught at the University of Florida until 1993. He was a President of the Society for Experimental Stress Analysis (SESA) (now

Society for Experimental Mechanics Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM) is a professional organization for engineers and scientists studying the design and implementation of experiments to characterize materials, structures, and systems. Formed in 1943 as the Society for Experim ...

) from 1966 to 1967. He was named the tenth Honorary Member of the Society in 1983, a position held until his death in 2017. The

created the C.E. Taylor Award in his honor to award an SEM member who demonstrates technical excellence in optical stress analysis and good citizenship within SEM, with Taylor being the first recipient in 2000. He was elected to the

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 of ...

in 1979. He also served as the President of the Society of Engineering Science in 1978 and of the American Academy of Mechanics from 1993 to 1994.

Awards and recognition

Frocht Award (1969) *

Hetényi (1969 & 1972) *

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian whole ...

Lecture and Award (1974) * Society for Experimental Mechanics Fellow (1976) *

(1979) *

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

Fellow (1979) *

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsi ...

Fellow (1980) *Society for Engineering Science Fellow (1980) *

Honorary Member (1983 to 2017) *

Tatnall (1983) *

Taylor (2000) *American Academy of Mechanics Fellow

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Charles 1924 births 2017 deaths American engineers Purdue University alumni Grainger College of Engineering alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Fellows of the Society for Experimental Mechanics 20th-century American engineers