Dr. Hiroshi Tada was a mechanical engineer with highly notable works in the field of

fracture mechanics Fracture mechanics is the field of mechanics concerned with the study of the propagation of cracks in materials. It uses methods of analytical solid mechanics to calculate the driving force on a crack and those of experimental solid mechanics t ...

. He was also well known as a performer of a Japanese style of top spinning known as ''koma-mawashi''.

''Koma-mawashi'' performances

Although is traditionally a children's play activity in Japan, Dr. Tada performed this art at an expert level and included in his act elements of juggling, yo-yo and magic, with some comedy thrown in. He was a regular performer at many festivals in the

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

area, such as the

Missouri Botanical Garden The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropy, philanthropist Henry Shaw (philanthropist), Henry Shaw. I ...

's Japanese Festival,

Missouri History Museum The Missouri History Museum in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri, showcases Missouri history. It is operated by the Missouri Historical Society, which was founded in 1866. Museum admission is free through a public subsidy by the Metropolita ...

's International FunFest, Queeny Park's International Folk Fest, and

Tower Grove Park Tower Grove Park is a municipal park in St. Louis, Missouri. Located on the south side of the city, the elongated park extends from Kingshighway Boulevard east to Grand Boulevard. The park’s predominately residential surroundings include th ...

's Festival of Nations.

Personal and professional life

Hiroshi Tada was born in

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

, Japan. He graduated from the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

and moved to the United States to obtain his PhD. He spent most of his life in

. Dr. Tada was an affiliate professor of mechanical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

and co-author of ''Stress Analysis of Cracks Handbook''.

References

Living people Mechanical engineers Jugglers 1939 births University of Tokyo alumni Washington University in St. Louis faculty {{Japan-academic-bio-stub