Holt Ashley (January 10, 1923May 9, 2006) was an American

aeronautical engineer 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 s ...

notable for his seminal research on

aeroelasticity Aeroelasticity is the branch of physics and engineering studying the interactions between the inertial, elastic, and aerodynamic forces occurring while an elastic body is exposed to a fluid flow. The study of aeroelasticity may be broadly classi ...

."National Academy of Engineering, Memorial Tributes: Volume 15 (2011):Holt Ashley"
Levy, Dawn (May 24, 2006).

Stanford Report.

Early life and education

Ashley was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California. His father was Harold Ashley, an American businessman who served in both

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. On the outbreak of

, he took leave from the California Institute of Technology and joined the Army Air Corps. Following completion of an undergraduate degree at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

for

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

, he flew as a weather forecaster and reconnaissance officer with squadrons in the Atlantic and Europe. In this time, he would earn 6 military medals and publish his paper “Icing in North West Europe.” Ashley attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT), located in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, from which he received a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in aeronautical engineering in 1948 and later a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degree in 1951, also in aeronautical engineering.

Career

From 1951 to 1954, he was a member of the faculty at MIT. Ashley served as an MIT associate professor from 1954 to 1960, when he became a full professor at MIT in 1960. In 1964, he helped establish the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. He served as its first head of Department until 1967 when he returned to America. In 1967, Ashley joined the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, located in

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

, California, where he was a professor of

Aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. While the term originally referred ...

and

Astronautics Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the practice of sending spacecraft beyond atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science is its overarching field. The term ''astronautics' ...

. In 1970, he was elected to the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

for "contributions to the field of aerolastic structures and unsteady aerodynamics, aiding in the solutions of problems in vibration and gust loading". Ashley served as president of the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecra ...

(AIAA). He also served on the advisory boards of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

, the

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its ...

, the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

and the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

. He died on 9 May 2006, age 83.

Legacy

The AIAA established an award in Ashley's honorthe Holt Ashley Award for Aeroelasticity."AIAA:Technical Excellence AwardsAerospace Design, Structures, Test"

Notable awards and honors

* 1969the AIAA Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Award * 1981the AIAA Wright Brothers Lecture Award * 1987the

Ludwig-Prandtl-Ring The Ludwig Prandtl Ring is the highest award of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics), awarded "for outstanding contribution in the field of aerospace engineering". The award is named ...

from the

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics (DGLR; ) is a German Council of European Aerospace Societies, aerospace society. It was founded in 1912 under the name of ''Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Flugtechnik'' (WGF). It is the second ...

* 2003the AIAA the Daniel Guggenheim Medal * 2006the AIAA Reed Aeronautics Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashley, Holt 1923 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American academics 21st-century American engineers American aerospace engineers Engineers from California Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics MIT School of Engineering alumni MIT School of Engineering faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Writers from San Francisco Stanford University School of Engineering faculty American science writers Ludwig-Prandtl-Ring recipients 20th-century American engineers

Early life and education

Career

Legacy

Notable awards and honors

See also

References