Marshall P. Tulin (14 March 1926 - 31 August 2019) was an American engineer working in

hydrodynamics In physics, physical chemistry and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids – liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including (the study of air and other gases in ...

. He was the Director of the Ocean Engineering Laboratory,

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

, where he also held a University of California President Chair Professorship from 1982 to 1987. His pioneering work in the 1950s is credited with successful developments in the theory of

supercavitation Supercavitation is the phenomenon of a cavitation bubble reducing skin friction drag on a submerged object and enabling high speeds. Applications include torpedoes and propellers, but in theory, the technique could be extended to an entire un ...

for naval engineering. After graduating from

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

in 1946, he first worked on high-speed

wind tunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...

testing of the X-1 aircraft before moving to work for the Navy at the

David Taylor Model Basin The David W. Taylor Model Basin (DTMB) is one of the largest ship model basins—test facilities for the development of ship design—in the world. DTMB is a field activity of the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. History ...

. He founded a consulting company, Hydronautics Inc, with Phillip Eisenberg in 1959. He was elected to membership of 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 ...

in 1979.

Selected writing

* Tulin, M. P. (1963). Supercavitating flows - small perturbation theory. Laurel, Md, Hydronautics Inc. * Tulin, M. P., & Hsu, C. C. (1982). Theory of high speed displacement ships with transom sterns. Laurel, Md, Hydronautics Inc.

References

* Ashley, S. (2001, May). Warp Drive Underwater. Scientific American. * Brennan, C. E. (1995). Cavitation and bubble dynamics. Oxford engineering science series, 44. New York, Oxford University Press. * Miloh, T. (1991). Mathematical approaches in hydrodynamics. Philadelphia, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. – includes short biography * National Research Council (U.S.). (2000). An assessment of naval hydromechanics science and technology. Washington, D.C., National Academy Press. 21st-century American engineers 1926 births 2019 deaths Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering {{US-academic-bio-stub