Ernest Edwin Sechler
| Ernest Edwin Sechler | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Ernest Sechler November 17, 1905 Pueblo, Colorado |
| Died | August 14, 1979 (aged 73) |
| Institutions | Caltech |
| Alma mater | Caltech |
| Doctoral advisor | Theodore von Kármán |
| Doctoral students |
Sitaram Rao Valluri Y C Fung |
Ernest Edwin Sechler was an aerospace engineer and scientist who specialized in thin-shell structures. He earned his doctorate in 1934 at Caltech as one of the early students of Theodore von Kármán with a dissertation on the mechanics of thin-plate compression. He continued in this line of work, which had broad and deep applications in the structural aspects of aircraft and missiles. He played a key role under von Kármán in building GALCIT and the two collaborated on the structural design of the thin-shelled dome of Palomar Observatory.[1] He wrote two of the standard references on shell structures, Airplane structural analysis and design (1942, with L G Dunn) and Elasticity in Engineering (1952). He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1979, the year of his death.
References
- ↑ Liepmann, HW (1984) Ernest Edwin Sechler, in "Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering", Vol. 2, 258-261.