ditor Experiments in Fluids zo (1996) 239-240 �9 Springer-Verlag 1996

Sixtieth birthday of Professor Jim Whitelaw

239

Professor Jim Whitelaw, one of the two founding editors of Experiments in Fluids was born on January 28th, 1936 in Scotland where he was educated at both the primary/secondary school and under- graduate/graduate university levels. He obtained his BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Glasgow in 1957 and his Doctorate from the same University in 1961. He then spent two years at Brown University in the United States as Research Associate studying the transport properties of gases at high pressures and temperatures. In 1963 he accepted a lecturing appointment at Imperial College and in 1974 he was promoted to Professor of Convective Heat Transfer; since then he is Head of the Thermofluids Section and presently Deputy-Head of the Mechanical Engin- eering Department. In 1980 he was awarded a Honorary Doctorate from the University of Lisbon and in 1981 a higher Doctorate degree (DSc) from the Univer- sity of London. He has held visiting appointments at the Universities of California at Berkeley, Arizona State and Minnesota and he has been a consultant to a number of government and indus- trial establishments in the United States and Europe.

Jim Whitelaw is particularly well known for his research in various aspects of fluid mechanics, combustion and heat transfer and has been associated with the development of laser diagnostics from their very early days, promoting their application to a wide range of engineer- ing problems. His book on Laser Doppler Anemometry (jointly written with his ex-students Franz Durst and Adrian Melling) has been since it's first edition in 1974, the bible on this very popular technique. Since that period no major International Conference on Laser Tech- niques was organised without Jim either as a Chairman or Member of the

Organising or Advisory Committees. He has been the driving force behind the last ten bi-annual Symposia on Turbulent Shear Flows, the last seven Symposia on Applications of Laser Techniques to Fluid Mechanics which are taking place always in Lisbon and the last five Engineering Foundation Conferences on Present and Future Engines for Automo- biles.

Parallel to these activities he acted at time as Editor, Associate Editor or member of the Editorial Advisory Board of several international journals. But above all, he shaped the direction of international research in basic and engineering fluid mechanics using laser diagnostics through the extensive net- work of his ex-students who are leading research in industry, academia and government laboratories all over the world. With his authoritative, decisive and convincing manner, Jim has in- fluenced the research plans of Govern- ment Laboratories, Research and Devel- opment Groups in Industry and Aca- demic Departments as a member of Policy Committees and as reviewer of research proposals and papers. His research group at Imperial College always numerous, strong and well funded, has been the model on which other academic groups in Britain and abroad have based themselves, and his 400 or so research papers in the archival literature have been read and scrutinised by research students and academics all over the world. At the same time, over the years, streams of visitors have visited the Thermofluids research laboratories with notebooks and cameras interested to register every detail of hardware, laser instrumentation or pose with members of the staff in front of a reciprocating engine, a gas turbine, a combuster, a wind tunnel or any device incorporat- ing windows and allowing the use of laser

240

techniques. The more enthusiastic ones have come back to spend their sabbatical years or as academic visitors, pre- and post-doctoral students contributing to the day-to-day operation of these laborat- ories. Irrespective of whether Jim Whitelaw was in California, where he spends most of his summers, in Hong Kong as examiner of courses or in the Far East as a research advisor, he was able to supervise all these people using every possible means of communication.

A sixtieth birthday is an opportunity of reviewing the achievements of the past sixty years and considering what might be achieved in the time that remains. The professional world is an important part of life, but Jim has always been aware that

there are other parts of equal, or perhaps greater, importance that make life whole and enhance its quality: his family with his lovely wife Elsbeth and their three sons, one already an author of Experi- ments in Fluids, his beautiful home in Kingston, and his friends who share with him the ability to derive pleasure from live. Jim enjoys his work, his loved ones, his friends, and even his editorship of Experiments in Fluids for which many are grateful, especially his co-editors. We look forward to being with him for many more years.

W. Merzkirch January 1996 C. Arcoumanis