Daniel Drucker | |
|---|---|
| Born | Daniel Charles Drucker (1918-06-03)June 3, 1918 |
| Died | September 1, 2001(2001-09-01) (aged 83) |
| Alma mater | Columbia University, B.S. 1938, Ph.D. 1940 |
| Awards | Theodore von Karman Medal(1966) William Prager Medal(1983) Timoshenko Medal(1983) John Fritz Medal(1985) National Medal of Science(1988) ASME Medal(1992) Drucker Medal(1998) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mechanical Engineering |
| Institutions | Cornell University Brown University University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University of Florida |
Daniel Charles Drucker (June 3, 1918 – September 1, 2001) was an Americancivil andmechanical engineer and academic, who served as president of the Society for Experimental Stress Analysis (nowSociety for Experimental Mechanics) in 1960–1961,[1] as president of theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers in the year 1973–74, and as president of the American Academy of Mechanics in 1981–82.[2]
Drucker was known as an authority on the theory ofplasticity in the field ofapplied mechanics. His key contributions to the field of plasticity include the concept of material stability described by theDrucker stability postulates and theDrucker–Prager yield criterion.
Drucker was born inNew York City. His father Moses Abraham Drucker was a civil engineer, and Drucker wanted to follow in his footsteps.[3]
Drucker studied at theColumbia University, where he obtained his BSc incivil engineering in 1938. Next, in 1940 he obtained his PhD in mechanical engineering underRaymond D. Mindlin.[3]
Between 1940 and 1943, Drucker taught atCornell University, later joining theArmour Research Foundation. After his U.S. Army Air Corps service, he briefly returned to theIllinois Institute of Technology, then he taught atBrown University from 1946 until 1968 when he joined theUniversity of Illinois as Dean of Engineering.[4] In 1984 he left Illinois to become a graduate research professor at theUniversity of Florida until his retirement in 1994.
He received theMurray Lecture and Award in 1967,[5] title the seventh Honorary Member in 1969,[6]Frocht Award in 1971[7] and title ofFellow[8] from the Society for Strain Analysis (SESA), now known as theSociety for Experimental Mechanics (SEM). In 1988, Drucker was awarded theNational Medal of Science.[9] He was a member of theNational Academy of Engineering[10] and of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences. TheDrucker Medal is named in his honor.[11] He was also awarded theTimoshenko Medal in 1983.
The Daniel C. Drucker Medal, awarded by theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers, was named in his honor in 1998.[12] Drucker was the first recipient of this annual award.
Drucker died fromleukemia on September 1, 2001.[14]
