Rutherford Aris
Encyclopedia
Rutherford "Gus" Aris was a chemical engineer
and a Regents Professor Emeritus of Chemical engineering
at the University of Minnesota
.
in Dorset
, England
. Aris then attended preparatory school at Wimborne Grammar School
, now called Queen Elizabeth's School, where Aris learned Latin, a skill that would be useful to him later in life. He was also encouraged to continue pursuing his interest in chemistry. The preparatory school prepared him for the Common Entrance and Scholarship Exams, which he took, and because most schools available to him were boarding schools, and he was unable to attend a boarding school, he finally entered Canford School
for secondary school in 1943, when he was 14. His mathematics teacher, H. E. Piggott, had a particular influence on Aris due to "the liveliness, enthusiasm, and care that he brought to his teaching", which "were unparalleled in my experience". Piggot spent substantial time on pure and applied mathematical papers, an experience that Aris described as "extraordinary". Aris dedicated his book Discrete Dynamic Programming to Piggot 15 years later.
(ICI) as a laboratory technician in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Research Labs, at the age of 17. While working at ICI, Aris attended the University of London part time to work toward his B.Sc.
. Aris described this as "an excellent way to get a degree, although perhaps not so good a way of getting an education." After 2 years Aris made an attempt to earn the B.Sc. Honours Degree. He sat 12 papers (exams) covering a wide range of mathematical topics, and got a degree with first-class honours.
, Scotland
for two years of study at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Edinburgh
, which was presided over by Alexander Aitken
. Aris, who was accepted for post-graduate studies but not for a Ph.D., did post-graduate work at the University under the supervision of John Cossar. During this break from ICI, Aris also registered for a University of London M.Sc. in the area of mathematical analysis. When he sat the papers, however, he failed to get the degree.
, England
. Working with Bosanquet provided Aris the opportunity to work on a large variety of problems, including catalysis, heat transfer, gas scrubbing, and centrifuge design.
Aris was then promoted to Technical Officer, where he began working on chromatography. He utilized results from a paper on dispersion written by Geoffrey Taylor
, and extended its results, ultimately writing a paper in 1955 that applied the method of moments to Taylor's approach. He submitted the paper to the Proceedings of the Royal Society, with help from Taylor (who was a Fellow of the Royal Society). Aris communicated with Taylor regarding dispersion and diffusion. In the meantime, however, he was transferred to a different division, where he began working on chemical reactor design. Frustrated with the transfer and with the proprietary nature of his commercial work, which made publishing work very difficult, he decided to move to a university, applying for several lectureship positions during 1954 and 1955 without success. Aris continued to work at ICI, focusing much of his efforts on mathematical modeling of adiabatic multi-bed reactors, a topic that was the central focus of an M.S. student at the University of Minnesota
. In 1955, Neal Amundson
of the University of Minnesota, who was on sabbatical at Cambridge, visited the ICI Research Department, where Aris was working. Amundson suggested to ICI, during his visit, that Aris be sent to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for a year of study. Several months later, Aris later met Amundson at Cambridge and told Amundson of his plans to leave ICI for academia, plans that he had not revealed to his superiors at ICI. Amundson offered Aris a research fellowship at the University of Minnesota, which Aris accepted. After notifying ICI of his intent to leave, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota
at the end of 1955.
to the problem, and control of a stirred tank reactor with some unusual properties. Both problems required the use of a computer to perform calculations, and Amundson provided Aris with a computer science graduate student with whom to work. Aris's research fellowship was extended for a second year, but shortly afterward, in October 1956, Aris was informed of a lectureship opening at the University of Edinburgh. He took advantage of the opportunity, and left immediately for Edinburgh.
Aris had not formally received a Ph.D., but had registered three years earlier with the University of London, where he had earned his B.Sc., and which offered Ph.D. degrees by correspondence. A Ph.D. degree could be earned without following a strict preparation process; the individual needed to propose a research program after 3 years, select a committee of examiners, and submit a dissertation, and after an oral examination by and approval from the committee, the degree would be granted. Amundson had suggested Aris look into Richard Bellman
's method of dynamic programming for his dissertation. Amundson informally served as Aris's advisor, and Aris completed his dissertation on the topic in 1960.
His dissertation was published by the Academic Press in a series of which Bellman was the editor, and Bellman took note of the dissertation. Aris and Amundson visited Bellman at the Rand Corporation, where Bellman was working on economic models. The dynamic programming method had originally been developed for economics, but Bellman was attracted by applications in engineering, and the meeting led to a joint collaboration and a publication.
Aris's research at the University of Minnesota focused on optimization, dynamic programming, control theory, Taylor diffusion, and computing engines. Aris also taught a graduate fluid mechanics course, and eventually wrote the book Vectors, tensors, and the basic equations of fluid mechanics in an effort to make the rational mechanics approach of Truesdell, Coleman, and others more accessible to students.
during the 1964-1965 academic year, where he was able to interact with many well-known engineers and mathematicians such as Geoffrey Taylor and John Littlewood
. He also lectured in many places in Europe, including Brussels
, Copenhagen
, and Trondheim
.
, during the 1971-1972 academic year. He spent his time writing a monograph on mathematical models for porous catalysts, which he did not finish until 1973. During his sabbatical, he received financial support in the form of a Guggenheim grant. This also provided Aris an opportunity to participate in the board overseeing the formation and development of Los Alamos National Lab's Center for Nonlinear Studies, which allowed Aris the opportunity to travel to Lost Alamos during the 1970s and 1980s.
to join the faculty there, as well as the offer to stay at the University of Minnesota and work half-time in the chemical engineering department and half-time in the paleography department. Aris decided to stay at the University of Minnesota.
. At the University of Minnesota, Aris was able to pursue his interest in paleography when he was granted a professorship in the Classics
Department, where he taught classes and published books and research articles. Aris is well-known for Explicatio Formarum Literarum, or The Unfolding of Letterforms, a book on the history of written letters from the 1st century to the 15th century
.
, Aris was able to spend a portion of 1977 and a year in 1980-1981 on sabbatical in Pasadena
, California
. He dedicated a portion of his time to paleography, utilizing the nearby Huntington Library. Additionally, through a personal connection at the University of Leeds
, Aris was able to spend several weeks there as Brotherton Professor in 1985. Aris spent his last sabbatical, from 1993–1994, at the Institute for Advanced Study
at Princeton.
and anecdote
s, many relating his difficulties with Parkinson's disease
, from which Aris eventually died. Aris died on November 2, 2005, in Edina
, Minnesota
.
, and Princeton University
; he authored 13 books and more than 300 chemical engineering research articles, and mentored 48 Ph.D. and 20 M.S. graduate students. Aris was well-known for his research on mathematical modeling, chemical reactor
and chemical process
design, and distillation
techniques, as well as his paleographic research.
After he had been department head for 4 years, in 1978 he was named Regents Professor. Some of the awards and honors earned by Aris include a Guggenheim Fellowship
, election to the National Academy of Engineering
in 1975 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 1988. Aris was also a member of the American Chemical Society
, the Society for Mathematical Biology
, and the Society of Scribes and Illuminators, among others. Aris was awarded the Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award
in 1992 for his contributions to the field of control theory
. He was awarded the Neal R. Amundson Award for Excellence in Chemical Reaction Engineering by the International Symposia on Chemical Reaction Engineering in 1998.
Chemical engineer
In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is the profession in which one works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products, and deals with the design and operation of plants and equipment to perform such work...
and a Regents Professor Emeritus of Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...
at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
.
Early life
Aris was born in Bournemouth, England, to Algernon Aris and Janet Elford. From a young age, Aris was interested in chemistry. Aris's father owned a photo-finishing works, where the young Aris would experiment with chemicals and reactions. He attended primary school (kindergarten) at Canford SchoolCanford School
Canford School is a coeducational independent school for both day and boarding pupils, in the village of Canford Magna, near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, in South West England. The school was founded in 1923. There are approximately 600 pupils at Canford, organised into houses...
in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Aris then attended preparatory school at Wimborne Grammar School
Queen Elizabeth's School, Wimborne Minster
Queen Elizabeth's School is a co-educational voluntary controlled Church of England secondary school in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England.-Admissions:...
, now called Queen Elizabeth's School, where Aris learned Latin, a skill that would be useful to him later in life. He was also encouraged to continue pursuing his interest in chemistry. The preparatory school prepared him for the Common Entrance and Scholarship Exams, which he took, and because most schools available to him were boarding schools, and he was unable to attend a boarding school, he finally entered Canford School
Canford School
Canford School is a coeducational independent school for both day and boarding pupils, in the village of Canford Magna, near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, in South West England. The school was founded in 1923. There are approximately 600 pupils at Canford, organised into houses...
for secondary school in 1943, when he was 14. His mathematics teacher, H. E. Piggott, had a particular influence on Aris due to "the liveliness, enthusiasm, and care that he brought to his teaching", which "were unparalleled in my experience". Piggot spent substantial time on pure and applied mathematical papers, an experience that Aris described as "extraordinary". Aris dedicated his book Discrete Dynamic Programming to Piggot 15 years later.
Imperial Chemical Industries
Piggot helped Aris to get a job working for Imperial Chemical IndustriesImperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
(ICI) as a laboratory technician in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Research Labs, at the age of 17. While working at ICI, Aris attended the University of London part time to work toward his B.Sc.
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
. Aris described this as "an excellent way to get a degree, although perhaps not so good a way of getting an education." After 2 years Aris made an attempt to earn the B.Sc. Honours Degree. He sat 12 papers (exams) covering a wide range of mathematical topics, and got a degree with first-class honours.
University of Edinburgh
In 1948, ICI sent him to EdinburgEdinburg
Edinburg may refer to a place in South Africa:* Edinburg, North West* Edinburg, MpumalangaEdinburg may refer to a place in the United States:* Edinburg, Illinois* Edinburg, Iowa* Edinburg, Maine* Edinburg, Mississippi* Edinburg, Missouri...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
for two years of study at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, which was presided over by Alexander Aitken
Alexander Aitken
Alexander Craig Aitken was one of New Zealand's greatest mathematicians. He studied for a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, where his dissertation, "Smoothing of Data", was considered so impressive that he was awarded a DSc in 1926, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh...
. Aris, who was accepted for post-graduate studies but not for a Ph.D., did post-graduate work at the University under the supervision of John Cossar. During this break from ICI, Aris also registered for a University of London M.Sc. in the area of mathematical analysis. When he sat the papers, however, he failed to get the degree.
ICI Billingham
In 1950, Aris returned to ICI and began working for C. H. Bosanquet in BillinghamBillingham
Billingham is a town in the unitary authority of Stockton on Tees, in north east England, with a population of 35,765 . It was founded circa 650 by a group of Saxons known as Billa's people, which is where the name Billingham is thought to have originated...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Working with Bosanquet provided Aris the opportunity to work on a large variety of problems, including catalysis, heat transfer, gas scrubbing, and centrifuge design.
Aris was then promoted to Technical Officer, where he began working on chromatography. He utilized results from a paper on dispersion written by Geoffrey Taylor
Geoffrey Ingram Taylor
Sir Geoffrey Ingram Taylor OM was a British physicist, mathematician and expert on fluid dynamics and wave theory. His biographer and one-time student, George Batchelor, described him as "one of the most notable scientists of this century".-Biography:Taylor was born in St. John's Wood, London...
, and extended its results, ultimately writing a paper in 1955 that applied the method of moments to Taylor's approach. He submitted the paper to the Proceedings of the Royal Society, with help from Taylor (who was a Fellow of the Royal Society). Aris communicated with Taylor regarding dispersion and diffusion. In the meantime, however, he was transferred to a different division, where he began working on chemical reactor design. Frustrated with the transfer and with the proprietary nature of his commercial work, which made publishing work very difficult, he decided to move to a university, applying for several lectureship positions during 1954 and 1955 without success. Aris continued to work at ICI, focusing much of his efforts on mathematical modeling of adiabatic multi-bed reactors, a topic that was the central focus of an M.S. student at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. In 1955, Neal Amundson
Neal Amundson
Neal R. Amundson was an American chemical engineer. He was the Cullen Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Houston...
of the University of Minnesota, who was on sabbatical at Cambridge, visited the ICI Research Department, where Aris was working. Amundson suggested to ICI, during his visit, that Aris be sent to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for a year of study. Several months later, Aris later met Amundson at Cambridge and told Amundson of his plans to leave ICI for academia, plans that he had not revealed to his superiors at ICI. Amundson offered Aris a research fellowship at the University of Minnesota, which Aris accepted. After notifying ICI of his intent to leave, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
at the end of 1955.
University of Minnesota Research Fellowship
Aris began working on chemically reacting laminar flow, applying Kummer's hypergeometric functionConfluent hypergeometric function
In mathematics, a confluent hypergeometric function is a solution of a confluent hypergeometric equation, which is a degenerate form of a hypergeometric differential equation where two of the three regular singularities merge into an irregular singularity...
to the problem, and control of a stirred tank reactor with some unusual properties. Both problems required the use of a computer to perform calculations, and Amundson provided Aris with a computer science graduate student with whom to work. Aris's research fellowship was extended for a second year, but shortly afterward, in October 1956, Aris was informed of a lectureship opening at the University of Edinburgh. He took advantage of the opportunity, and left immediately for Edinburgh.
University of Edinburgh Lectureship
Aris was on the faculty of the University for 2 years, 1956-1958. While at Edinburgh, Aris wrote papers on his work at the University of Minnesota and at ICI. Having the lectureship position allowed Aris to gain experience lecturing to students. He also attended the lectures of, and interacted with, the chair of chemical technology at the University, Kenneth Denbigh, who was a well-known thermodynamicist and an editor of the journal Chemical Engineering Science.University of Minnesota Faculty
Aris returned to Minneapolis in the summer of 1957 to continue his work on the stirred tank reactor problem. In August he became engaged to Claire Holman, and when he informed Amundson, Amundson offered him a faculty position at the University. Aris accepted the job, and began working as an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota in 1958.Aris had not formally received a Ph.D., but had registered three years earlier with the University of London, where he had earned his B.Sc., and which offered Ph.D. degrees by correspondence. A Ph.D. degree could be earned without following a strict preparation process; the individual needed to propose a research program after 3 years, select a committee of examiners, and submit a dissertation, and after an oral examination by and approval from the committee, the degree would be granted. Amundson had suggested Aris look into Richard Bellman
Richard Bellman
Richard Ernest Bellman was an American applied mathematician, celebrated for his invention of dynamic programming in 1953, and important contributions in other fields of mathematics.-Biography:...
's method of dynamic programming for his dissertation. Amundson informally served as Aris's advisor, and Aris completed his dissertation on the topic in 1960.
His dissertation was published by the Academic Press in a series of which Bellman was the editor, and Bellman took note of the dissertation. Aris and Amundson visited Bellman at the Rand Corporation, where Bellman was working on economic models. The dynamic programming method had originally been developed for economics, but Bellman was attracted by applications in engineering, and the meeting led to a joint collaboration and a publication.
Aris's research at the University of Minnesota focused on optimization, dynamic programming, control theory, Taylor diffusion, and computing engines. Aris also taught a graduate fluid mechanics course, and eventually wrote the book Vectors, tensors, and the basic equations of fluid mechanics in an effort to make the rational mechanics approach of Truesdell, Coleman, and others more accessible to students.
First Cambridge Sabbatical
After he had been with the department for 6 years, Aris took a sabbatical at the Shell Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of CambridgeUniversity of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
during the 1964-1965 academic year, where he was able to interact with many well-known engineers and mathematicians such as Geoffrey Taylor and John Littlewood
John Edensor Littlewood
John Edensor Littlewood was a British mathematician, best known for the results achieved in collaboration with G. H. Hardy.-Life:...
. He also lectured in many places in Europe, including Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, and Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
.
Second Cambridge Sabbatical
Aris took a second sabbatical after 6 years, again going to the University of CambridgeUniversity of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, during the 1971-1972 academic year. He spent his time writing a monograph on mathematical models for porous catalysts, which he did not finish until 1973. During his sabbatical, he received financial support in the form of a Guggenheim grant. This also provided Aris an opportunity to participate in the board overseeing the formation and development of Los Alamos National Lab's Center for Nonlinear Studies, which allowed Aris the opportunity to travel to Lost Alamos during the 1970s and 1980s.
Department Chairmanship
In 1974, Neal Amundson, who had been the department chairman o the University of Minnesota's Chemical Engineering department for nearly 25 years, resigned from this position. Aris was appointed acting head of the department, while Amundson left Minnesota for the University of Houston. Aris acted as department chair for 4 years, and was relieved of the position in 1978. Coinciding with this was an offer from Princeton UniversityPrinceton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
to join the faculty there, as well as the offer to stay at the University of Minnesota and work half-time in the chemical engineering department and half-time in the paleography department. Aris decided to stay at the University of Minnesota.
Paleography
In addition to his interest in chemical engineering, Aris was also interested in the humanitiesHumanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
. At the University of Minnesota, Aris was able to pursue his interest in paleography when he was granted a professorship in the Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
Department, where he taught classes and published books and research articles. Aris is well-known for Explicatio Formarum Literarum, or The Unfolding of Letterforms, a book on the history of written letters from the 1st century to the 15th century
15th century in literature
See also: 15th century in poetry, 14th century in literature, other events of the 15th century, 16th century in literature, list of years in literature.-Events:* 1403 - The Yongle Encyclopedia is commissioned in China....
.
Further Sabbaticals
Aris had several other sabbaticals over his 40-year career. Through the Fairchild Distinguished Scholar program at the California Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, Aris was able to spend a portion of 1977 and a year in 1980-1981 on sabbatical in Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He dedicated a portion of his time to paleography, utilizing the nearby Huntington Library. Additionally, through a personal connection at the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
, Aris was able to spend several weeks there as Brotherton Professor in 1985. Aris spent his last sabbatical, from 1993–1994, at the Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
at Princeton.
Death
Aris penned many poemsPoetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and anecdote
Anecdote
An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...
s, many relating his difficulties with Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
, from which Aris eventually died. Aris died on November 2, 2005, in Edina
Edina
Edina can refer to:*Edina, Liberia*Edina, Minnesota*Edina, Missouri*Edinburgh, as referred to by Scots poets*The Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District in Ghana*EDINA, the JISC-funded UK data centreEdina is also a given name. See...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
.
Legacy
Over the course of his long academic career, Aris was a visiting professor at many institutions, including Cambridge University, the California Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, and Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
; he authored 13 books and more than 300 chemical engineering research articles, and mentored 48 Ph.D. and 20 M.S. graduate students. Aris was well-known for his research on mathematical modeling, chemical reactor
Chemical reactor
In chemical engineering, chemical reactors are vessels designed to contain chemical reactions. The design of a chemical reactor deals with multiple aspects of chemical engineering. Chemical engineers design reactors to maximize net present value for the given reaction...
and chemical process
Chemical process
In a "scientific" sense, a chemical process is a method or means of somehow changing one or more chemicals or chemical compounds. Such a chemical process can occur by itself or be caused by somebody. Such a chemical process commonly involves a chemical reaction of some sort...
design, and distillation
Distillation
Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
techniques, as well as his paleographic research.
After he had been department head for 4 years, in 1978 he was named Regents Professor. Some of the awards and honors earned by Aris include a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
, election to the National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
in 1975 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 1988. Aris was also a member of the American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 161,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical...
, the Society for Mathematical Biology
Society for Mathematical Biology
The Society for Mathematical Biology is an international association co-founded in 1972 in USA by Drs.George Karreman, Herbert Daniel Landahl and by Anthony Bartholomay for the furtherance of joint scientific activities between Mathematics and Biology research communities,...
, and the Society of Scribes and Illuminators, among others. Aris was awarded the Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award
Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award
The Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award is an annual award given by the American Automatic Control Council for achievements in control theory, named after the applied mathematician Richard E. Bellman...
in 1992 for his contributions to the field of control theory
Control theory
Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics that deals with the behavior of dynamical systems. The desired output of a system is called the reference...
. He was awarded the Neal R. Amundson Award for Excellence in Chemical Reaction Engineering by the International Symposia on Chemical Reaction Engineering in 1998.
Selected Bibliography
The following is a selected bibliography for Rutherford Aris.Books
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Edited Books
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