Int. £ Heat Mass Transfer. Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 503-504, 1997
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In mennoriam .... Professor Michael Adol'fovich
Styrikovich (1902-1995)

Professor Michael Adol'fovich Styrikovich, an outstanding Russian scientist in the field of thermophysics and power engineering, died on 27 October
1995 in Moscow. l-Ie was a member of the Russian
Academy of Sciences and Honorary Chairman of theNational Committee for Heat and Mass Transfer.
Professor Styrikovich was born on 16 November
1902 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1927 he graduatedfrom the Mechanical Department of the Saint Petersburg Technological Institute and began his scientificactivity at the Bureau of Thermal Engineering Experiments which was later transformed into the worldrenowned Polzunov Central Boiler and Turbine Institute.
In his first investigations Professor Styrikovich
devoted his attention to the processes of burning andradiative heat transfer in boiler furnaces. Later, he
studied convective h eat transfer of flue gases to tubes.
At that time, most researchers studied integral characteristics of heat trlmsfer, whereas Professor Styrikovich focused his attention on local phenomena.
Such as approach made it possible to discover thebasic physics of the processes investigated and toobtain correlations which to a greater extent corresponded to reality
In the 1930s, Professor Styrikovich started his studies
on two-phase flow ]aydrodynamics which embraced
two-phase flow in tubes, steam separation andbubbling. The results of Professor Styrikovich's investigations together with those of his colleagues constituted the basis of the Norms for thermal and aerodynamic design of steam boilers, which weredeveloped in 1937-1938. This work put Professor
Styrikovich in the line of the leading persons of theRussian thermal-engineering science.
In 1936, Professor Styrikovich was elected a Professor of the Moscow Power Institute (MEI), andstarted from 1938, he was in charge of the Departmentof Boiler Installations of this Institute. In 1939, hewas awarded a doctorate without presenting a dissertation.
At this time, Professor Styrikovich and his colleagues conducted a series of pioneer studies on mercury vapor generation. The work involved singlephase heat transfer to liquid mercury and mercury
boiling on unwetted surfaces.
Further studies were interrupted by the beginningof the World War II. During the two years of thewar, Professor Styrikovich worked in the Urals as ascientific manager of the group of specialists whichwere responsible for reliable operation of thermal
power stations and developing measures for increasing their capacity.
However, as early as 1943, he returned to Moscow
and proceeded to teach at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute. At the same time, he conducted scientific work at the MEI and the Moscow Division ofPolzunov Central Boiler and Turbine Institute, andlater at the Krzhizhnovskiy Power Engineering Institute. For a long time extensive investigations on twophase hydrodynamics and heat transfer were carriedout under the supervision of Professor Styrikovich
at this Institute as well as at the Institute of High
Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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V.E. NAKORYAKOV et al.

This research included boiling, burnout and dryout
characteristics, and post-burnout heat transfer. Heattransfer to water of supercritical parameters was alsostudied thoroughly.
The results of these investigations were presented
in many papers and monographs among which IntraBoiler Processes (1954) and Hydraulics o f VaporLiquid Systems (1958) are the most familiar. The latter
was written in collaboration with S. S. Kutateladze.
During the same period, Professor Styrikovich
initiated studies on solubility of certain substances inhigh pressure steam. To increase the sensitivity andthe accuracy of the experiments, he proposed to use
radioactive isotopes which acted as tracers. This technique made it possible to obtain reliable data on thetransition of many substances from the boiler water
into steam. In the course of these experiments thebehavior of such poorly soluble substances as SiO2and BO2 was successfully studied. On the basis ofthese investigations a theory of solutions in steam
was developed and reported in the monograph SteamGeneration Processes at Power Plants (1969). This wasdone in collaboration with his wife Professor O. I.
Martynova.
The successful conclusion of the subsequent investigations was assured by implementation of new
experimental techniques which were developed byProfessor Styrikovich, his students, and his followers.
For example, to investigate the processes in a boilingboundary-layer, the so-called 'salt method' was mastered, to study salt entertainment with steam, theabove isotope tracers with soft r-irradiation wereapplied, and when exploring steam-water flow hydrodynamics, hard ~-irradiation was used.
From 1949, Professor Styrikovich was a Corresponding Member and in 1964 he was elected an

Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
For a long time, starting from the moment when theDivision of Physical and Technical Problems of Energetic was organized in the Academy, Academician
Styrikovich directed the activity of the Division as its
Academician-Secretary.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the main work of Academician Styrikovich concerned general problems of
power engineering, its economy, and long-term andshort-term forecasting of its development in Russia
and the world, as a whole. He made an attempt tosubstantiate a probable structure of the energy consumption in the future taking into account the main
trends in living-style and standards, economy
demands, and environment protection requirements.
A broad scientific approach was typical of Academician Styrikovich. His breadth of views and principles are well-known. His merits were universally
recognized throughout the world; he was an indisputable authority as a scientist and as an eminent
person. He was Co-Chairman of the Executive
Committee of the World Energy Conference, theC O D A T A Vice-President, and the President of theInternational Center for Heat and Mass Transfer.
From 1968 to the last days of his life, Academician
Styrikovich was Chairman of the Russian National
Committee for Heat and Mass Transfer.
Thousands of students of Academician Michael
Adol'fovich Styrikovich and hundreds of his colleagues grieve over his loss and will hold him in
remembrance.
V. E. N A K O R Y A K O V
A. I. LEONTIEV
I. L. MOSTINSKY
J. P. H A R T N E T T