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P R O F E S S O R T H O M A S J. H A N R A T T Y
O N H I S 65th B I R T H D A Y
Professor Thomas J. Hanratty is a native of Philadelphia, born on 9 November 1926. We join hiswife of 35 years, Joan, and his five children in wishing him a joyous 65th birthday.
Hanratty's education in Chemical Engineering started at Villanova University, in Philadelphia,
where he received a B.Ch.E. degree in 1947. In 1979 that university presented him with an honorary
doctorate. After his undergraduate degree, Tom joined the Fischer & Porter Company as a fluid
dynamics specialist. That company was the inventor and at that time the leading manufacturer ofrotameters (variable area flowmeters).
Hanratty then accepted an assignment at the Battelle Memorial Institute to develop methods formaking rocket fuels. To this day he has continued a real interest in liquid hydrazine. While atBattelle, he pursued a graduate education through evening courses. He received a Master's degreein 1950 from Ohio State University. In 1984 that university presented to him the DistinguishedEngineering Alumnus Award.
Hanratty journeyed to Princeton University to pursue the Ph.D. degree. His research under
Richard H. Wilhelm was in chemical reactor engineering. The central role of fluid dynamics in thisarea accounts for his later research interests. He completed his Ph.D. in 1953 and joined theDepartment of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois.
During his 38 years at Illinois, Hanratty developed into an authority on turbulence andtwo-phase flow. He pioneered the development of electrochemical techniques to study flow close
to a wall and mass transfer to a wall. These techniques have opened up new possibilities inexperimental fluid dynamics and, as a consequence, are used worldwide. Our knowledge of how
turbulence is born and how it can be controlled have been improved significantly.
Two-phase flow has been a subject of research by Hanratty for over 30 years. About 50 of his
145 publications have been devoted to detailed studies of wave formation, droplet formation,
droplet recapture and friction during gas-liquid flow in a conduit.
His work in heat and mass transfer has involved the study of the influence of natural convection
on flow fields and the development of new theoretical frameworks to examine turbulent transferof heat and mass. Of particular note is his use of Lagrangian methods, instead of the usual Eulerian,
to predict the spatial distribution of diffusing species. He has developed a more rigorous descriptionof how the phenomenon of turbulence controls the transport of heat or mass at a boundary.
Hanratty has routinely taught courses on fluid flow, heat transfer and applied mathematics toboth undergraduates and graduate students. Nearly 70 Ph.D. theses have been produced under hisdirection. Numerous M.S. theses and undergraduate senior theses also have been completed.
His activities have resulted in numerous honors and awards. He received the Colburn Award
from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers only four years after joining the faculty of theUniversity of Illinois. The AIChE also presented to him the William H. Walker Award in 1964
and the Professional Progress Award in 1967. The American Society of Engineering Education gave
him the Curtis McGraw Award in 1963 and the Senior Research Award in 1979. He was electedto the National Academy of Engineering in 1974. In 1986 he was recognized by the Chicago Sectionof the AIChE with the Ernest W. Thiele Award for Chemical Engineering Practice.
Hanratty was the first chemical engineer in the U.S.A. to be appointed to a Shell Distinguished
Professorship, 1981-1986. But of special pride to this writer was the recent creation by theUniversity of Illinois Alumni of an endowed chair, the James Westwater Professorship in ChemicalEngineering. The first recipient is Professor Hanratty.
J. W. WESTWATER

Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Illinois, Urbana
IL 61801, U.S.A.

Int. J. Multiphase Flow Vol. 17, No. 4, p. vii, 1991
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TO P R O F E S S O R T H O M A S J. H A N R A T T Y
O N THE OCCASION OF HIS 65th B I R T H D A Y
Professor Hanratty has been an Associate Editor of this journal since May 1988, anda contributor to the journal for many years. His scholarly manner and meticulous
editing have gained him the respect both of the authors and the Editor. On thisoccasion, his 65th birthday, I know that his many students and associates join me inwishing him continued success in the field of multiphase science.
G. HETSRONI
Editorvii