Heat Transfer Engineering, 34(11–12):1010–1011, 2013
C Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
Copyright 
ISSN: 0145-7632 print / 1521-0537 online
DOI: 10.1080/01457632.2013.759431

in memoriam

Professor Warren M. Rohsenow (1921–2011)

Warren M. Rohsenow, an outstanding engineering educator,
heat transfer researcher, and heat transfer engineer, professor
emeritus of mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Instituteof Technology (MIT), died on June 3, 2011, not long aftercelebrating his 90th birthday. Warren, or “Rosie” as he was often
called, was born in Chicago. Attending various schools aroundthe country, he became an accomplished musician—particularlyon drums and piano—participating in many dance bands andorchestras.
Attending Northwestern University, he received the B.S. inmechanical engineering in 1941. Of course, he continued tomake music with the orchestra and marching band. Continuing in mechanical engineering at Yale University, he earned
an M.A. in 1943 and rapidly completed the requirements forthe D.Eng., which was awarded in 1944. He was an instructor
during his graduate program, teaching mechanics, thermodynamics, and heat-power engineering. Receiving a commission
in the U.S. Navy after graduation, he served with the gas turbine
division of the Naval Engineering Experiment Station, developing temperature instrumentation for a domestically produced
gas turbine being considered for ship propulsion. He wrote oneof his early papers on thermocouple error when measuring hot
gas temperature.
He joined the MIT faculty in 1946, working in the Heat
Measurements Laboratory and teaching undergraduate thermodynamics and heat transfer, as well as developing the first graduate courses in heat transfer at the institute. He published papers
on improving gas turbine regenerators and began an extensive
research effort on boiling heat transfer, initially sponsored by
the Office of Naval Research. The latter work focused on forcedconvection subcooled boiling, covering the entire range of heat

fluxes including burnout. This program led to the installationof two 36-kW motor-generators for direct-resistance heatingof the test tubes. To avoid physical destruction of the tubes,
a dynamite-cap switch was developed to interrupt the current
as the tube temperature rapidly increased at the initiation ofburnout. The dynamite switch was lost in the mists of time, but
the motor-generators were used by many students during thenext 60 years. A laboratory report series was initiated in 1950
to facilitate rapid dissemination of research results, and a steadystream of papers appeared in conference proceedings and inresearch journals.
Warren Rohsenow’s most important paper started out in report form in 1951: “A Method of Correlating Heat Transfer
Data for Surface Boiling of Liquids.” The proposed method wassimple but effective: the boiling curve for forced-convection
subcooled (surface) boiling was considered a superposition of
single-phase forced convection and nucleate pool boiling. The
pool boiling component obtained by subtraction was then correlated by dimensionless groups. The exponent of each group was
found to be approximately the same for many liquids, leaving
only to be determined the lead constant, Csf , which depends on
surface and fluid. In the past 50 years, many researchers haveused this general approach.
The laboratory was renamed the Heat Transfer Laboratory in
1956, with Professor Rohsenow as director (see John Lienhard’s“A History of the MIT Heat Transfer Laboratory,” Heat Transfer
Engineering, vol. 24, issue 2, pp. 3–17, 2003). A wide variety ofadditional studies of very complex phenomena was undertaken:
boiling and condensing of liquid metals, forced convection film
boiling, thermal contact resistance, condensation of refrigerants,
improvement of cooling towers, enhancement of heat transfer,and heat transfer in underground electrical cables. He was an author on more than 100 journal papers, as well as several hundredconference papers, book chapters, and technical reports.
He was largely responsible for developing the graduate program in heat transfer, which was highlighted by his courses
in conduction and convection heat transfer. He also had a muchbroader responsibility, serving as Graduate Officer of the department for nearly 30 years. His research and teaching experience
led to the 1961 textbook Heat, Mass and Momentum Transfer,co-authored with H. Y. Choi. This was one of the first undergraduate heat transfer textbooks written. The book was used for manyyears in undergraduate and intermediate heat transfer courses
at MIT. He was senior editor and contributor to the definitive
Handbook of Heat Transfer (1973), its two-volume successor,1010

in memoriam

Handbook of Heat Transfer Fundamentals and Handbook ofHeat Transfer Applications (1985), and the third edition Handbook of Heat Transfer (1998). The typical handbook chapter
summarized the fundamentals and gave a comprehensive list offormulas that could be used in practice to estimate heat transfer coefficients. In 1960, he organized a two-week intensive
summer course, “Developments in Heat Transfer,” which wasoffered for the next 16 years.
Professor Rohsenow’s research work primarily involved
graduate students working toward their degrees, and he supervised more than 150 graduate theses in mechanical engineering,nuclear engineering, and ocean engineering. He was doctoral
supervisor of more than 40 students, half of whom assumed
professorships at leading universities. He was an early proponent of the International Heat Transfer Conferences, now held
regularly every four years. He was a founder of the International
Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer, serving as its president. He
served on the advisory boards of numerous journals. He was amember of delegations establishing cooperative programs withother countries, notably the U.S.–U.S.S.R. Cooperative Agreement in Heat and Mass Transfer (1979).
Besides being an outstanding leader in heat transfer and thermal power research and education, he had a deep insight into
engineering challenges and technology development. He consulted for many major corporations, including courtroom appearances. In 1957, he co-founded Dynatech Corporation (initially Microtech Research) in Cambridge, MA. He served aschairman of the Board of Directors. The consulting and manufacturing company grew to 3000 employees worldwide, andwas listed on the New York Stock Exchange before it was soldin 1997.
Warren Rohsenow’s accomplishments were recognized withmajor professional society awards: the Pi Tau Sigma GoldMedal (1951), ASME Junior Award (1952), American Academyof Arts and Sciences (1956), ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award (1967), ASME Fellow (1968), AIChE and ASME
Max Jakob Memorial Award (1970), NAE (1975), ASME Centennial Medallion (1980), ASME Honorary Member (1988),
ASME Medal (2001), and ASME HTD Classic Paper Award(2002). In 1997, the ASME Gas Turbine Committee of the Heat
Transfer Division awarded the first Warren M. Rohsenow Prizefor the best conference presentation. In 2004, the first ASME
Bergles–Rohsenow Young Investigator in Heat Transfer wasrecognized.

heat transfer engineering

1011

With all of this professional activity, it is a wonder that Rosie
had time for other pursuits. But he surely did. On the piano,
he led an ensemble that provided background music at many
MIT functions. He enjoyed golf, tennis, skiing, and traveling.
It could be said that his passion was getting to know people,
and he made it a point to know professional and personal acquaintances as individuals. He and his wife, Towneley, gave
impromptu concerts (she singing and he on piano) at professional meetings all over the world. He was married to Towneleyfor 55 years until she passed away in 2001. They had moved
from their suburban Boston home to Falmouth, Maine, in 1991.
Rosie became increasingly disabled over the last 20 years of
his life, but he adapted to his condition, with the major concessions being that he gave up sports, restricted traveling, andswitched from the piano to the xylophone. He kept up a spirited correspondence—with the aid of voice activation of hiscomputer.
Warren Rohsenow is survived by five children andtheir spouses. He had four grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren. He was devoted to his family, always findingtime to spend with family members. The Rohsenow household
was cheerful and loving, invariably filled with music.
He retired from MIT in 1985 but his spirit lives on there. Thelaboratory was renamed in his honor in 1992: the Rohsenow
Heat and Mass Transfer Laboratory. After an extensive renovation, the laboratory was again renamed in 2010 the Rohsenow
Kendall Heat Transfer Laboratory. In many respects, his passing signals the end of an era. The consummate heat transfer
engineer, he helped create a golden age of research in heattransfer. The field was undeveloped in 1946, and much workneeded to be done in order to design heat transfer equipment.
He made the most of the opportunity during the next 40 years.
Currently, simplified models of heat transfer phenomena basedon classical analysis are no longer fashionable. Instead, CFD
codes have become the standard tool of research and industrial
design. Also, with the passage of time, many pertinent studies performed decades ago are now sent into oblivion, removed
from the reference lists of recent papers and textbooks. It canbe asserted, however, that Warren Rohsenow’s contributions toheat transfer will endure. Furthermore, his contributions as aperson will continue to inspire students and researchers alike.
Arthur E. Bergles
Heat in History Emeritus Editor, Heat Transfer Engineering

vol. 34 nos. 11–12 2013