Inr. J. Hear Muss TronsJbr. Vol. 23, pp. l-4
Pergamon Press Ltd. 1980 Printed in Great Bntam

PROFESSORALEXANDERLOUISLONDONOn his 65th Birthday

when he was at the Bureau of Ships, Washington, DC,
working on new developments
in marine propulsion
machinery and power auxiliaries. He was Director of a
24 year program (1947- 197 1) sponsored by the Officeof Naval Research, concerned with many heat transfer
and thermodynamic
investigations.
He taught graduate and undergraduate
courses in heat transfer,thermodynamics,
and propulsion systems at Stanfordand a course on compact heat exchangers at various
A.S.M.E. conferences.
Leaves of absence from Stanford
included
experience in nuclear reactor engineering at the Argonne
National Laboratories
and vehicular gas turbine research and development
at General Motors ResearchLaboratories.
His participationin A.S.M.E. activities
include the Heat Transfer and Gas Turbine Divisions,leading to chairmanshipof the Gas Turbine Divisionin 1966-1967.
Professor London demanded a lot of work from his
students. He insisted on relating analysis to basic
principles, he provided insight into engineering utility
and emphasized
problemsolving methodologies.
His insistence on rigor and completenesswas backed

THE 65th birthday of Professor A. Louis London of the
Departmentof MechanicalEngineering
at Stanford
University,
Stanford, California was on 31 August
1978.
Professor London was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His
Lithuanianfather and German mother brought thefamily (four sisters and a brother) to the U.S.A. in 1921.
His father, after 25 years of ostrich raising and coffee
exporting, decided to retire at the age of 45 and raise
the family in the country to which he immigrated in
1876. Professor
London received his primary andsecondary education in the Oakland, California grade
schools and Oakland Technical High School, graduating in 1931 and entering the University of California
shortly thereafter.
After receiving his B.S. at the University of California in 1935, he worked for a year at the Standard Oil
Company of California and then taught for a year at
Santa Clara University. In 1938, he received his M.S. at
the Universityof California
prior to coming to
Stanford.
Professor London has been at Stanford since 1938,
except for three years during the Second World War,
H.M.T.
?).‘I --A1

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R. K. SHAH

up by a limitless supply of red ink ! He became famous
as a ‘tough’ teacher at Stanford. Even those whocomplained
about the work appreciatedthe careful
thought that Professor London put into the grading ofeach problem set. From personal experience, I say thata course from Professor London was an unforgettable
experience. The influence of his teaching can be foundclearly in the textbooks
written by some of his
students, such as Convective Heat and Mass Transfer
by W. M. Kays, Thermodynamics by W. C. Reynolds,
Engineering Thermodynamics by W. C. Reynolds and
H. C. Perkins, and Conduction Heat Transfer by G. E.
Myers.
In choosing graduate students for research, he urgedthat they complete an Engineer degree first (l-2 years
beyond M.S.) before deciding on further work leading
to a Ph.D. degree. Many of his students are now wellknown in the heat transfer field. The following is a listof his Ph.D. students:
W. M. Kays (1951), C. R.
Garbett (1952) J. E. Coppage (1953), P. F. Pucci(1955) L. S. Tong (1956), M. Larson (1961), F. Tippets(1962) J. Bush (1963) J. W. Mitchell (1963) D. E.
Metzger (1964) R. K. Shah (1972) and A. Montakhab(1978). The following is a list of his Engineer degree
students : J. T. Brewster (1940) E. Gallagher (1941), D.
Lockwood(1941) W. Rafert (1950), A. L. Johnson(1955) W. H. Comtois (1956) D. Johnson (1959), J. W.
Mitchell (1959) D. Pefley (1960), J. C. Schulz (1961)
D. E. Metzger (1962) T. Sorlie (1962), H. Fandrich(1964), D. Walz (1965), R. J. Moffat (1966), T. Wheeler(1968) D. W. Kearney (1968), I. Correa (1969), J. C.
LaRue (1969) G. Klopfer (1969), M. B. 0. Young(1969) A. Montakhab(1970), R. K. Shah (1970), H.
Watanabe (1970) J. Stang (1971) P. G. Parikh (1971)
F. G. Borns (1975) 0. B. Koropey (1975) M. A. Ait-Ah(1975), K. M. Peery (1976) J. C. Eastwood (1976), R.
Iregui (1978) and K. Abachi (1978).
Professor London has authored,
or co-authoredwith his students, 52 technical papers which have been
published in various journals (listed at the end). In
addition to heat transfer papers, his papers include freepiston engines, combined cycles of gas turbines withfree piston engines, air coolers for high power vacuum
tubes, and energy recovery from geothermal reservoir.
He has co-authored
two monographs,
Compact Heat
Exchangers with Professor W. M. Kays and Luminar
Flow Forced Convection in Ducts with Dr. R. K. Shah.
He was also the Project Supervisor of 80 technicalreports prepared for the Office of Naval Research 24
year program at Stanford.
Professor London received a Gas Turbine Power
Division award Testimonial of Appreciationin 1958
for his efforts in the advancement of the gas turbine art.
He received an A.S.M.E. Heat Transfer
Division
Memorial Award in 1962 in recognition of his contributions to the design and analysis of compact heatexchangers. He was the first recipient of the A.S.M.E.
Gas Turbine Power Award in 1964 for his three-partseries best paper on compact heat exchangers published in Mechanical Engineering in May, June andJuly 1964. He has also received the R. Tom Sawyer
Award of the A.S.M.E. Gas Turbine Division in 1977
for his contributions
in gas turbine technology andleadership in the activities of the Division.
Professor London is a registered professional engineer in the State of California. He is a Fellow of theAmerican Society of MechanicalEngineers, and a
Member of the American
Society of Engineering
Education, American Association of University Professors, and American Society of Naval Engineers. He
has been recently elected as a member of the National
Academy of Engineering.
As I visualize, in addition
to the above list of
impressive accomplishments,
the success of Professor
London’s career is based on his foresight as to future
important engineering problems, involving himself inall technical details of a problem, and his persistence infinding a satisfactory
solution. He has earned an
outstanding
reputationin both industrial and academic circles for his ability to provide sound technicalguidance
andunderstanding
throughpersonal
dedication
and a desire to really help people. His
contributions
to mechanical engineering and in particular compact heat exchanger literature have had a far
reaching influence on engineers and industry. He is the
proponent of the widely known effectiveness-numberof heat transfer units (l:-N,,)
method of heat exchanger design. His 1942 unpublishedpaper withProfessor Ralph Seban on this subject is included after
this article for its historical significance.
The Mechanical Engineering Department
at Stanford recognized
Professor
London’s long years ofservice and his unique contributions
to Stanford andengineering community by celebrating A. L. London
Day at Stanford on 12 May 1978. The day wasorganized with a morning and afternoon
technical
program followed by a banquet. Over 150 faculty
members
and former students
from all over thecountry attended this program. The A. L. LONDONFUND was established to maintain important values
he seeded in the Stanford program in mechanicalengineering. In keeping with the wishes of the founding
contributors,
income from the fund will be madeavailable to Professor London to assist him in his
postretirement
writing, research,and other professional activities. Thereafter, the fund income will be
used in perpetuity to provide fellowship support in his
name to outstanding
graduate students.
Since September 1978, Professor London has retired
from active teaching and is devoting his efforts to abacklog of unfinished projects. We hope he continues
active research for many years to provide his expertise
to industry and the mechanical engineering profession.
We also expect that he will spend more time on his
hobbies of golf and gardening. We wish continued
good health to him and his family including his dear
wife Charlotte Marie, his sons Charles Alexander andAllan Paul, and his daughter Deborah Marie.
R. K. Sn.jtt

Professor Alexander Louis London on his 65th Birthday

LIST OF THE
PUBLICATIONSBY PROFESSORLONDONHEAT TRANSFER

1. A. L. London and J. I. Brewster, Test and predicted oilcooler performance, Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 66,
75-80 (1944).
2. A. L. London and C. K. Ferguson, Test results of highperformance heat-exchanger surfaces used in aircraftintercoolers and their significance for gas-turbine regenerator design, Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 71,17-26(1949).
3. A. L. London and W. M. Kays, The gas-turbine
regenerator-theuse of compact heat-transfer surfaces,
Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 72, 611-621 (1950).
4. W. M. Kays and A. L. London, Heat-transfer and flowfriction characteristics of some compact heat-exchanger
surfaces. Part l-Test system and procedure, Trans. Am.
Sot. Mech. Engrs 72, 1075-1085 (1950).
5. W. M. Kays and A. L. London, Heat-transfer and flowfriction characteristics of some compact heat-exchanger
surfaces. Part 2-Design
data for thirteen surfaces,
Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 72, 1087-1097 (1950).
6. A. L. London and W. M. Kays, The liquid-coupledindirect-transfer regenerator for gas turbine plants,
Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 73, 529-542 (1951).
7. W. M. Kays and A. L. London, Remarks on the behavior
and application ofcompact high-performance heat transfer surfaces, Proceedings of the General Discussion on
Heat Transfer, pp. 127-132. Institution of MechanicalEngineers, London (1951).
8. A. L. London, W. M. Kays and D. W. Johnson, Heattransfer and flow-friction characteristics of some compact heat-exchanger surfaces. Part 3-Design data forfive surfaces, Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 74,1167-l 178(1952).
9. W. M. Kays and A. L. London, Convective heat-transfer
and flow-friction
behavior of small cylindricaltubes-circularand rectangular cross sections, Trans.
Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 74, 1179-l 189 (1952).
10. J. E. Coppage and A. L. London, The-periodic-flow
regenerator-asummary of design theory, Trans. Am.
Sot. Mech. Engrs 75, 779-787 (1953).
11. W. M. Kays, A. L. London and R. K. Lo, Heat-transfer
and friction characteristics for gas flow normal to tube
banks-use of a transient-test technique, Trans. Am. Sot.
Mech. Engrs 76, 387-396 (1954).
12. J. E. Coppage and A. L. London, Heat transfer and flow
friction characteristics of porous media, Chem. Engng
Prog. 52, No. 2, 57-F-63-F (1956).
13. L. S. Tong and A. L. London, Heat-transfer and flowfriction characteristics of woven-screen and crossed-rod
matrixes, Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 79, 1558-1570(1957).
14. R. M. Cima and A. L. London, The transient response ofa two-fluid countertlow heat exchanger-the gas-turbine
regenerator, Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Erqrs 80, 1169-1179(1958).
15. A. L. London, F. R. Biancardi and J. W. Mitchell,
The transient response of gas-turbine-plantheat
exchangers-regenerators.
intercoolers, orecoolers andducting, J. En&g Pwr 81A, 433-448 (1659).
16. A. L. London. J. W. Mitchell and W. A. Sutherland. Heattransfer and flow-friction characteristics of crosskd-rod
matrices, J. Heat Transfer 82C, 199-213 (1960).
17. D. C. Briggs and A. L. London, The heat transfer and flow
friction characteristics of five offset rectangular and six
plain triangular plate-fin heat transfer surfaces, Proceedings of the International Development in Heat Transfer,pp. 122-134, A.S.M.E., New York (1961).

3

18. A. L. London, D. F. Sampsell and J. G. McGown, Thetransient
responseof gas turbine plant heatexchangers-additional
solutions for regenerators of theperiodic-flow and direct-transfer types, J. Engng Pwr
86A, 127-135 (1964).
19. A. L. London, Compact heat exchangers, Part l-Design
theory, Mech. Engng 86 (5), 47-51 (1964); Part 2-Surface geometry, Mech. Engng 86 (6), 31-34 (1964); Part 3-Applications,
Mech. Engng 86 (7), 33-36 (1964).
20. A. L. London and R. K. Shah, Offset rectangular plate-fin
surfaces-heattransfer and flow friction characteristics,
J. Engng Pwr 9OA, 218-228 (1968).
21. A. L. London, G. Klopfer and S. Wolf, Oblique flow
headers for heat exchangers, J. Engng Pwr !IOA, 271-286(1968).
22. A. L. London, Laminar flow gas turbine regenerators-the influence of manufacturing tolerances, J. Engng
Pwr 92A, 46-56 (1970).

23. A. L. London, M. B. 0. Young and J. H. Stang,
Glass-ceramic
surfaces,straight
triangularpassages-heattransfer and flow friction characteristics,
J. Engng Pwr 92A, 381-389 (1970).
24. R. K. Shah and A. L. London, Influence of brazing onvery compact heat-exchanger surfaces, A.S.M.E. paper
71-HT-29 (1971).
25. A. L. London and R. K. Shah, Glass+ceramic hexagonal
and circular passage surfaces-heattransfer and flow
friction design characteristics, Trans. SAE 82, Section 1,
425-434 (1973).
26. R. K. Shah and A. L. London, EtTects of nonuniform
passages on compact heat exchanger performance, J.
Engng Pwr (to be published).
APPLIED THERMODYNAMICS

1. A. L. London, W. E. Mason and L. M. K. Boelter,
Performance characteristics of a mechanically induced
draft, counterflow, packed cooling tower, Trans. Am. Sot.
Mech. Engrs 62, 41-50 (1940).
2. A. L. London, H. B. Nottage and L. M. K. Boelter,
Determination of unit conductances for heat and masstransfer by transient method, Ind. Engng Chem. 33,
467-473 (1941).
3. A. L. London and R. A. Seban, Rate of ice formation,
Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 65, 771-778 (1943).
4. R. A. Seban, W. H. Hillendahl, E. J. Gallagher and A. L.
London, A thermal anemometer for low velocity flow,
Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 65, 843-846 (1943).
5. R. A. Seban and A. L. London, Experimental confirmation of predicted water-freezing rates, Trans. Am.
Sot. Mech. Engrs 67, 39-44 (1945).
6. A. L. London, Gas-turbine plant combustion-chamber
efficiency, Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 70, 317-328(1948).
7 A. L. London and C. R. Garbett, A ventilated thermalinsulation structure for high-temperature marine power
plants, Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 71, 817-824 (1949).
8. A. K. Oppenheim and A. L. London, Design analysis of
free-piston engines, Automat. Inds 103 (I), 46-50, 76, 78(1950).
9. A. L. London and W. M. Kays, Liquid-coupled regenerators for turboprops, Aeronaut. Engng Rev. 11 (lo),42-53, 124 (1952).
10. A. L. London and A. K. Oppenheim, The free-piston
engine development-present
status and design aspects,
Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 74, 1349-1361 (1952).
11. A. L. London, Air coolers for high power vacuum tubes,
Trans. IRE ED-l (2), 9-26 (April 1954).
12. A. L. London, Free-piston and turbine compoundengine-statusof the development, Trans. SAE 62,
426-436(1954).

13. A. L. London, The free-piston-and-turbine compoundengine-a cycle analysis, Trans. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs 77,
197-210 (1955).

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R. K. SHAH

14. A. L. London, The supercharged-and-intercooled
freepiston-and-turbine
compoundengine-acycle analysis,
Trans. Am. Sot.
Engrs 78,
15.
L.
Compound

BOOKS

1. W. M. Kays and A. L. London, Compact Heut Exchangers, Second Edition,
McGraw-Hill,
New York(1964).
2. R. K. Shah and A. L. London, Luminur Flow Forced
Conuection in Ducts, Supplement
1 to Advunces in Heut
Transfer, Academic Press, New York (1978).