International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 4936–4937

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

In Celebration

Prof. Sadik Kakaç on his 80th birthday

Professor Kakaç is one of the well known names in the ﬁeld ofheat transfer and two-phase ﬂows, and well respected among hiscolleagues in the heat transfer community all over the world. Hewas born on October 1st, 1932 in Çorum, Turkey. He received his
degree of Dipl.-Ing (1955) from the Department of MechanicalEngineering at the Technical University of Istanbul (ITU).
He joined the chair of Heat Technique as a research/teachingassistant (1955–1958) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at ITU, and then he went to MIT under a scholarship to study
Nuclear Engineering; he received his SM in Mechanical Engineering in 1959 and his SM in Nuclear Engineering in 1960, both fromMIT. Receiving a scholarship from the British government in 1963,
in 1965 he received his Ph.D. from the Victoria University of Manchester, UK.
He started his academic life in the Department of MechanicalEngineering at the Middle East Technical University (1960) as aninstructor. He then became associate Prof. (1965) and Prof. (1970)
then he also served different governmental and research positions;
he was elected as a member of the Turkish Scientiﬁc and Technological Research Council (TUBITAK) (1972–1980) and appointed as theSecretary General of the Turkish Atomic Energy Commission (1978–1980); representing Turkey in a number of scientiﬁc endeavors
abroad as a member of NATO Science Committee (1979–1980),
the OECD NEA Steering Committee (1978–1980), the Cento Scientiﬁc Coordinating Board (1972–1974). He served as the Chairmanof the Mechanical Engineering Dept. at ODTU (or METU – Middle
East Technical University), in Ankara (1976–1978), and then hewas invited as a visiting Professor to the Department of MechanicalEngineering at the University of Miami (1980–1982), and in 1982,
he was appointed as a Full Prof. of mechanical engineering at theUniversity of Miami with tenure. He also served as the Chairmanof the Department (1990–1998). He retired from the University ofMiami in 2008 and since then he has been a Professor at TOBB
University of Economics and Technology, in Ankara, Turkey.
He has maintained his high quality of research for the last morethan 50 years. He has authored or co- authored publishing over
200 scientiﬁc papers on transient and steady-state laminar, turbulent forced convection, two-phase ﬂow instabilities, Fuel-cells
modeling, micro-scale heat transfer, and recently, he has been
concentrated in research on convective heat transfer enhancementwith nanoﬂuids in single-phase and two-phase conditions.
Recently, he published a review paper on convective heat transfer
enhancement with nanoﬂuids which was published in the Int.
Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. He performed very valuable
contributions in all these areas and he has been known as one of
the most recognized scientists in the ﬁeld of heat transfer.
He is highly respected by his peers. He has received many international recognitions: Alexander von Humboldt Senior Distinguished US Scientist Award for his outstanding contributions onheat transfer and two-phase ﬂow was bestowed to him in 1989;
Science Award by the Association of Turkish–American Scientists
in 1994; ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award in 1997; in lightof his contributions to research and education through his research
work and books, he received distinguished service awards from theTurkish Scientiﬁc and Technical Research Council (TUBITAK) 2000,and from the Middle East Technical University (METU), in 1998.
He received the Doctor Honoris Causae from the University ofOvidius, Romania (1998), the University of Reims, France (1999),and Odessa State Academy of Refrigeration (2007). He is a memberof the Turkish Academy of Sciences (1999), and a foreign memberof the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Bashkortostan ofRussian Federation (1998). He is honorary Professor of Shanghai
Institute of Electrical Power (1986), Xi’an Jiatong University(1988), both in China, the Engineering College at the Ghandi Institute of Technology and Management, India (1992); he is a Fellowmember of ASME.
He served as a member of the Max Jakob award committee(1999–2005) and Chairman of the committee in 2005. He is amember of the Scientiﬁc Council, and the Executive Committee,and Fellow of the International Center of Heat and Mass Transfer(ICHMT). During a difﬁcult period to the existence of ICHMT, hewas very active in transferring the center to Turkey and in ﬁnding
ﬁnancial support from Tubitak for its functioning throughout theseyears.

In Celebration / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 4936–4937

He has organized and directed well known NATO Advanced
Study Institutes on various topics of thermal and ﬂuid sciences
for the last 35 years bringing the eminent scientists as lecturers
and the young scientists together from NATO and non-NATOcountries to exchange of ideas, educating young scientists, andfor dissemination of information on emerging topics providing
very valuable service to the heat transfer community. Most ofthese workshops have resulted in archival books that present thebackground and current status in the areas considered. All
researchers, who attended these workshops, remember the greatcare and thorough planning put in by Sadik to ensure a successful
exchange of ideas, as well as his warm hospitality.
He has been frequently invited as lecturer and speaker by various institutions in US, Europe, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Brazil,Bulgaria and other countries; he organized short courses on Heat
Exchangers thermal design in Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, France,Brazil, and Turkey.
He has been serving as editor or in editorial board of major
journals on heat & mass transfer and energy journals. He is theauthor or co- author of very popular text books of Convective Heat
Transfer, Heat Conduction and Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers; heedited fourteen volumes in the ﬁeld of thermal sciences and heatexchanger fundamentals and design, including the Handbook ofSingle–Phase Convective Heat Transfer, and Boilers, Evaporators andCondensers which all became permanent reference books in theﬁeld.
He is particularly admired by his friends and colleagues becauseof his outstanding pleasant behavior and humility. He is speciallycordial and helpful to his students and junior colleagues, preferringto interact with them as a friend searching for the truth from theresearch work rather than as a distant mentor. It is rare to hear

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Sadik refuse to take on a new assignment, challenge or an emerging research topic.
On the occasion of his 80th birthday, on behalf of his students,
colleagues and friends all over the world, we wish him a very
happy birthday and a continuous active life in good health andhappiness with his wife Filiz, his daughter, and grandchildren.
Renato M. Cotta
Mechanical Engineering Dept. – POLI & COPPE-UFRJ,
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,Cx. Postal 68503 – Cidade Universitária,Rio de Janeiro,
RJ, CEP 21945-970,Brazil
E-mail address: cotta@mecanica.coppe.ufrj.br
Y. JaluriaRutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA
M.D. Mikhailov
National Institute of Metrology,
Quality and Technology,
INMETRO, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
W.J. Minkowycz
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Robert I. Nigmatulin
Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
J. Padet
Université de Reims, France
Available online 8 June 2012