International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 50 (2007) 2447–2448
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

EditorialProfessor John R. Howell on his 70th birthday

It is a great pleasure and a privilege to write this birthday laudatio for Professor John R. Howell who celebrated
his 70th birthday on June 13, 2006. Professor Howell is
Ernest Cockrell, Jr. Memorial Chair and Baker Hughes,Inc. Centennial Professor in the Department of MechanicalEngineering at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas. The
name, John R. Howell, is well known to graduate students,
engineers, and researchers working in the ﬁeld of thermalradiation heat transfer because he is considered a pioneer
in radiation heat transfer. His research has centered on
developing solution techniques for radiative transfer inparticipating media (particularly the Monte Carlo method), solutions of highly non-linear combined mode heattransfer problems, the catalog of the shape factors, thebenchmark solutions of the radiation heat transfer problems, heat transfer in energy systems, and most recently,
inverse design and control of thermal systems with combined-mode (non-linear) heat transfer.
He was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He obtained B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D.
in Engineering from Case Institute of Technology (nowCase Western Reserve University), Cleveland, Ohio in1958, 1960, and 1962, respectively.
He started his professional career at NASA Lewis (nowGlenn) Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, where he initiated his research in radiation heat transfer. With Robert
Siegel, he wrote a radiation heat transfer monograph initially published as NASA Technical Notes. At NASA, he0017-9310/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2006.11.039

was a leading developer of the application of Monte Carlo
methods in radiative transfer. The Monte Carlo method
provides solutions to a variety of complex physical problems by performing computer assisted statistical sampling
experiments.
From 1968 to 1978, Professor Howell taught at theUniversity of Houston, Houston, Texas, where he wasalso Director of The Energy Institute during 1975–1978.
In 1978, he moved to The University of Texas, Austin,
Texas where he has stayed ever since. At The Universityof Texas, he served as Mechanical Engineering Department
Chair from 1986 to 1990 and as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering during 1996–1999.
He was also Director of the Center for Energy Studies during 1988–1991. He worked to improve safety awareness,renovation procedures, communication between the College and the central administration on issues ranging fromrenovations to intellectual property. He also chaired thecommittee to develop a Strategic Plan for the College ofEngineering. He was Program Manager for Thermal
Transport and Thermal Processing Program of the National Science Foundation during 1994–1995. He served
as Senior Technical Editor of ASME Journal of Heat
Transfer during 1995–2000. He is on the Editorial Advisory
Board of the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, the International Communications in Heat and MassTransfer and on other boards. He was also an active delegate for USA to the Assembly for International Heat

2448

Editorial / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 50 (2007) 2447–2448

Transfer Conferences and member of its International
Scientiﬁc Committee for USA.
He coauthored Thermal Radiation Heat Transfer, Taylorand Francis, now in 4th edition (2002) (with Robert Siegel),Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics, McGraw
Hill, 2nd edition 1992 (with Richard Buckius), and Thermodynamics: An Integrated Learning System (with DerekBaker, Ofodike Ezekoye and Philip Schmidt), John Wiley& Sons, 2005, and has published over 300 archival journal
articles, conference papers, and reports. He has given over40 invited lectures on radiation heat transfer in Brazil,France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, USA, and other partsof the world. He is well known not only in the USA and Western countries but also in Russia, because of his excellent
textbook Thermal Radiation Heat Transfer. This book wastranslated into Russian in 1975 and also into a few other languages. He also has seven patents on radiation measurement, hybrid vapor compression cycle, and combustion inporous media. He maintains a web page of thermal radiation
shape factors at http://www.me.utexas.edu/~howell/.
Professor Howell received a NASA Special ServiceAward in 1965 for ‘‘application of Monte Carlo methods
to thermal radiative problems”. He received the ASEE
Ralph Coats Roe Award in 1987 as Outstanding Mechanical Engineering Educator, the AIAA Thermophysics
Award (1990), ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award(1991), and ASME/AIChE Max Jakob Award (1998) for
his work in radiative transfer. He is a Fellow of ASME
(1983) and AIAA (1993), and was elected a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1999). He also

gives seminars to teach the young researchers in Russia under the leadership of Professor Alexander Leontiev. In 2004
the University of Texas College of Engineering recognized
Professor Howell’s outstanding research contributions withthe Billy and Claude R. Hocott Distinguished Centennial
Engineering Research Award. Professor Howell was elected
Member of the National Academy of Engineering for thedevelopment and dissemination of methods of addressing
complex radiation heat-transfer problems in 2005.
More than 60 graduate (approximately 30 Ph.D. and 30M.S.) students have obtained their degrees under his guidance. All of his students admire his intellect, friendly teaching method of the complex subject of radiation heattransfer, and caring nature of looking out for the welfareof the students. It is said that he has dressed up as Max
Planck for teaching his undergraduate classes. His students
over the years have moved on to successfully serve in leading laboratories, universities and private companies. Hiscolleagues admire him for his easy going personality andvery friendly interaction. He has been honored several
times on his birthdays and other occasions at technical conferences. The Fourth International Symposium on Radiation Transfer held in Istanbul Turkey and organized by
the International Center for Heat and Mass Transfer,
was dedicated to him along with two other researchers.
We all wish him a healthy, long, and purposeful life in
the company of his wife, Susan, and indulging in radiation
heat transfer. We all are better oﬀ with him continuing tolead an active life and making valuable contribution tothermal engineering.

Manohar S. Sohal, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho
Ray Viskanta, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
Leonid A. Dombrovsky, The Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia
W.J. Minkowycz *University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Mechanical Engineering (MC 251),
842 W. Taylor Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607-7022
E-mail address: wjm@uic.edu
Michael F. Modest, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
Kyle J. Daun, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Ephraim M. Sparrow, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jean Taine, École Centrale Paris, Châtenay-Malabry Cedex, France
M. Pinar Mengücß, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
Arthur C. Ratzel III, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico*Corresponding author

Available online 7 March 2007