Inr. .I. Heat Moss Transfer. Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 541-542, 1994
ElsevierScience Ltd
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
0017-9310/94 $6.00+0.00

PergamonProfessor Benjamin Gebhart
on his 70th birthday

PROFESSOR
Benjamin Gebhart celebrated his 70thbirthday on 2 July 1993. Active as ever and branching
further out, his many and steadfast contributions to
the field of heat and mass transfer and to the mechanical engineering profession inspire this brief congratulatory note, which complements and updates themore detailed comments published in this journal on
the occasion of his 65th birthday (Znt. J. Heat Mass

Transfer 31,2399-2400(1988)).

Born in Cincinnati, he served as a Marine in WorldWar II, and earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1948 and his Master’s degree in1950, both at the University of Michigan. He thenearned his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1954, andremained there on the faculty of Mechanical Engineering till 1975, when he joined the Department ofMechanical Engineering at the State University of
New York at Buffalo as Leading Professor and Chairman. Since 1980 he has been the Samuel Landis GabelProfessor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics of the University ofPennsylvania.
During the four decades of his career, Professor
Gebhart has made remarkable contributions to fundamental engineering research, to engineering education, and to the Mechanical Engineering profession.
His research, recorded in more than 170 archival
publications, has explored, discovered and explained
fundamental phenomena arising from buoyancy541

driven flows, mixed convection, melting and freezing,
mass diffusion, and, more recently, microconfigured
surface radiation and phase-change processes. Always
emphasizing the need to ‘listen to nature’ as he phrases
it, his research combines theoretical analysis withsophisticated experiments which are conducted toguide the research, make discoveries, and validate thetheoretical models.
His well-known earlier textbook Heat Transfer(1961, 1971) has had an important role in the education of many generations of students, as no doubt
will his newest text and reference book Heat Conduction and Mass Dzjiision (McGraw-Hill, 1993). In
between he published, jointly with three co-authors,
the book Buoyancy-Znduced Flows and Transport(1988). In his writing and teaching Professor Gebhartemphasizes a combination of theoretical rigor, clarity
of principles, and an intimate connection with engineering practice. More than 28 students have earned
their Ph.D. degrees under his guidance.
He has chaired various technical committees andconferences of the ASME, and when on leave he has
been a visting professor at several leading universities
in this country, in France and in Scandinavia, withvisits and research interactions also extending to theformer USSR and to the People’s Republic of China.
He is a Fellow of the ASME and a recipient of theASME Heat Transfer Division Memorial Award, andis a member of the editorial boards of a number of542

Professor

BenjaminGebhartleading archival journals in the field.
Professor
Gebhartis daunted
neither by whitebears when he is studying freezing and melting on
icebergs in the Arctic icepack, nor by black flies when
he is studying flow over cornfields in upstate NewYork. Drawing on his roots in rural Ohio, he loves
nature and expresses this love amply. A naturalist parexcellence and avid hiker, he assembled a number ofland parcels into a 340 acre natural sanctuary near
Ithaca, N.Y., where he practices reforestation(incompetition
with wily beavers),
wildlife habitat
improvement,and soil restoration.
We who know him more closely are greatly privileged to have his friendship and counsel. Joined bymany other colleagues,
his former
and current
students, and the editors of this journal, we wish him
a very happy 70th birthday, and are very glad to honoron his 70th birthday

his outstanding achievements
success and much happiness.

and to wish him further
N. LIOK
H. H. BAUv. P. CARl:Y

S. W. CHUR~HILI.
W. N. GILL
R. CiREIt
Y. JAINRIA
R. L. MAHAJAY
P. J. MARIO

0. G. MAK.I‘YNI:NE;O
W. J. MINKOWYC.L
K. E. TORR.AN( L

K. T. YAXS. M. YANC;
J. P. HARTNTT