Laudatio Zvi Hashin

VOORGEDRAGEN DOOR DE
FACULTEIT VAN DE TOEGEPASTE WETENSCHAPPEN

Professor ZVI HASHIN

Professor ZVI HASHIN staat aan het hoofd van het “Department of Solid Mechanics, Materials and Structures” van de Universiteit van Tel-Aviv.

Hij studeerde aan het Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, waar hij achtereenvolgens promoveerde tot B.Sc. in Civil Engineering (1953), Engineer (1954) en M.Sc. in Mechanics (1955). Aan de Université de Paris (Sorbonne) behaalde hij in 1957 het diploma van docteur ès sciences.

Professor ZVI HASHIN begon zijn academische loopbaan in 1953 als assistent aan het Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Nadien werd hij er docent (1957) en hoogleraar (1971). Tussendoor verbleef hij als wetenschappelijk medewerker aan het Institut du bâtiment et des travaux publics in Parijs (1955-1957) en aan de Harvard University (1959-1960) en als professor aan de University of Pennsylvania. In 1973 werd hij benoemd als hoogleraar aan de Faculty of Engineering van de Tel-Aviv University, waar hij voorzitter werd van het Department of Solid Mechanics, Materials and Structures.

Professor ZVI HASHIN verrichtte baanbrekend werk op het gebied van de thermomechanica toegepast op vaste, vloeibare en pathologische continua. Hij is lid van talrijke wetenschappelijke verenigingen; ontving meerdere wetenschappelijke prijzen en onderscheidingen en publiceerde 4 boeken en 85 bijdragen in vooraanstaande wetenschappelijke tijdschriften. Verder wist hij belangrijke onderzoekskontrakten af te sluiten; hield hij opgemerkte lezingen tijdens symposia en congressen en werd hij vaak als consultant geraadpleegd door belangrijke maatschappijen.

LAUDATIO
FOR PROFESSOR ZVI HASHIN

Professor ZVI HASHIN obtained his basic degrees in Civil Engineering and his Master’s degree of Science in Mechanics at the Technion in Haifa.

In 1955 he became Research Fellow at the Institut du Bâtiment et des Travaux Publics in Paris, where he obtained his degree of Docteur ès Sciences de l’Université de Paris.

After a short period as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at the Technion, he went to the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics of Harvard University as Research Fellow, before joining the Towne School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania as Associate Professor of Engineering Mechanics (1960- 1965) and Professor of Engineering Mechanics (1965-1971). During this period he returned as Visiting Professor (1968-69) to the Technion where he was appointed as Professor in 1971.

In 1973 ZVI HASHIN became Professor and founding Chairman of the Department of Solid Mechanics, Materials and Structures of the Faculty of Engineering of Tel Aviv University. He was Chairman of the Faculty from 1979 till 1981 and he became Nattan Cummings Professor of Mechanics of Solids in 1980.

ZVI HASHIN went back to the University of Pennsylvania as Visiting Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (1989-92) and he was also Visiting Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique in Palaiseau.

On the research and teaching level ZVI HASHIN was active in a very large spectrum concerning practically all the aspects of solid mechanics and structures, covering without limitation elasticity, plasticity, viscoelasticity, plates and shells, composite systems and statistical continuum mechanics. He was one of the pioneers in the very actual domain of mechanics and physics of heterogeneous media and composites, including the specific design aspects and the problems of fatigue failure.

Even if his impressive list of publications starts with a classical problem concerning the analysis of rectangular plates, stiffened by side beams (1957), his curriculum shows that before, probably influenced by Markus Reiner, he was interested by solid-solid dispersions, solids with rigid particles and the famous problem of the effective constants of composite materials. He became an expert of the mechanical behaviour of heterogeneous, multiphase and/or composite systems of any type.

The Hashin-Shtrikman bounds and the Hashin-Rosen equations are actually classics for anyone starting to work on the properties and applications of composite systems.

One of the central control elements of the behaviour of composite systems is the interaction between phases. It is not surprising that the recent publications of ZVI HASHIN tackle this difficult problem and that he is the initiator of important developments in the continuum mechanics approach of these interaction effects.

ZVI HASHIN obtained the Landau Prize for the "Theory of Fiber Reinforced Materials" (1972), the first Medal of Excellence in Composite Materials of the Center of Composite Materials of the University of Delaware in 1984 with Hayashi, Kelly and Tsai and the Engineering Science Medal 1989 of the Society of Engineering Science.

If the academic activities of ZVI HASHIN are of international recognised highest level in the Mechanics community, he is also an engineer and was regularly working as consultant for the industry, from the Scott Paper Company, the General Electric Company, the Armstrong Cork Company, the Monsanto Research Company to the Materials Sciences Corporation. He worked on research contracts with the Office of Naval Research, the NASA, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and others since 1961.

ZVI HASHIN is also author of two books, editor of 3 proceedings and 3 of his papers are mentioned in the ICI “Citations Classics”. He is member of a large number of editorial boards and societies. He was organiser, chairman and co-chairman of a large number of meetings. He also was and is frequently keynote lecturer – invited lecturer at the most important conferences of solid mechanics.

He is president of the Israel Society for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and member of the general assembly of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) since 1988 and member of the Papers Committees for the IUTAM Congresses of 1992 and 1996.

Some relationships between our Research Group on Composites and Adhesion (COSARGUB) and professor ZVI HASHIN were developed since 1981-1982 and it was our pleasure to have him as invited general lecturer at the two international composite meetings we organised in Brussels in 1984 and 1992.

At a moment where the public opinion seems to believe that our technological future will be dominated by micro-electronics, telecommunications, informatics, computer science, and so on, the work and the personality of someone like ZVI HASHIN is a permanent demonstration that the “old” domain of mechanics is still very important and has an interesting and important future.

Further analysis of the behaviour of natural composites and the composite systems of the human body: the development of composite prosthesisses, from the hip joint to the artificial heart valves; the future development of smart materials and structures will not only be based historically on the work of Isaac Newton, but ZVI HASHIN will be one of those excellent researchers who integrated our mechanical background and developed the rational basis for the understanding and applications of those composite systems.

On behalf of our Faculty of Applied Sciences and Engineering, I am proud to present this honorary doctoral degree to professor ZVI HASHIN.

Prof. Dr. A.H. Cardon