Jan D. Achenbach

Jan Drewes Achenbach (20 August 1935 – 22 August 2020) was a professor emeritus (Walter P. Murphy Professor and Distinguished McCormick School Professor) at Northwestern University. Achenbach was born in the northern region of the Netherlands, in Leeuwarden. He studied aeronautics at Delft University of Technology, which he finished with a M.Sc. degree in 1959. Thereafter, he went to the United States, Stanford University, where he received his Ph.D. degree in 1962. After working for a year as a preceptor at Columbia University, he was then appointed as assistant professor at Northwestern University.

Achenbach has developed methods for flaw detection and characterization by using contact transducers, imaging techniques and laser-based ultrasonics. He has also developed methods for thin-layer characterization by acoustic microscopy. Work is both analytical and experimental in nature, with extensive cooperation with investigators from other universities and from industrial organizations on theoretical experimental projects. Work in fracture mechanics has been primarily on dynamic fracture. He also carried out research on structural acoustics and on the mechanical behavior of composite materials.

Achenbach is the founding editor-in-chief of Wave Motion. He was editor in chief from the journal's establishment in 1979, until 2012.

Awards

 * 2012 – ASME Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
 * 2010 – Theodore von Karman Medal by the American Society of Civil Engineers
 * 2005 – National Medal of Science
 * 2003 – National Medal of Technology
 * 2001 – William Prager Medal by the Society of Engineering Science
 * 1997 – Outstanding Service Award by the American Academy of Mechanics
 * 1996 – McDonnell-Douglas Aerospace Model of Excellence Award by McDonnell-Douglas Aerospace
 * 1992 – Timoshenko Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
 * 1975 – Curtis W. McGraw Research Award by the American Society of Engineering Education

Memberships and fellowships

 * Member of the National Academy of Sciences
 * Member of the National Academy of Engineering
 * Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
 * Honorary Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
 * Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1994)
 * Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
 * Corresponding Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1999)
 * Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America
 * Fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics

Other

 * – A volume in honour of Jan D. Achenbach
 * – A volume in honour of Jan D. Achenbach