Wladimir Philippoff

New Jersey Institute of Technology

August 26, 1907 – December 20, 1999

Electrical Engineer

Awarded Bingham Medal 1962

Dr. Wladimir Philippoff was born in Peterhof, Russia in 1907. He moved to Germany in 1924 and obtained his Dr. Eng. (Electrical Engineering) in 1934 from the Technische Hochschule in Berlin. From 1932 to 1945, he served as a Research Scientist at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Chemistry. Philippoff then spent three years working for the American Military Government before moving to the United States in 1948. He served as a Lever Brothers research fellow at Stanford University for a year then as a Research Associate of the School of Mines of the University of Minnesota for two years. He moved to the Franklin Institute as a rheological specialist in 1951, remaining there as a Section Chief and Principal Scientist until 1959. He then continued his rheological research at the Esso Research and Engineering Company in Linden, New Jersey where he served as Senior Research Associate.

Philippoff’s research contributed greatly to the phenomenological rheology of a broad range of viscoelastic materials. His contributions included ground-breaking work in rheo-optics and extensive studies of normal stresses and flow birefringence in polyisobutylene systems of interest to his industrial employers, as well as fundamental studies of capillary rheometry, the importance of the recoverable strain in rheology of viscoelastic liquids and dynamic oscillatory testing over a wide range of frequencies. He contributed substantially to early measurement methods and analysis techniques for large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) of complex fluids via a (then) novel Lissajous representation using oscilloscopes. In addition he studied topics as diverse as flotation and ore beneficiation processes, the mechanical properties of aluminum soap solutions and the rheology of sputum.

Sources

Note: This biography is an adaptation of the following articles previously published by The Society of Rheology.

The Bingham Medal, 1962. Rheology Bulletin 1962, 31(2).

Bagley, E.B. Presentation of the Bingham Medal to Wladimir Philippoff. Transactions of The Society of Rheology 1963, 7(2-4).

Photo Credit

AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives.