William B. Russel was born in Corpus Christi, Texas on November 17, 1945. He began his studies in Chemical Engineering at Rice University, graduating with a B.A. and M.ChE.
in 1969, then obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University in 1973. He was a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Applied Mathematics and
Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) at the University of Cambridge from 1973 to 1974. After returning to the United States, Russel began his career at Princeton University. He
started as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering in 1974, becoming an Associate Professor in 1979 and Professor in 1983. He was appointed as
Chairman of the Department in 1987, a position he maintained until 1996, and he was promoted to be the A.W. Marks ’19 Professor in 1992. Russel also took on leadership
roles as Director of the Princeton Materials Institute (PMI) from 1996 to 1998 and Dean of the Graduate School from 2002 until his retirement in 2014, during which time
he contributed to a thirty-five percent increase in graduate students. In addition to these positions, Russel served as the Olaf A. Hougen Visiting Professor at the
University of Wisconsin in 1984, the Unilever Visiting Professor in the School of Chemistry at Bristol University in 1991, and the Debye (Visiting) Professor in the
Debye Institute at Utrecht University in 2001.
Russel's contributions to rheology are characterized by the integration of classical fluid mechanics with a comprehensive knowledge of the thermodynamics and statistical
mechanics of colloids. This intellectual integration was facilitated through long-standing collaborations with colleagues, most notably chemical physicists such as Hall
and colloid chemists such as Buscall, as well through joint research programs with Rohm & Haas, Exxon, ICI amongst others. The focus was an understanding and control of
macroscopic rheology through knowledge of interparticle forces and the related phase behavior over a range of shear rates or frequencies. His dedication and intellectual
integrity inspired many of his students to future prominence, and his skill as an experimentalist as well as a theoretician is evident from many of his papers.
Russel has made major contributions in at least four areas of suspension and polymer rheology: 1) the rheology of charged dispersions; 2) the effects of soluble polymer
on phase behavior and rheology; 3) the elasticity and consolidation of colloidal gels, and 4. the connections between structure and rheology of concentrated dispersions.
Russel and his coworkers provided the first quantitative connection between rheology and equilibrium phase transitions due to attractions in dispersions. In addition,
Norm Wagner (2014 Bingham Medalist) and Russel were among the first to exploit scattering techniques for detecting non-equilibrium microstructure of concentrated dispersions
under shear. Russel's research on hydrophobically modified water soluble polymers was similarly ground-breaking. More broadly, Russel's research was a strong driver for the
growth of modern colloid rheology and this body of work is summarized in the authoritative text,
Colloidal Dispersions, that was coauthored with his Princeton colleagues, Bill Schowalter (1988 Bingham medalist) and Dudley Saville. His
approachable personality and his influence as a guiding hand and interim director of the Princeton Materials Institute had much to do with the path-leading focus of that
organization on the physics of “soft” materials and their rheology.
Russel has been highly active in many professional associations and activities. His experience includes service on the Department of Chemical Engineering advisory councils
for seven highly respected institutions, and six extended long-standing industrial consultancies. He served on the Council for Chemical Research on the Governing Board of
NASA in the early 2000s and more recently on the Executive Committee for the Association of Graduate Schools. His leadership roles within the research community include
many years invested in The Society of Rheology, serving on the Executive Committee (1993 to 1995), as well as President (2001 to 2003). He was also active in the National
Academy of Sciences, serving as chair for the Founders and A. M. Bueche Awards Committee (2001) and on the Membership Committee (2007 to 2013). He was awarded the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers’ William H. Walker Award (1992) and the American Chemical Society’s Award for Surface and Colloid Chemistry (2007). He is a member of the
National Academy of Engineering as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Sources
Russel, William Bailey. American Men and Women of Science, 31st ed.; Gale: Farmington Hills, MI, 2013; Vol. 6.
Bill Russel: A Tribute.
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 2006 45(21), 6877-6879.
William Russel ’69.
ARA to present
Gold Medal, Distinguished Alumni, Meritorious Service awards. News and Media Relations. Rice University (accessed Aug 22, 2019).
William Bailey Russel.
Russel Research Group, Chemical Engineering, Princeton University (accessed Aug 22, 2019).
Note: This biography is an adaptation of the following article previously published by The Society of Rheology.
Bill Schowalter. 1999 Bingham Medal Goes to William B. Russel.
Rheology Bulletin 1999, 68(2), 2.
Photo Credit
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives.