Thor L. Smith

IBM, Almaden Research Center

June 11, 1920 – September 6, 1999

Physical Chemist

Awarded Bingham Medal 1978

Dr. Thor Smith was born in Zion, Illinois in 1920. He received a B.S. in Chemistry from Wheaton College in 1942, an M.S. in Physical Chemistry from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1944, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1948. John D. Ferry served as his research advisor, and Smith’s thesis reported some of the earliest measurements of viscoelastic properties of concentrated polymer solutions. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Smith worked as a research chemist at Hercules Inc. in Wilmington, Delaware from 1948-1954. He then took a position at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California where he worked from 1954-1959, first as a research engineer and then as a section chief. Smith then worked for the Stanford Research Institute and was honored as a Stanford Research Institute Fellow in 1964. Four years later, Smith spent a year in Texas working as a chemistry professor at Texas A&M University. Finally, he accepted a position in the Polymer Sciences and Technology Department at IBM Research Division where he worked from 1969 until his retirement in 1990.

Smith’s work revolved around the mechanical behavior of polymers. He researched the rheological properties of rubbers, glassy polymers, dispersions, and composites, and their role in manufacturing operations for a wide range of products. Besides the evident practical impact, Thor contributed much to the experimental and theoretical work in his field; his precise experimental methods were highly respected, and his concept of the failure envelope in stress/strain space has been applied to understanding and predicting the rupture processes in polymers.

As a member of The Society of Rheology, the National Academy of Engineers, the British Society of Rheology, the American Physical Society, the Society of Plastics Engineers, and the American Chemical Society, Smith was broadly active in the scientific community. He served as the President of The Society of Rheology from 1967 to 1969. He won numerous awards, including the Bingham Medal from The Society of Rheology in 1978 and the Research Award from the Society of Plastics Engineers in 1983. He is remembered for his ability to clearly review and explain concepts in rubberlike elasticity, viscoelasticity, strength of materials, and failure mechanisms.

Sources

Paul, Donald R. Thor L. Smith. Memorial Tributes, Vol. 20. The National Academies Press. 2016.

Rheology Bulletin 1978, 47(2). Also Box 6, Folder 30. Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740

Thor L. Smith. Prabook.com

Photo Credit

AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives.