Ronald Samuel Rivlin

Ronald Samuel Rivlin

Brown University

May 6, 1915 – October 4, 2005

Applied Mathematician and Theoretical Physicist
Awarded Bingham Medal 1958
President 1973-1975

Dr. Ronald Rivlin was born in England, where he attended grammar school as a child and eventually attended college at Cambridge where he studied mathematics and physics. He received his BS in 1937, MA in 1939, and ScD in 1952, all from Cambridge, while also working to make money for school and to support his family. After school he worked at the General Electric Company from 1937-1942, the Telecommunications Research Establishment from 1942-1944, and the British Rubber Producers’ Research Association (BRPRA) from 1944-1953. At the General Electric Company, he first met L. R. G. Treloar, who was influential in recruiting him to the BRPRA. At BRPRA, he met Karl Weissenberg who first got Rivlin interested in viscoelastic liquids via his rod-climbing experiments. Rivlin moved to the United States of America in 1953 after World War II and worked as a professor at a number of different institutions throughout his time there while also serving on the Executive Committee of The Society of Rheology, as well as the Advisory Committee on the American Institute of Physics information program. His longest stays were at Brown University from 1953-1967 and Lehigh University from 1967-1990.

Dr. Ronald S. Rivlin was never bored in life. He was part of many diverse technical societies and held many different positions throughout his career. He studied a wide range of topics including, but not limited to, the following: contributions to theories of finite elasticity, stability, internal variable theories, non-Newtonian fluids, electromagnetism, and fracture. His research helped found the nascent branch of theoretical physics and engineering called “nonlinear continuum mechanics”, in which the kinematics and mechanical behavior of materials modeled as distributed masses (or ‘continua’) rather than as point particles. He was also integrally involved in the creation and development of the theory of large elastic deformation and it is for this work he was awarded the Bingham Medal in 1958.

Rivlin wrote many papers, hundreds in fact, but never published any books unlike others in his field. His colleagues were concerned this would lead to his impact ultimately fading in the minds of scientists and the public, so they collected all of his papers and assembled them into a book called Collected Papers of R.S. Rivlin. Included in this book is an autobiographical postscript, in which Rivlin discusses in great detail his career and life, starting from a young age.

Sources

Barenblatt, G.I.; Joselph,D.D. Ronald Samuel Rivlin 1915–2005. Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering; National Academies Press: Washington, D.C., 2008; Vol. 12, pp 234-237. Go to volume link; go to article link.

Rheology Bulletin Fall 1958, 28(2). Also, Box 5, Folder 28. Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740.

Photo Credit

Rivlin Ronald A1, Emilio Segrè Visual Archives.