Turbulence before Marseille 1961

Abstract

The surge of turbulence research in the first half of the twentieth century is reviewed with the focus on the institutional environment that provided an umbrella for the activities in this field. Before the Second World War, the International Congresses for Applied Mechanics served as the main stage for presenting research results on turbulence. After the War, the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM), organizations such as the Division of Fluid Dynamics of the American Physical Society and new journals (the Journal of Fluid Mechanics and The Physics of Fluids) added to the institutional framework for turbulence activities and publications. The development of these activities is illustrated with examples from the correspondence of some of the involved actors (such as George K. Batchelor and Francois N. Frenkiel, the editors of the new journals; both were also involved with the organization of the Marseille events in 1961).

Keywords:

• turbulence
• history
• congresses
• journals

Acknowledgements

This work benefitted from a previous project on “Physik zwischen naturwissenschaftlich und technologisch orientierter Forschung: Das Beispiel der Strömungsforschung,” supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (FOR 393/2-1 and 393/2-2). I am particularly grateful to the staff of the archives and libraries cited in the footnotes for their help to find the pertinent source material, and to my colleagues at the Deutsches Museum where I found the appropriate environment for a work of this nature. My thanks go also to the organizers of the International Colloquium on “Fundamental problems of turbulence: 50 years after the Turbulence Colloquium Marseille 1961” for inviting me to present this historical review.

Notes

1. Prandtl to von Mises, 2 August 1921, MPGA, III, 61, Nr. 1078.

2. Material on this research is preserved in the Dryden Papers, Special Collections, The Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, here in Subject-Files, Box 43, and Correspondence-Files (“1935-59, Misc. Dryden-Von Kármán Correspondence”); see also Dryden’s correspondence with von Kármán in the Theodore von Kármán Collection at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, Box 7, Folder 26 (TKC, 7-26).

3. Karman to Burgers, 3 June 1946, TKC, 4-25.

4. Kamke to Heisenberg, 19 July 1950, MPGA, Heisenberg Papers, Correspondence Folder 1950. Heisenberg used this opportunity to review his doctoral dissertation on turbulence, which subsequently appeared in English translation as a NACA Technical Memorandum [93, 94].

5. Seeger to Darrow, 28 August 1946, APS DFD Archives, SC MS 0002, Special Collections, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA (henceforth abbreviated as DFDA), 4-1.

6. Seeger to Bethe, 28 August 1946. DFDA, 4-2.

7. Seeger to Hutchisson, 3 April 1947, DFDA, 4-2.

8. Hutchisson to Seeger, 15 April 1947, DFDA, 4-2.

9. Correspondence between Seeger and Darrow, June to August 1947, DFDA, 4-2 and 4-3.

10. Circular on the “Formation of a Division of Fluid Dynamics in the American Physical Society,” 6 October 1947, DFDA, 4-3.

11. By-laws, undated (probably 1947), DFDA, 2-8.

12. Seeger to Darrow, 14 January 1948, DFDA, 4-4.

13. Emmons to the members of the Executive Committee, 17 August 1948 and 27 December 1948, DFDA, 4-5 and 4-6.

14. Draft of speech, 17 June 1949, Dryden Papers, Special Collections, The Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, Pubs-files, 1949, Box 11, folder “Div of Fluid Mechanics – Amer. Physical Soc. – Cambridge 1949”.

15. Clauser to Kouwenhoven, 26 May 1947, Ferdinand Hamburger Archives, Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University. Record Group 06.080, Department of Aeronautics, Subgroup 2, Series 1 (Professional Papers of Francis H. Clauser, 1946–1961, henceforth abbreviated as Clauser Papers), Folder: Kouwenhoven, William B., 1947–1953. On Corrsin’s career and work on turbulence, see [56].

16. Seeger to Clauser, 26 September 1947, Clauser Papers, Folder: National Science Foundation, 1952–1961.

17. Clauser to Emmons, 2 November 1948, Clauser Papers, Folder: Turbulence Symposium, 1948–1949.

18. Clauser Papers, Folder: Isaiah Bowman, Report to, 1948–1949.

19. This correspondence is preserved in the Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Papers 1928–1995 (henceforth abbreviated as Chandrasekhar Papers), Box 28, Folder 13.

20. Kac to Clauser, 19 November 1948, Clauser Papers, Folder: Turbulence Symposium, 1948–1949.

21. Clauser to Uhlenbeck, 16 November 1948, Clauser Papers, Folder: Turbulence Symposium 1948–1949.

22. DFDA, 1-3 and 4-7.

23. Smelt to Clauser, 13 April 1949, Clauser Papers, Folder: Smelt, Ronald, 1949.

24. Chandrasekhar to Schwarzschild, 1 May 1950, Chandrasekhar Papers, Box 28, Folder 12.

25. Chandrasekhar to Taylor, 24 September 1951, Chandrasekhar Papers, Box 31, Folder 3.

26. Chandrasekhar to O.J. Eggen, 13 September 1968, Chandrasekhar Papers, Box 11, Folder 11.

27. Chandrasekhar to Clarendon Press, 10 December 1956, Chandrasekhar Papers, Box 68, Folder 8.

28. Interview with Chandrasekhar by Spencer Weart, 31 October 1977, available at http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4551_3.html . The author of an obituary remarked that “Chandra perhaps wisely limited his work in this field and instead concentrated on linear stability problems” [100, p. 88].

29. DFDA, 1-3.

30. G.H. Shortley to the Members of the Committee on Publications in Fluid Dynamics, 4 April 1949, Physics of Fluids Records, 1956–1981, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, College Park, MD (henceforth abbreviated: Physics of Fluids Records). Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

31. Memo by J.H. McMillen, 20 March 1956, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

32. Frenkiel to F. Seitz, 27 April 1956, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

33. Frenkiel to von Kármán, 17 February 1950, TKC, 94-12.

34. Proposal for a Journal of Fluid Physics, 10 May 1956, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

35. Elsasser to Frenkiel, 17 May 1956, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

36. Schubauer to Frenkiel, 26 September 1956, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

37. Batchelor to Frenkiel, 4 December 1956, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

38. Frenkiel to Seeger, 18 December 1956, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

39. Batchelor to Frenkiel, 7 February 1957, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

40. Minutes of the Meeting of the AIP Planning Committee, 21 February 1957, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

41. Frenkiel to Uhlenbeck and others, 5 April 1957, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

42. Batchelor to Frenkiel, 3 May 1957, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

43. Frenkiel to Batchelor, 13 May 1957, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Correspondence prior to 2 January 1958.

44. Draft, 14 May 1957, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Memorabilia for The Physics of Fluids.

45. Announcement, 1 July 1957, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Board of Editors.

46. Announcement, 1 July 1957, Physics of Fluids Records, Folder: Board of Editors.

47. Liepmann to Kármán, 15 July 1954, TKC, 18-20. See also Clauser to Martin 24 May 1954, Johns Hopkins University, Box 5: Folder: Maryland, University of, 1952–1954.