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Christensen wins Timoshenko Award from ASME

Expert in mechanics of materials recognized for lifetime contributions to the field.
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Richard Christensen, a professor emeritus of aeronautics and astronautics, has been selected as the 2013 recipient of the Timoshenko Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), among the highest honors in the field of applied mechanics.

Prof. Christensen was cited for his "numerous distinguished contributions to applied mechanics, including the theory of heterogeneous solids, composite materials and laminated plates; the geometry of ultra low density materials; the viscoelasticity and rheology of polymers and non-Newtonian fluids; and the failure of isotropic and anisotropic materials."

Sole author of numerous journal articles and co-author on many others, Christensen has also written books on viscoelasticity and composite materials. His most recent book is The Theory of Materials Failure (Oxford University Press, 2013).

Outside of Stanford, he worked for General Dynamics, Space Technology Laboratories, and Shell Development. He became a half-time research professor in Stanford's Aero/Astro and Mechanical Engineering Departments in 1996, while spending the other half of his time working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Despite his emeritus status, Christensen has continued an active role at Stanford, advising students and serving on departmental committees.

Prof. Christensen received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Utah and his M.Eng. and D.Eng. degrees in Engineering Mechanics from Yale University.

The Timoshenko Medal has been awarded each year since 1957. It is named for its first recipient: Stephen Timoshenko, himself a distinguished professor at Stanford. Timoshenko's textbooks, written in Russian and later in English, were translated into 36 languages. Born in 1878, he moved to the United States in 1922. He became a professor at the University of Michigan in 1927 and moved to Stanford in 1936.