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Memorial Tributes, Volume 11
JOHN L. BOGDANOFF
1916–2003
Elected in 1975
“For leadership in the introduction of stochastic processes intomechanical and civil engineering analysis.”
BY HENRY T.Y. YANG
JOHN “JACK” BOGDANOFF was a pioneer in basic mechanics, materials, dynamics, fracture and fatigue, and stochastic processes for solving large-scale, complex engineering problems. Born on May 25, 1916, in East Orange, New Jersey, he passed away on July 20, 2003, in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Jack obtained a B.S.M.E. from Syracuse University in 1938, an M.S. from Harvard University in 1939, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1950. While at Columbia, he studied with Professor Raymond Mindlin. Jack’s stellar career began as a test engineer in engine performance, vibration and stress analysis, and advanced design at Wright Aeronautical Corporation in Woodridge, New Jersey, from 1939 to 1946. From 1946 to 1950, he was an instructor and assistant project engineer in civil engineering at Columbia University, where he taught courses in statics and dynamics and in vibration.
Most of Jack’s professional life was spent at Purdue University. Beginning in 1950, he was professor of engineering sciences; he taught courses in statics, dynamics, materials, vibration, elasticity and control systems, vectorial mechanics, analytical mechanics, and statistical analysis of engineering systems. During the 1950s, Jack and Professor Frank Kozin and a few other Purdue colleagues, formed the Midwest Applied Science Corporation (MASC). Their major project, the Land Locomotion Project,
