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MILTON D. VAN DYKE
1922–2010
elected in 1976
“For solving complex problems in aerodynamics,
specifically in designs of airplanes and missiles.”
By leoNard scHWarTZ, PeTer BradsHaW, aNd
WalTer g. ViNceNTi
M ILTON DENMAN VAN DYKE, emeritus professor of
engineering at stanford University, died of complications of
Parkinson’s disease on May 10, 2010, at the age of 87.
first at the National aeronautics and space administration’s
(Nasa) ames research center and then at stanford, Milton
made many contributions to fluid mechanics, especially the
mathematical/computational analysis of compressible flow.
In the early 1950s he solved the very difficult numerical
problem of calculating hypersonic flow and heat transfer over
a blunt-nosed body. His program was used in the design of
all Mercury, gemini, and apollo reentry modules. it was one
of many cases in which he carried out a subtle mathematical
analysis before devising a method of numerical solution. He
was the founding coeditor of Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics
and the compiler and publisher of An Album of Fluid Motion
(Parabolic Press, 1982).
Milton was born on august 1, 1922 in chicago, the son of
James and ruth Van dyke. His father, with a degree from
Pennsylvania state University, was a teacher of mechanical
engineering, and his mother was a Phi Beta Kappa mathematics
graduate of the University of Minnesota. The depression of
the 1930s made it difficult for either of them to find satisfactory
permanent employment, and the family moved frequently.
397
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398 MeMorial TriBUTes
Milton spent his three high school years, grades 10–12, in
the small town of Portales, New Mexico. He said that much
of the credit for his subsequent successes was due to the
good education he received there. in 1940, Milton won the
scholarship that Harvard awarded each year to students in a
handful of poor states, including New Mexico.
Milton completed his course in engineering science in three
years, graduating summa cum laude. He was elected to Phi
Beta Kappa in his junior year. He used to point out that his
shortened time at Harvard was due, in some measure, to
the U.s. entry into World War ii during his sophomore year.
Engineering students were encouraged to finish quickly so
that their skills could be used in the war effort.
Milton’s job choices included working as a mathematician
and code breaker in Washington, d.c., or going to the ames
aeronautical laboratory of the National advisory committee
for aeronautics (Naca, now Nasa ames research center),
which cohabited Moffett field, california, with the U.s. Navy
until the naval air base was closed in 1994. Milton chose to
go to ames. Men of military age in occupations that were
important for the war effort could have their call-up “deferred”
but only for a limited time. Therefore, the aerodynamicists
were all inducted into the “Ames Detachment” of the U.S.
Navy and then assigned back to their day jobs, but with some
naval duties. Milton was ultimately promoted to the rank of
lieutenant junior grade.
Milton always regarded himself as an engineer rather than
a mathematician, and indeed his first assignment was to assist
Harvey allen and Walter Vincenti with experimental work in
the newly built 1-foot by 3.5-foot transonic wind tunnel.
The famous ames compilation of basic information and
numerical results for compressible flow (the 70-page NACA
report 1135, issued in 1953, and now available online) was a
group effort and was attributed to anonymous members of the
ames staff. in fact, Milton was responsible for the material on
flow of perfect gases in thermodynamic equilibrium (up to a
rather hopeful M = 100), which forms the major part of the
report. Note that all of the numerical results were generated
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MILTON D. VAN DYKE
by Milton’s assistants using mechanical desk calculators. This
report became Naca’s all-time best seller, and its presentation
of formulas and figures has been followed in many textbooks
on compressible flow.
in 1946, after leaving the Navy, Milton won a National
research council scholarship for graduate study at the
california institute of Technology. By June 1949 he had received
an M.s. and a Ph.d. (magna cum laude). His thesis was on the
delicate problem of second-order supersonic flow theory. His
advisor was Paco lagerstrom. after a postdoctoral year with
lagerstrom, he returned to the Naca ames laboratory in
1950.
Harvey (Harry Julian or H. Julian) allen had discovered that
a round-nosed body should be better able than a sharp-nosed
body to withstand the high temperatures that occur during
hypersonic reentry into the atmosphere. This was a remarkable,
counterintuitive result. allen later became director of the
Nasa ames research center (1965–1969): coincidentally, he
was the subject of the first Memorial Tribute in the first volume
of this series, written by Nicholas Hoff in 1979. The vacuum-
tube digital computers of the 1950s did not have the power to
calculate the hypersonic flow over a given body directly, and
“inverse” methods, in which an assumed shape of the bow
shock wave was adjusted until the right body shape appeared,
had failed to converge. The problem was assigned to Milton,
whose contribution was twofold. first, he provided a clear
mathematical explanation for the failure of previous “inverse”
computations. second, in collaboration with Helen gordon, he
created a successful inverse algorithm.
it was only in the 1970s, after computer power had
increased by about three orders of magnitude (and after
the U.s. manned lunar program had been abandoned) that
Milton’s inverse scheme was replaced by truly direct schemes.
Thus, the predictions of fluid flow and heat transfer during
ballistic reentry of the three generations of U.s. spacecraft
(Mercury, gemini, and apollo) were all made using the Van
dyke–gordon algorithm.
While still at Naca ames, Milton was awarded a
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guggenheim fellowship and a fulbright grant to spend the
1954–1955 academic year with george Batchelor at cambridge
University. during this sabbatical year Milton lectured
extensively in Western europe. in cambridge he became well
acquainted with g. i. Taylor. it was a friendship that continued
until “G.I.” died in 1975. Milton was especially proud of the
fact that he wrote appendixes to two of g.i.’s papers during
the 1960s.
Paul germain (Nae 1979) invited Milton to spend the
academic year 1958–1959 as a visiting professor at the University
of Paris. Milton gave a 23-lecture course on hypersonic flow
theory—in french, which he taught himself in six months.
He also supervised a Vietnamese Ph.d. student, and germain
alleged that he developed a Vietnamese accent. The Van dyke
family remembers germain as a valued friend. (in 1965, Milton
spent three months at a. a. dorodnitsyn’s computing center
in Moscow and again learned the language sufficiently well
that he was able to lecture in russian.)
While he was in Paris, Milton was invited to join the faculty
of the newly opened aeronautics department at stanford, as a
full professor, and he arrived in 1959. He introduced a course
on perturbation methods, leading to his book, Perturbation
Methods in Fluid Mechanics (academic Press, 1964), which
contained much original work, and two other courses, one on
symmetry and similitude in fluid mechanics and the other on
hypersonic flow theory. His appointment was held jointly in
the aeronautics department and the applied mechanics group
of the mechanical engineering department. He continued to
work on supersonic/hypersonic flow and on higher-order
boundary-layer theory. He was an enthusiastic and innovative
teacher. When told of his death, a former Ph.d. advisee of one
of Milton’s Stanford colleagues—now a prominent figure in
computational aerodynamics—said simply, “He was my
hero.” Milton’s own 40-odd Ph.d. students would say much
the same, as would the many academic friends to whom he
gave a helping hand in times of professional, personal, or
political trouble. it was said of him that if he felt that a wrong
had been committed, no matter how small or how large, he
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MILTON D. VAN DYKE
was absolutely stubborn about seeing that it was made right.
Milton nominally retired in 1992 but kept an office on campus
until his last illness.
Milton, with W. r. sears (then of cornell University) was
invited by annual reviews inc. to edit a new series, and the
first volume of Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics appeared in
January 1969. In the Preface the editors stated that it “stems
from the conviction that fluid mechanics is now such a broad
subject, with implications in so many areas of science and
technology, as to require, periodically, expository reviews by
specialists in its various branches.” The list of contributors is
impressive and a tribute to the editors’ powers of persuasion:
nearly all the names are instantly recognizable even after 40
years. Milton, with various colleagues, remained an editor for
30 years.
Milton believed strongly that textbooks should be sold
as cheaply as possible. He refused to let the publisher of
Perturbation Methods in Fluid Mechanics (academic Press, 1964).
increase the price, and when the publisher let the book go out
of print, Milton published an annotated edition himself for
the original price of $7 under the imprint of Parabolic Press
(1975). The press began to publish wholly new books because
of an apparently trivial incident. Milton had once seen, in a
little bookshop on the left Bank in Paris, a beautiful collection
of black-and-white photographs from optical research and
realized that students of fluid mechanics needed a similar
collection. so, many years later, Parabolic Press published An
Album of Fluid Motion (1982), which Milton designed himself. it
contains about 400 photographs selected from 1,000 sent to him
by friends all over the world (another tribute to his persuasive
powers). Many of these photographs are intrinsically beautiful,
and black-and-white prints make a pleasant change from
contour plots in primary colors. The album is sold at no more
than cost price. To date, over 40,000 copies have been sold, and
a pleasant custom has arisen, not only at stanford: a lecturer
will give the top student in a class a copy, as an informal prize.
another Parabolic Press book is Stories from a 20th-Century
Life (1994), the lighthearted autobiography of Milton’s Annual
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Review collaborator, the late Bill Sears, written “with malice
toward none, with charity for all” (except airport managers:
Bill logged nearly 8,000 hours as a private pilot).
as well as receiving several fellowships for research abroad,
Milton received the otto laporte award of the american
Physical society in 1986 and the fluid dynamics award of the
american institute of aeronautics and astronautics in 1997.
He is also remembered for three outstanding works of public
service—Naca report 1135, Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics,
and the “Album.”
Milton’s private interests included music—he played violin
in a Harvard orchestra—and all kinds of outdoor activities from
camping to mountain climbing. He was also good at making
things, including much of the furniture in his first house.
He is survived by his wife of 48 years, sylvia, who
nursed him at home until his death; his sons russell, eric,
christopher, Brooke, and Byron; his daughter, Nina; and nine
grandchildren.
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