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VEN TE CHOW
1919-1981
BY WILLIAM C. ACKERMANN
DR VEN TE CHOW noted engineer and educator, died on July 30,
1981. Dr. Chow was widely recognized throughout the world for his
contributions to the science of hydrology and to water resources
development. He was Professor of Civil and Hydrosystems Engi-
neering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Ven Te Chow was born in Hangchow, China, on August 14,
1919. He received his B.S. degree in civil engineering from the
National Chiao Bung University in 1940, his M.S. degree in engi-
neering mechanics from Pennsylvania State University in 1948, and
his Ph.D. degree in hydraulic engineering from the University of
Illinois in 1950. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1962 and
had been on the faculty of the University of Illinois in the Depart-
ment of Civil Engineering since 1948.
Some of Dr. Chow's unusual contributions include his watershed
experimentation system, which produced storms in the laboratory
using sophisticated electronic, pneumatic, and sonar controls. It is
the only instrument of such advanced sophistication in the world and
has attracted worldwide attention and interest among scientists,
engineers, and the public. It was the subject of an article that
appeared in Life magazine on June 6, 1969, and was also addressed
in the 1969 March issue of Public Works magazine. With this unique
instrumentation, he introduced a new field of technology known as
watershed hydraulics. He also developed a formula for hydrologic
frequency drainage design, a method of backwater curve computa-
47
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48
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
tion, and widely used theoretical approaches in the fields of stochas-
tic hydrology and water resources systems analysis.
Among his many activities in hydrology and water resources, Dr.
Chow was a founder and first President of the International Water
Resources Association and was subsequently named Honorary Pres-
ident of that organization. He was also President of the American
Geophysical Union's Section of Hydrology and a founder of and
delegate to the Universities Council on Water Resources. He was a
lecturing adviser to the Central Water and Power Commission of the
Government of India and to the Power Resources Administration of
the Government of Turkey; a member of the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) Study Group on Space Applica-
tion of Earth Resources; an adviser to the United Nations Secretar-
iat on water resources development in developing countries; a
UNESCO/UNDP consultant to assist the establishment of a Centre
of Applied Hydrology in Brazil and to plan a National Institute of
Hydrology in Peru; the Director of the First International Seminar
for Hydrology Professors; a consultant to the Comision Federal de
Electricidad for the Government of Mexico; the United Nations
Expert Adviser to the Government of Serbia, Yugoslavia; President
of the First, Second, and Third World Congress on Water Resources
held in Chicago (1973), New Delhi (1975), and Mexico City (1979~;
a member of the United States Water Resources Delegation to the
People's Republic of China; and the Water Resources Expert of the
World Health Organization to advise on Danube River projects in
Hungary. In 1971 Governor Preston Smith commissioned Dr. Chow
an Honorary Texas Citizen in recognition of his services as an
adviser on implementation of the $10-billion Texas Water Plan. He
was named an Honorary UNESCO Consultant in 1967.
He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1973.
Among his many activities was participation in National Research
Council committees, including the U.S. National Committee for the
International Hydrological Decade, the U.S. National Committee
for the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, and the
U.S. Committee for the International Institute of Applied Systems
Analysis on Water Resources.
Dr. Chow became known throughout the world as a consultant
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VEN TE CHOW
49
and lecturer to many governmental, university, and private organi-
zations, and he will also be long remembered for his writing and
editing. He is the author of several well-known books, including the
widely used Harld{book of Applied Hydrology and Open-Ch~nnel Hyd~rau-
I'cs, and more than 200 other technical publications. He was the
Associate Editor of Water Resources Research, 1965-1967; Editorial
Board Member of Remote Sensing of Environment An Ire national Jour-
nal, 1967-1971, and Geophysical Survey Arz Ir~t~rrzational Journal of
Geophysics, 1971-1979; Editor of the Academic Press series of
Advances in Hydroscience and of Journal of Hydrology; Advisory Board
Member of Fluid Mechanics Soviet Research; Editorial Board Member
of Water Supply and Management; Advising Editor of Elsevier's series
on Developments in Way Sciences; Consulting Editor of McGraw-Hill's
Water Resources and Environmental Er~girze~r~g; and Editor-in-Chief of
Water International until 1980.
Dr. Chow received numerous awards and honors in recognition ot
his considerable achievements. He was elected to the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Academia Sinica, which is
the Republic of China's highest award to a scientist or scholar. He
was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, American Academy of Mechanics, and Diplomate of the
American Academy of Environmental Engineers. He received hon-
orary doctorates from Andhra University in India, Yeungnam Uni-
versity in Korea, Universite Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg in France,
and the University of Waterloo in Canada. His numerous awards
include the Epstein Award; the American Society of Civil Engineers
Research Prize; the Achievement Award of the Chinese Institute of
Engineers, Inc.; the John R. Freeman Memorial Lecture Award;
the Western Electric Fund Award; the Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge
Lectureship Award; the Fulbright-Hays Senior Scholarship Award;
the Chinese Engineers and Scientists Association of Southern Cali-
fornia Professional Achievement Award; the Silver Jubilee Com-
memorative Medal of the International Commission on Irrigation
and Drainage; the Louis Pasteur Medal; the Vincent Bendix Award;
and the Case Centennial Scholar Medallion. He was a National
Science Foundation Distinguished Scholar and an Honorary Mem-
ber of La Asociacion Mexicana de Hidraulica.
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Dr. Chow was most respected and loved by his close academic
associates and a generation of students from throughout the world
who came to study with him. It was in these associations that his
warm personality, modesty, and his unfailing patience and good-
humor were most evident.
Ven Te Chow was certainly one of the "all-time greats" in water
. . . .
science ana englneermg.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
resources development
