WATSON

WATSON 14.03. 1827 Dumfries/UK 31.01. 1880 San Francisco CA/USA William Stuart Watson, born in Scotland, came at age 12 with his family to the USA, settling in Miami County OH. He was from age 16 rodman on the Ohio Canals. After a visit to Scotland, he was until 1850 engaged on the Genesee Valley Canal, when moving to Buffalo NY as assistant engineer on the Erie Canal enlargement. After work for railways companies, Watson served as mining engineer in California. Many of his works exhibited originality of design and boldness of execution. Watson raised the 8 km long North Fork Hydraulic Co. works in 1857. Some 3 km involving wrought-iron pipe of diameter 0.55 m were carried through the mountain gap 300 m deep, thereby conveying some 700 l/s water. The Cascade Canal Company’s works, another of his successful designs, was almost 20 km long including 10 km of flumes. The canal was carried through one of the most formidable canyons of the State, with portions of the aqueduct and flumes suspended along the rocky sides of the stream, 100 m above the river. In 1858 he was engaged by the California Fluming Company to empty the bed of Feather River along almost 2 km and 40 m wide by means of dams and flumes. The main dam erected was 100 m long at top constructed by timber filled with stones. A total of 600 men were occupied for this notable hydraulic project. Watson’s latest engineering exploit was completed in 1870; he furnished water from the Feather River for mining operations at Cherokee CA. He thereby employed a piping system to deliver water across the mountains with pipes of considerable wall thickness to withstand the pressure forces. To provide the escape of air due to over-pressure, a stand-pipe was erected including various ‘blow-off’ pipes controlling the pressure transients of the system. Although no novel hydraulic principles were involved in this project, it appears that the magnitude of the projects, at least in the USA, was formidable in terms of industrial water supply. Stuart, C.B. (1871). William Stuart Watson. Lives and works of civil and military engineers of America: 293-300. Van Nostrand: New York. Watson, W.S. (1854). Preliminary report of the Buffalo, Warren & St. Louis RR made to E.W. Cook, Esq., Springville, Erie County. Reese: Buffalo NY. Watson, W.S. (1872). Narrow gauge railroad system a complete success: Its adaptability to the business of the Pacific Coast. San Francisco. https://www.niceartgallery.com/William-Stuart-Watson/Shipping-Off-The-Coastof-Scotland-oil-painting.html (P) https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft758007r3;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print (P)

WATTENDORF 23.05. 1906 Boston MA/USA 11.06. 1986 Washington DC/USA Frank Leslie Wattendorf majored in mathematics at Harvard University. After having received his BS degree in 1926, he enrolled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT in aeronautical engineering. He there met Theodor von Karman (1881-1963). von Karman wrote ‘He was greatly interested in my approach to the subject of aerodynamics. He also said that in America at that time there was only a very limited opportunity to learn the basic theory, and he asked me to recommend a school abroad where he might complete his studies for a master’s degree. I recommended Göttingen and Aachen, and added that we did not have an American, and would be glad to have one. Wattendorf came to Aachen in 1927, and since that time I have considered him as a member of my family’. In 1930, Wattendorf accompanied von Karman to the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA, where he obtained the PhD degree, staying there until 1936, lastly as chief research engineer. In 1936 Wattendorf accepted a professorship in aeronautical engineering at Tsing Hua University, Beijing China. There he designed and built a 5 m wind tunnel, but left China by the end of 1937 because of the war with Japan. Upon return to the USA he designed with von Karman a 6 m 40,000 HP wind tunnel at Wright Field OH, taking later over until 1946 as the civilian director. Toward the end of World War II, Wattendorf became a member of a group of scientists and engineers who were to visit Europe and the Far East to advise the Army Air Force Corps on future action in engineering developments. From 1946 to 1952 Wattendorf served as director of AGARD. Anonymous (1986). Frank L. Wattendorf. AIAA Bulletin 24(10): B8. P van der Bliek, J., ed. (1999). Dr. Frank L. Wattendorf. AGARD: The history 1952-1997. Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development: Paris. P Wattendorf, F. (1933). A study of the effect of curvature in fully-developed turbulent flow. Proc. Royal Society A 148: 565-598. Wattendorf, F.L. (1948). High-speed flow through cambered rotating grids. Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences 15(4): 243-247. Wattendorf, F.L., Noyes, J., Ponomareff, A.I. (1953). High-altitude and speed propulsion wind tunnel. Mechanical Engineering 75(10): 789-793. Wattendorf, F.L., Ohain, H. von, Lawson, M. (1957). Factors influencing operating limits of high flux axial compressors. 9th IUTAM Congress Brussels 2: 309-319.