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WOOD D.V. 01.06. 1832 Smyrna NY/USA 28.06. 1897 Hoboken NJ/USA De Volson Wood graduated in 1857 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a civil engineer, and at once became assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI, promoted to professor two years later. In 1872 he was appointed professor of mathematics and mechanics at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken NJ, and he was transferred to its chair of engineering in 1885. In 1881 he was elected president of the Board of Education at Boonton NJ. The honorary degree AM was conferred on him by Hamilton College, Clinton NY, and the MS degree by the University of Michigan, both in 1895. Wood was member of the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Wood designed the ore-dock of Marquette MI in 1866 and invented a rock drill, a steam pump, and an air-compressor. He has published a number of papers and books, notably on the resistance of materials, on the theory of the construction of bridges and roofs, on analytical mechanics, on elementary mechanics, and on elements of coordinate geometry. Of particular relevance here are his books on thermodynamics, and on fluid mechanics. His influence as teacher was renowned. The American Mathematical Journal wrote the notable statement: ‘The civil, mechanical and electrical engineers who formerly were Prof. Wood’s students, and who are now scattered all over the world, would, if simultaneously rounded up, form the most intelligent army that ever moved on the face of this mundane sphere’. Anonymous (1889). Wood, De Volson. Appletons’ cyclopaedia of American biography 6: 591-592. D. Appleton & Co.: New York. Anonymous (1897). De Volson Wood. Trans. ASME 18: 1106-1109. Wood, V. de (1873). Backwater in streams as produced by dams. Trans. ASCE 2: 255-261. Wood, V. de (1879). On the flow of water in rivers. Trans. ASCE 8: 173-178. Wood, V. de (1884). Mechanics of fluids. Wiley: New York. Wood, V. de (1888). A treatise on civil engineering. Wiley: New York. Wood, V. de (1889). Thermodynamics: Heat motors and refrigeration machines. Wiley: New York. Wood, V. de (1896). Turbines, theoretical and practical: With numerical examples and experimental results and many illustrations. Wiley: New York. https://www.personal.psu.edu/gal4/AcademicLineage/AcademicLineage.html#anchorWood P
WOODBURN 30.11. 1894 Bloomington IN/USA 29.08. 1980 Madison WI/USA James Gelston Woodburn obtained the BS degree in 1918 from Purdue University, West Lafayette IN, and the PhD degree in 1929 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI. He was from 1920 to 1923 associate engineer with the US Forest Products Laboratory, Madison WI, in 1924 a mathematics instructor at Indiana University, Bloomington IN, until 1927 an instructor in civil engineering at the State College of Washington, Pullman WA, until 1929 a research assistant at University of Michigan, and Freeman travelling scholar to Europe in 1930, from when he was associate professor of hydraulics at State College of Washington until 1937, taking then over until his retirement in 1965 as professor of hydraulic engineering at University of Michigan. He there served as chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering from 1949 to 1958. Woodburn was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE, president of the Michigan Section in 1948, among many other commitments. Woodburn is known for a classical paper on broad-crested weirs, a particular type of overflow structure used mainly for educational purposes. Whereas the sharp-crested weir serves for the precise discharge measurement, and the standard-shaped weir is employed in dam engineering, the broad-crested weir of standard shape has a horizontal crest of finite length, with vertical weir faces both up-and downstream of the crest. Woodburn observed the free surface profiles in the crest vicinity resulting in standing wave patterns if the relative weir length was large, and continuously decreasing flow depth as the relative weir length reduces. The hydraulic behaviour of broad-crested weirs with sloping aprons was furthermore analysed. The paper received a large number of discussions relating mainly to the effect of streamline curvature, the definition of critical depth, and the various flow types. Woodburn was also an author of the successful book Hydraulics by Horace W. King (1874-1951). Anonymous (1944). James G. Woodburn. Civil Engineering 14(11): 489. P Anonymous (1954). Woodburn, James G. Who’s who in engineering 7: 2692. Lewis: New York. Anonymous (1963). Woodburn, J.G. Who’s who in America 32: 3447. Marquis: Chicago King, H.W., Wisler, C.O., Woodburn, J.G. (1948). Hydraulics. Wiley: New York. Woodburn, J.G. (1932). Tests of broad-crested weirs. Trans. ASCE 96: 387-453. Woodburn, J.G. (1956). Hydraulics. American civil engineering practice. Wiley: New York. https://www4.lib.purdue.edu/archon/?p=collections/findingaid&id=994&q=#boxfolder
