Page 59 - 48Fundamentals of Compressible Fluid Mechanics

1.3. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 21

Eckert was an excellent mentor to many researchers (including this au-
thor), and he had a reputation for being warm and kindly. He was also a leading
figure in bringing together engineering in the East and West during the Cold War
years.

1.3.5.8 Ascher Shapiro
51
MIT Professor Ascher Shapiro , the Eckert equivalent for the compressible flow,
was instrumental in using his two volume book “The Dynamics of Thermodynamics
of the Compressible Fluid Flow,” to transform the gas dynamics field to a coherent
text material for engineers. Furthermore, Shapiro’s knowledge of fluid mechanics
enabled him to “sew” the missing parts of the Fanno line with Moody’s diagram
to create the most useful model in compressible flow. While Shapiro viewed gas
dynamics mostly through aeronautic eyes, The undersigned believes that Shapiro
was the first one to propose an isothermal flow model that is not part of the aero-
nautic field. Therefore it is proposed to call this model Shapiro’s Flow.
In his first 25 years Shapiro focused primarily on power production, high-
speed flight, turbomachinery and propulsion by jet engines and rockets. Unfortu-
nately for the field of Gas Dynamics, Shapiro moved to the field of biomedical
engineering where he was able to pioneer new work. Shapiro was instrumental in
the treatment of blood clots, asthma, emphysema and glaucoma.
Shapiro grew up in New York City and received his S.B. in 1938 and the
Sc.D. (It is M.I.T.’s equivalent of a Ph.D. degree) in 1946 in mechanical engineering
from MIT. He was assistant professor in 1943, three years before receiving his
Sc.D. In 1965 he become the head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering
until 1974. Shapiro spent most of his active years at MIT. Asher Shapiro passed
way in November 2004

51 Parts taken from Sasha Brown, MIT