Maurice Anthony Biot

Maurice Anthony Biot
Born	May 25, 1905 Antwerp, Belgium
Died	September 12, 1985 (aged 80) New York City, New York, U.S.
Fields	Aeronautical Engineering
Institutions	Harvard University Catholic University of Leuven Columbia University Brown University
Alma mater	Catholic University of Leuven California Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisor	Theodore von Kármán
Known for	Poroelasticity
Notable awards	Timoshenko Medal (1962) Theodore von Karman Medal (1967)

Maurice Anthony Biot (May 25, 1905 – September 12, 1985) was a Belgian-American aeronautical engineer and the founder of the theory of poroelasticity.^[1]

Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Biot studied at Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium where he received a bachelor's degrees in philosophy (1927), mining engineering (1929) and electrical engineering (1930), and Doctor of Science in 1931. He obtained his Ph.D. in Aeronautical Science from the California Institute of Technology in 1932 under Theodore von Kármán.

In 1930s and 1940s Biot worked at Harvard University, the Catholic University of Leuven, Columbia University and Brown University, and later for a number of companies and government agencies, including NASA during the Space Program in the 1960s. During the period between 1932 and 1942, he conceived and then fully developed the response spectrum method (RSM) for earthquake engineering^[2] which was further promoted by George W Housner.

In the period between 1935 and 1962 Biot published a number of scientific papers ^[3] that lay the foundations of the theory of poroelasticity (now known as Biot theory), which describes the mechanical behaviour of fluid-saturated porous media. He also made a number of important contributions in areas of aerodynamics, irreversible thermodynamics and heat transfer, viscoelasticity and thermoelasticity, among others.

Biot was interested in reports of unidentified flying objects, and in a 1952 interview with Life expressed his support of the extraterrestrial hypothesis.^[4]

Biot is a recipient of the Timoshenko Medal (1962) ^[5] and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences the same year.^[6] He died in New York City aged 80.

References

1. Tolstoy, Ivan (May 1986). "Obituary: Maurice A. Biot". Physics Today 39 (5): 104–106. Bibcode:1986PhT....39e.104T. doi:10.1063/1.2815015.
2. Biot, M.A. (1941). Bull. of Soc. Seism. of Amer., v.31, N.2, ed. Mechanical Analysis for the Prediction of Earthquake Stresses.
3. Scientific Articles of Maurice A. Biot.
4. "Have We Visitors From Space?" Darrach, H. B. and Robert Ginna. Life Magazine. 07 April 1952
5. 1962 Timoshenko Medal Acceptance Speech by Maurice A. Biot.
6. "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 26, 2011.

External links

• Poronet - PoroMechanics Internet Resources Network
• Maurice Anthony Biot at the Mathematics Genealogy Project