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Librescu emigrated to Israel in 1978.<ref name=y/> From 1979 to 1986 he was Professor of Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering at ]. | Librescu emigrated to Israel in 1978.<ref name=y/> From 1979 to 1986 he was Professor of Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering at ]. | ||
From 1985 until his death, he served as Professor at Virginia Tech. Librescu received many academic honors during his work at Virginia Tech, serving as chair or invited as a keynote speaker of several International Congresses on Thermal Stresses and receiving several honorary degrees. He was elected member of the Academy of Sciences of the Shipbuilding of Ukraine and Foreign Fellow of the Academy of Engineering of Armenia. He served as a member on the editorial board of seven scientific journals and was invited as a guest editor of special issues of five other journals.<ref name=VTbio> at University of Virginia Department of Engineering and Mechanics Web site</ref> According to his wife, no other Virginia Tech professor has ever published more articles than Librescu.<ref name=y/> | |||
===Fields of research=== | ===Fields of research=== |
Revision as of 00:56, 18 April 2007
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Dr. Liviu Librescu | |
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File:Genpic.jpg | |
Born | Liviu Librescu August 18, 1930 Ploieşti, Romania |
Died | April 16, 2007(2007-04-16) (aged 76) Blacksburg, Virginia USA |
Citizenship | Israeli |
Alma mater | Polytechnic University of Bucharest |
Known for | Research in Aeroelasticity and Aerodynamics |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Engineering |
Institutions | Virginia Tech |
Website | Faculty Profile |
I. Liviu Librescu (August 18, 1930 – April 16, 2007) was a Romanian-born Israeli professor, whose most recent position was Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Tech. His major research fields were aeroelasticity and unsteady aerodynamics. The 76 year-old Holocaust survivor was shot and killed in the Virginia Tech massacre while holding off the gunman at his lecture hall entrance so his students could escape.
Life and career
Liviu Librescu was born in 1930 to a Jewish family in the city of Ploieşti, Romania. During World War II, his family was interned in a labor camp in Transnistria and then transferred to the ghetto of Focşani. He survived the Holocaust to become an accomplished scientist in Romania.
Librescu studied Aerospace Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, graduating in 1952 and continuing with a master at the same university. He was awarded his Ph.D. in Fluid Mechanics in 1969 at the Academia de Ştiinţe din România.
From 1953 to 1975 he worked as a researcher at Institute of Applied Mechanics, Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Aerospace Constructions of Academy of Science of Romania.
Under the Romanian communist regime at the time, he was unable to move to Israel (make aliyah). Eventually, the government permitted him to leave, but only after a direct request was made by the Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin to President of Romania Nicolae Ceauşescu.
Librescu emigrated to Israel in 1978. From 1979 to 1986 he was Professor of Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering at Tel-Aviv University.
From 1985 until his death, he served as Professor at Virginia Tech. Librescu received many academic honors during his work at Virginia Tech, serving as chair or invited as a keynote speaker of several International Congresses on Thermal Stresses and receiving several honorary degrees. He was elected member of the Academy of Sciences of the Shipbuilding of Ukraine and Foreign Fellow of the Academy of Engineering of Armenia. He served as a member on the editorial board of seven scientific journals and was invited as a guest editor of special issues of five other journals. According to his wife, no other Virginia Tech professor has ever published more articles than Librescu.
Fields of research
Librescu's major fields of study included:
- Foundation and applications of the modern theory of shells incorporating non-classical effects and composed of advanced composite materials
- Foundation of the theory and applications of sandwich type structures
- Aeroelastic stability of flight vehicle structures
- Nonlinear aeroelasticity of structures in supersonic and hypersonic flow fields
- Aeroelastic and structural tailoring
- Dynamic response and instability of elastic and viscoelastic laminated composite structures subjected to deterministic and random loading systems
- Mechanical and thermal postbuckling of flat and curved shear-deformable elastic panels
- Static, dynamic and aeroelastic feedback control of adaptive structures
- Unsteady aerodynamics and magnetoaerodynamics of supersonic flows with applications
- Optimization problems of aeroelastic structural systems
- Theory of composite thin-walled beams and its application in aeronautical and mechanical constructions
- Response and behavior of structures to underwater and in-air explosions
- Multifunctional and Functionally Graded material structures.
Death
At age 76, Librescu was among the thirty-two people who were murdered in the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, 2007. He was killed during a class in the Norris Hall Engineering Building by a student (Cho Seung-hui, 23). Librescu held the door of his classroom shut while Cho was attempting to enter it; although he was shot through the door, he was able to prevent the gunman from entering the classroom until his students had escaped through the windows. A number of Librescu's students have called him a hero because of his actions, with one student, Asael Arad, saying that all the professor's students "lived because of him". Librescu's son, Joe, said he had received e-mails from several students who said he had saved their lives, and regarded him as a hero. His death came on Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel.
Publications
This is a partial list of books that Librescu authored:
- Librescu, Liviu (2006). Thin-walled composite beams: Theory and Application. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. ISBN 9781402034572. OCLC 62363828.
{{cite book}}
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suggested) (help) - Cederbaum, G. (1992). Random Vibrations and Reliability of Composite Structures. Lancaster-Basel: Technomic Publishing Co.
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(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - Librescu, Liviu (1976). Elastostatics and Kinetics of Anisotropic and Heterogeneous Shell-Type Structures. Leyden: Noordhoff International. ISBN 9789028600355. OCLC 2092328.
- Librescu, Liviu (1969). Statica şi dinamica structurilor elastice anizotrope şi eterogene (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România. OCLC 17866878.
References
- Resume
- ^ Holocaust survivor among those killed by Laurie Copans (Daily Herald) April 17, 2007
- Matti Friedman, Holocaust survivor killed in Va shooting, AP, April 17, 2007
- "Profesorul-erou, inventator şi reputat om de ştiinţă", in Evenimentul Zilei, April 17, 2007
- ^ Israeli killed in Virginia massacre (YnetNews), April 17, 2007
- ^ Liviu Librescu - Faculty profile at University of Virginia Department of Engineering and Mechanics Web site
- Israeli lecturer died shielding Virginia Tech students from gunman (Haaretz) April 17, 2007
- Donovan, Doug. "'I don't think my teacher got out'". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
- Asian the killer and some victims in the Virginia Tech massacre, Asia News, April 17, 2007, accessed April 17, 2007.
- Publication list for Liviu Librescu, Dept. of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Virginia Tech website, accessed April 17, 2007. Note: All books referenced by this citation.
External links
- Librescu bio at Virginia Tech
- 'I don't think my teacher got out', The Baltimore Sun, April 17, 2007
- Complete Coverage: Virginia Tech Shooting, Newsday, April 17, 2007
- Israeli Professor Tried to Save Students' Lives, CNS News, April 17, 2007
- Professor Who Helped Students Escape Among Those Killed, Fox News, April 17, 2007
- Recent deaths
- 1930 births
- 2007 deaths
- Aerospace engineers
- Deaths by firearm in the United States
- Murdered educators
- Nazi concentration camp survivors
- Romanian engineers
- Romanian Jews
- School killings in the United States
- University shootings
- People from Ploieşti
- Romanian-Americans
- University Politehnica of Bucharest alumni
- Virginia Tech faculty