IN MEMORIAM

Franklin Charles Hurlbut

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Emeritus

UC Berkeley

1920 - 2010 

Franklin Hurlbut, who was born on July 20, 1920, in Santa Barbara, California, attended Santa Barbara High School, where his high school nickname, professor, set his destiny. In 1937-38, at the age of 16, he was accepted to Harvard University on a full scholarship and completed courses in physics before transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he continued his studies in physics and met the love of his life, Marianne. From 1944 to 1945, he attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, majoring in pre-radar and radar, receiving a certificate of completion in both. Frank transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, and received his Ph.D. in physics in 1954. Frank taught for over 40 years, first in the Division of Aeronautical Sciences, then, after reorganization, in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He has colleagues and former students throughout the world.

 

Frank worked as a draftsman at the Lockheed Aircraft Company in 1941 and at the Applied Research Lab in Glendale, California, as a physicist in 1944. He was a lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve in 1946. In 1954, he worked as a research engineer in the Institute of Engineering Research at UC Berkeley and lectured in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Division of Aeronautical Sciences, and the Institute for Energy Research from 1960 to 1963. He then served as a professor in residence in aeronautical sciences and in the Office of Research Services (ORS) from 1965 to 1968. In July of 1968 he was appointed as a professor of mechanical engineering. Frank specialized in teaching and innovative research on isotope and species separation by the method of opposed jets. He was involved with molecular beam systems for analysis of transient combustion events that resulted in an apparatus he co-designed with Professor Antoni Oppenheim. In recognition of Frank’s research contributions, he was honored with a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to lecture and conduct research in the summer of 1984. He published over 75 papers in prestigious archival engineering journals, reports and conference proceedings.

 

Frank was in charge of one of our required senior courses, Mechanical Engineering Laboratory. He gave a great deal of thought and energy to shaping the course, broadening it, and modernizing it to assure a balanced offering of experiments. Frank initiated a graduate course on the direct simulation of gas flows by Monte Carlo methods. This topic has wide application to problems of gas mixture and gas particulate flows. He took leadership in developing a graduate course on modern experimental methods with Professors John Daily, Werner Goldsmith, and Frank Hauser. Over a number of years, Professor Hurlbut participated in teaching and organizing courses or seminars under the sponsorship of the College of Engineering–Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS). Along with Professor Robert Sawyer, he put together a seminar and workshop series, Energy and the Future of the Automobile, which enjoyed large attendance and created a high level of interest. This series was given in the winter quarter of 1982, featuring Pete Estes, just after his retirement as president of General Motors, and included other luminaries of the industry. Shortly thereafter Professor Hurlbut began the organization of another seminar/workshop course, this one the Science Court, also under the aegis of the college’s IDS Energy Committee. Arthur Kantrowitz presented the course and was its leading figure. Frank’s function was to define the extent of the course and to prepare the groundwork, which included as a major feature enlisting the support and participation of faculty and officers from many areas of the University.

 

Frank had an active record of University service. In particular, from 1980 to 1985, he served as vice chairman for instruction for the Department of Mechanical Engineering and chairman on the College Committee on Energy and Energy Resources, College IDS Advisory Committee, Drake Scholarship Committee, and College Undergraduate Study Committee. His professional service included reviewing journals for Physics and Fluids, Physics Chemistry, and proposals for the National Science Foundation. He was a member of the Rarefied Gas Dynamics Symposium Advisory Committee, and technical reviewer for the symposia and proceedings of the 12th, 13th and 14th Rarefied Gas Dynamics Symposia. Frank was a member of Sigma Xi and the American Physical Society.

 

Frank received the best paper award presented at the 1962 Cryogenic Engineering Conference for his paper, entitled “Calculated and Observed Pumping Speeds of a Shielded Cryogenic Pumping Surface,” at UCLA.

 

After many years of service, teaching and research with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, he became professor emeritus in 1991. His electron beam experiments and Monte-Carlo simulations continued during his retirement years. Professor Hurlbut passed away on June 3, 2010, and was interred at Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito, California. He is survived by his wife Marianne, children Douglas and Catherine, granddaughter Ashley, and nieces Ginny and Joy.

 

 

Ömer Savaş

Stanley A. Berger

George Leitmann

2011