Obituary: Stephen Crandall, MIT Professor

Obituary from Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service:

Stephen H. Crandall, 92, of Needham, died Oct. 29.

Stephen was born in Cebu, on the Philippine Islands, in 1920. Graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in the early days of World War II, he joined MIT as a staff member in the Radiation Laboratory in 1942. After earning his PhD in mathematics from MIT in 1946, he transferred to the Department of Mechanical Engineering. There he was appointed assistant professor in 1947, associate professor in 1951, and professor in 1958. He was named Ford Professor of Engineering in 1975, and an emeritus professor in 1991. He continued to teach through 2002.

While at MIT, he led the transformation of mechanics into an engineering science, acting as the editor of Random Vibrations (1958), An Introduction to the Mechanics of Solids (1959), and Dynamics of Mechanical and Electromechanical Systems (1968). Professor Crandall was a pioneer in random vibrations research. He offered the first academic course on the subject in 1958, and he directed MIT’s Acoustics and Vibrations Laboratory for 33 years. He published a total of eight books and 160 technical papers.

He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Russian Academy of Engineering and the Polish Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.

Professor Crandall was a fellow and an honorary member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and a fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics, and the Acoustical Society of America. He was also a member of the American Mathematical Society, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the American Society for Engineering Education.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers awarded Professor Crandall several medals, including the Worcester Reed Warner Medal, the Timoshenko Medal, the Den Hartog Award, and the Thomas K. Caughey Dynamics Award. The American Society of Civil Engineers awarded him the Theodore von Karman Medal, and the Freudenthal Medal. The Acoustical Society of America awarded him the Trent-Crede Medal. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Berlin, honored him with their Senior US Scientist Award, and Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, recognized him as an Honorary Professor.

Professor Crandall served as president of the American Academy of Mechanics, as vice-president of Basic Engineering for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and as chairman and vice-chairman of the U.S. National Committee for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He served as both the chairman of the U.S. Delegation to Moscow, and as chairman of the Solid Mechanics Symposia Selection Panel, for the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He was also a member of the Board of the International Commission for Acoustics.

Throughout the years, a steady stream of students and international colleagues enjoyed the generous hospitality that Professor Crandall and his gracious wife Pat offered at their home in Lincoln. The Crandalls’ shared interest in education and foreign affairs was launched by their first sabbatical at Imperial College London, in 1949, and continued through subsequent sabbaticals and lecture tours in France, Germany, Russia, China, Israel, Japan, Australia, Mexico, and Korea. Professor Crandall and his wife also shared an interest in languages and music. Steve learned French, Spanish, and Russian well enough to deliver lectures to native speakers, and he enjoyed learning conversational phrases in several other languages. Pat chaired a committee of MIT faculty wives, which organized English-language classes for the wives of foreign students. Steve Crandall also enjoyed playing Dixieland piano. He was an active member of the Tabor Hill Jazz Band for several decades, hosting their rehearsals at his Lincoln home.

In 2009, Pat and Steve Crandall retired to Newbury Court, in Concord. Pat, his close companion for 62 years, died in 2011.

Stephen Crandall is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Jane (Crandall) and Peter Kontrimas, his son, William BC Crandall, and his grandson, Stephen Kontrimas.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to MIT to support either the Crandall Language Fund, which purchases instructional material for students, or the Crandall Fund for Study in Mechanics, which supports graduate students in mechanical engineering.

Make checks payable to MIT, note the account number— Language Fund (2162200) or Fund for Study in Mechanics (2175900)— indicate that your gift is in memory of Stephen H. Crandall, and mail to: Bonny Kellermann, Director of Memorial Gifts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 600 Memorial Drive, W98-500, Cambridge, MA 02139. Gifts may also be made by credit card, on-line at https://giving.mit.edu/givenow/. Please indicate that your gift is in memory of Stephen H. Crandall.

A memorial service will be held at the MIT Chapel, Friday, Feb. 21,2014, at 3 p.m., followed by a reception at the Hart Nautical Gallery. If you are unable to attend, but would like to send a story or photograph to share at the service, email MIT Faculty Affairs Administrator, Marion Gross at meg@mit.edu.