Adrian Bejan


Adrian Bejan was awarded the 2018 Benjamin Franklin Medal for "his pioneering interdisciplinary contributions in thermodynamics...and constructal theory, which predicts natural design and its evolution in engineering, scientific, and social systems."

He received the 2019 Humboldt Research Award for "his pioneering contributions to modern Thermodynamics and Constructal Law, the law of physics that predicts natural design and its evolution in biology, geophysics, climate change, technology, social organization, evolutionary design and development, wealth and sustainability."

He earned all his degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: B.S. (1971, Honors Course), M.S. (1972, Honors Course) and Ph.D. (1975). He was Fellow of the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, University of California Berkeley (1976-1978). Since 1989 he is the J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor at Duke University.

Bejan's research is in applied physics and engineering science: thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, design and evolution everywhere in nature, bio and non-bio.

He is the author of more than 30 books and 650 peer-refereed journal articles. In February 2020 on Google Scholar he had h = 97 and total citations 72,000. According to the 2019 'citations impact' rankings, he is the 9th among all Engineering authors worldwide, all disciplines, and is ranked among the top 0.01% of all world scientists: https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000384

His impact on science is highlighted by his original methods of theory, modeling, analysis and design that today are associated with his name: entropy generation minimization, scale analysis, intersection of asymptotes, heatlines, temperature-heat (T-Q) diagram, constructal law, and evolutionary design as physics.

Adrian Bejan's books are used worldwide (in multiple editions), for example:

Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics, 4th Ed, Wiley 2016.

Convection Heat Transfer, 4th Ed, Wiley 2013.

Convection in Porous Media, 5th Ed, Springer 2017.

Entropy Generation Minimization, CRC Press 1996.

Shape and Structure, from Engineering to Nature, Cambridge U. P. 2000.

Design in Nature, Doubleday 2012, and two translations.

The Physics of Life, St. Martin's Press, 2016, six translations.

Freedom and Evolution, Springer Nature, 2020.

He was awarded 18 honorary doctorates from universities in 11 countries, for example, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), University of Rome I "La Sapienza", National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) Lyon, and University of Pretoria.

He is a member of Academy of Europe, Mexican Academy of Sciences, Romanian Academy, and Academy of Sciences of Moldova.

Awards:

Palmes Académiques (2020)

Humboldt Research Award (2019 Alexander von Humboldt Foundation)

Benjamin Franklin Medal (2018 The Franklin Institute)

Ralph Coats Roe Medal (2017 ASME)

Max Jakob Memorial Award (1999 ASME & AIChE),

Heat Transfer Memorial Award (1994 ASME),

Worcester Reed Warner Medal (1996 ASME)

Luikov Medal (2006 Int Center Heat Mass Transfer),

Donald Q. Kern Award (2008 AIChE).

Edward F. Obert Award (2004 ASME)

Ralph Coats Roe Award (2000 ASEE)

James Harry Potter Gold Medal (1990 ASME)

Robert Henry Thurston Lecturer (1999 ASME)

James P. Hartnett Memorial Award (2007 Int Center Heat Mass Transfer).

Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award (1988 ASME).

Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award (2001 ASME)