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MILTON S
.
1 908-1 991
PLESSET
BY THEODORE Y. WU
MILTON SPINOZA PLESSET professor emeritus of engineering
science at the California Institute of Technology and a world
authority in the physics of fluids and nuclear energy, died on
February 19, 1991, at the age of eighty-three.
Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1979,
Milton was recognized as a leader in the fields of engineering
science, nuclear engineering, and fluid mechanics. His mile-
stone contributions to bubble dynamics, multiphase flow, theo-
retical physics, and nuclear reactor safeguards set new directions
for research, which led to advances in these fields and promoted
international cooperation.
Born on February 7,1908, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Plesset
graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1929 and earned
his Ph.D. degree in physics at Yale University in 1932. He won a
National Research Council fellowship and for its tenure was
attracted to Caltech, where research on cosmic rays was making
exciting advances under the leadership of Robert Millikan, and
the positron was just in the process of being discovered by Carl
Anderson. The great success offinding the positron was followed
by a theoretical study by Milton Plesset and Robert Oppenheimer
employing the Dirac equation in quantum electrodynamics to
show how electron-positron pairs were produced.
These scientific activities led Plesset to spend a period of time
at the Niels Bohr Institute for Theoretical Physics, 1933-1934.
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Interacting with the world's leading physicists at the Bohr Insti-
tute, Plesset worked at the frontiers of fundamental physical
theory and made contributions of great significance. Of particu-
lar merit were the interesting papers he wrote with Christian
Moller on elector-electron interaction theory, with John
Archibald Wheeler on the theory of scattering quanta, and with
E. I. Williams on cosmic ray theory. These papers have greatly
benefited scientists decades later because of their fundamental
value.
Following this period, he was awarded a C. B. R. Traveling
Fellowship, which enabled him to visit eminent leading scientists
of the time in many parts of Europe, traveling with his bride
Isabel and gaining valuable experience that was later passed on,
through teaching and joint studies, to his peers and students.
After teaching at the University of Rochester for five years,
Plesset returned to Caltech in 1940 and then left in 1942 to head
the Analytical Group of the Douglas Aircraft Company where he
devoted his talents to airplane design and the development of
new technology. Following a round of visits to the post-war
European theater as a scientific representative of the U.S. Air
Force, Plesset returned to Caltech permanently as associate
professor in 194S, was made a full professor in 1951, was ap-
pointed in 1963 as professor in engineering science, and became
professor emeritus in 1978. He was also adjunct professor of
nuclear engineering at the Universitv of California Los Angeles,
~ ,= , ,
from 1977 to 1988.
In research, Plesset made significant contributions along the
frontierwhere science and engineering meet, leaving the profes-
sion with more than one hundred publications of lasting value.
The Rayleigh-Plesset equation continues to play a basic role in
bubble dynamics, whether used in cavitating flows or in the sack
model for atomic nuclei theory. His inspiring teaching, marked
with clarity and elegance in treating basic principles, was much
appreciated by his students.
An authority on multiphase fluid dynamics and nuclear phys-
ics, Plesset served on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's
Advisory Committee for Reactor Safeguards, first as a consult-
ant, then as a member from 1975 to 1982, and as chairman of the
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MILTON S. PLESSET
175
panel in 1980. In these capacities Milton provided assistance and
guidance to the development of effective numerical codes to
simulate day-to-day operations of a nuclear reactor and to moni-
tor any emergency situation. He played a leading role in spear-
heading international cooperation with Japan and Germany on
joint programs for model tests of the operation of nuclear
reactors and establishing the overall rules for their safeguards.
Throughout his career, Plesset served as a consultant to the
RAND Corporation, various industrial companies, and the gov-
ernment. He was active in several professional societies. He was
a fellow of the American Physical Society; a fellow of the Ameri-
can Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME); and chairman of
the Executive Committee, Fluid Engineering Division of ASME,
1971-1972. He received many awards and honors, including the
1968 ASME Outstanding Research Paper Award and the 1980
ASME Thurston Lectureship.
Milton Plesset is survived by his wife, Janet Jenks; four chil-
dren, Jean, Michael, Marjorie, and Judith from his previous
marriage to Isabel Rosanoff (awriter, who died in 1985~; and five
grandchilciren.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
nuclear engineering
