Alan Neville Gent
{{Short description|English scientist (1927-2012)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Alan Neville Gent
| image =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1927|11|11}}
| birth_place = United Kingdom
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2012|9|20|1927|11|11}}
| death_place = United States
| nationality = British-American
| field = Polymer Science
| work_institution = BRPRA, University of Akron
| alma_mater = University of London
| doctoral_advisor =
| doctoral_students = Tony Kinloch
| known_for = Adhesion, Rubber
| prizes = {{no wrap|Bingham Medal {{small|(1975)}}
Charles Goodyear Medal {{small|(1990)}}
Colwyn medal{{cite web|title=Colwyn Medal award winners|url=http://iom3archive.org.uk/awards/pastwinners.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926041850/http://iom3archive.org.uk/awards/pastwinners.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 September 2017|website=iom3|accessdate=25 September 2017}} {{small|(1977)}}
Whitby Award {{small|(1987)}}}}
}}
Alan Neville Gent (11 November 1927 – 20 September 2012) was a British-American physicist. A professor at the University of Akron, he was recognized during his lifetime as a world-leading authority on the topics of adhesion physics, crystalline and glassy polymers, and the fracturing of rubber.Directory of Graduate Research 1963 p2 "ALAN NEVILLE GENT, Professor (b. 1927). B.Sc, 1946, Ph.D., 1955, Univ. of London. Polymer Physics. Mechanics of rubber spring systems; viscoelastic behavior of polymers; stress relaxation; failure processes; crystallization. A. N. Gent ..."{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/ohio/obituary.aspx?pid=160176152 |title=Dr. Alan Neville Gent Obituary: View Alan Gent's Obituary by Akron Beacon Journal |publisher=Legacy.com |date= |accessdate=2013-05-28}}{{cite journal |journal=Rubber Chemistry and Technology |date=December 2012 |volume=85 |issue=4 |pages=669–670 |doi=10.5254/0035-9475-85.4.669 |url=https://meridian.allenpress.com/rct/article/85/4/669/139278/REMEMBERING-PROF-ALAN-NEVILLE-GENT |access-date=10 July 2022|title=Remembering Prof. Alan Neville Gent |url-access=subscription }}
Biography
Gent was born in Leicester, England. He obtained degrees in Physics and Mathematics at the University of London, and a doctorate in 1955 in the mechanics of deformation and fracture of rubber and plastics.{{cite journal |last1=Henry |first1=Denise Henry |title=Obituary of Alan Gent (1927-2012) |journal=Physics Today |date=3 October 2012 |doi=10.1063/pt.4.1488 |url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/pt.4.1488/full/ |access-date=10 July 2022|url-access=subscription }} At age 17, Gent worked as a research assistant at the John Bull Rubber Co. He served in the British Army from 1947 to 1949 before becoming a research physicist and later a principal physicist at the British Rubber Producer's Research Association.{{cn|date=May 2025}}
In 1961, Gent joined the faculty of the University of Akron, where he spent almost half a century. He was an assistant director of the Institute of Polymer Science and dean of graduate studies and research in addition to being a researcher and professor.{{cn|date=May 2025}} Gent discovered the Fletcher-Gent effect and developed the Gent hyperelastic model. He was involved in the investigation of the O-ring failure in the space shuttle Challenger disaster.{{cite web |title=Memorial Tribute |url=https://www.nae.edu/29327/Dr-Alan-N-Gent |website=nae.edu |publisher=National Academy of Engineering |access-date=10 July 2022}}{{cite web |title=Biography Alan Gent |url=https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6f91p4d |website=snaccooperative.org/ |publisher=National Archives |access-date=28 August 2022}} Gent also published more than 200 works about rubber science. He was the editor and author of the textbook Engineering with Rubber{{cite book |last1=Gent |first1=Alan N. |title=Engineering with Rubber How to Design Rubber Components |date=2012 |publisher=Carl Hanser Verlag |location=Munich |isbn=978-3-446-42764-8 |edition=3 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9783446427648/engineering-with-rubber#book-info |access-date=5 January 2024}} and studied the conditions that cause cavitation in rubber under the action of hydrostatic tensile loading. {{cite journal|last=Gent|first=Alan N.|title=Cavitation in Rubber: A Cautionary Tale|journal=Rubber Chemistry and Technology|year=1990|volume=63|issue=3|pages=49–53|doi=10.5254/1.3538266}} His most frequently cited work proposed a hyperelastic stress-strain law for rubber.{{cite journal |last1=Gent |first1=A. N. |title=A new constitutive relation for rubber |journal=Rubber Chemistry and Technology |date=1996 |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=59–61 |doi=10.5254/1.3538357}} Gent received the 1975 Bingham Medal and the Colwyn Medal of the Plastics and Rubber Institute from the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) in 1978 and the George S. Whitby teaching award in 1987. Gent also received the Charles Goodyear Medal from the ACS Rubber Division in 1990.{{cn|date=May 2025}}
He died on 20 September 2012 at the age of 85.{{cite news |title=Renowned UA professor dies |url=https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/local/2012/09/26/renowned-ua-professor-dies/10461117007/ |access-date=5 January 2024 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |publisher=Akron Beacon Journal |date=26 September 2012}}
External links
- [http://www.uakron.edu/cpspe/news-events/news-detail.dot?newsId=0f955746-a127-40b1-ad7a-6237185becea&pageTitle=Recent%20Headlines&crumbTitle=In%20the%20world%20of%20polymer%20science,%20Alan%20Neville%20Gent%20was%20a%20giant Photograph of Gent] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927103331/http://www.uakron.edu/cpspe/news-events/news-detail.dot?newsId=0f955746-a127-40b1-ad7a-6237185becea&pageTitle=Recent%20Headlines&crumbTitle=In%20the%20world%20of%20polymer%20science,%20Alan%20Neville%20Gent%20was%20a%20giant |date=27 September 2013 }}
- [http://www.summitmemory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/rubber/id/89 1979 Interview with Alan Gent]
- Gent starred in a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIKOFLRQuc8 University of Akron production] of The Adventures of Mr. Tompkins
References
{{Reflist}}
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Category:Scientists from Leicester
Category:University of Akron faculty
Category:British Army soldiers
Category:British polymer scientists and engineers
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering