Max M. Frocht
{{short description|American engineering scientist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Max M. Frocht
| image =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1894|06|03}}
| birth_place = Poland
| death_date = {{death date and age|1974|07||1894|06|03}}
| death_place =
| fields = Mechanics
photoelasticity
| workplaces = Illinois Institute of Technology
| alma_mater = University of Michigan (BS, PhD)
University of Pittsburgh (MS)
| thesis_title =
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| thesis_year = 1931
| doctoral_advisor = Stephen Timoshenko
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}}
Max Mark Frocht (3 June 1894{{spnd}}July 1974){{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=C. E. |title=SEM History |journal=Experimental Techniques |date=November–December 2000 |volume=24 |issue=6 |url=https://sem.org/Files/about/sem_history24_6.pdf |access-date=4 June 2025}} was a Polish-American engineer and educator. He was a professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology and founder of the Laboratory for Experimental Stress Analysis.
Education
Max Mark Frocht had moved from Congress Poland to the United States in 1912, settling in Detroit where he worked as a machinist and tool maker. In 1916 he enrolled in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, earning his B.S. in 1920. He received an M.S. in physics in 1925 from the University of Pittsburgh, before retiring to the University of Michigan to earn a Ph.D. in 1931 with Stephen Timoshenko.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}
Research and career
Frocht was an authority on photoelasticity and his two volume work, Photoelasticity,{{Cite journal|last=Frankl|first=E. K.|date=1950|title=Photoelasticity|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=166|issue=4226|pages=706|doi=10.1038/166706a0|bibcode=1950Natur.166..706F |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free}} is a classic text in the field.{{Citation|date=1969|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-012998-3.50005-7|work=Photoelasticity|pages=xi–xii|publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/b978-0-08-012998-3.50005-7 |access-date=2021-12-23|title=Vita Max Mark Frocht |isbn=9780080129983 |url-access=subscription}} He worked at the Carnegie Institute of Technology between his B.S. and M.S. as an instructor and returned to the Carnegie Institute of Technology as a professor in 1931 after completing his Ph.D.{{Cite web|title=The Old and New…: A Narrative on the History of the Society for Experimental Mechanics|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8345204|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221190043/https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8345204|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 21, 2021|access-date=2021-12-23|website=IEEE|language=en-US}} Frocht served on the mechanical engineering faculty of the Illinois Institute of Technology from 1946 to 1960 and then directed the university's Laboratory for Experimental Stress Analysis.{{Cite web|title=Hall of Fame|url=https://www.iit.edu/about/history/hall-fame|access-date=2021-12-23|website=www.iit.edu|language=en}} Frocht was an important early member of the Society for Experimental Stress Analysis (now the Society for Experimental Mechanics){{Cite web|title=Guide to the Max Mark Frocht Papers circa 1930s-1964|url=https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.CRMS151|access-date=2021-12-23|website=www.lib.uchicago.edu}} and had a longstanding frequent rivalry with fellow IIT faculty members and SESA member August J. Durelli, which was seen to contribute to the progress of the photoelastic method. It was therefore ironic that upon Frocht's retirement from IIT, the subsequent two directors of the IIT Laboratory for Experimental Stress Analysis, James W. Dally and Cesar Sciammarella, were both students of Durelli.{{Cite journal|last1=Taylor|first1=C. E.|last2=Srinath|first2=L. S.|date=2000-11-01|title=Dr. Max Mark Frocht|url=https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1567.2000.tb01352.x|journal=Experimental Techniques|language=en|volume=24|issue=6|pages=55–58|doi=10.1111/j.1747-1567.2000.tb01352.x|s2cid=140013920 |issn=1747-1567|url-access=subscription}} Frocht was named the third Honorary Member of the Society for Experimental Stress Analysis (SESA) (later the Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM)) in 1959, a position held until death in 1974. He is the only Honorary Member of the society to not also be Fellow. When SESA introduced the rank of Fellow in 1975 all living Honorary Members of the society were named in the first class of Fellow, but Frocht had passed away the year before.{{Cite web|title=Society for Experimental Mechanics|url=https://sem.org/awardsfellow|access-date=December 21, 2021|website=sem.org}} Since 1975, in the extremely rare case that a new Honorary Member is named who is not already a Fellow that automatically also receive that title. The Society for Experimental Mechanics initiated the M.M Frocht Award in his honor in 1967 to recognize outstanding achievement as an educator in the field of experimental mechanics, with Frocht being the inaugural recipient in 1968.
Awards and recognition
- SEM Honorary Member (1959-1974){{Cite web|title=Society for Experimental Mechanics|url=https://sem.org/awardshonorary|access-date=2021-12-22|website=sem.org}}
- SEM Murray Lecture and Award (1959){{Cite web|title=Society for Experimental Mechanics|url=https://sem.org/awardsmurray|access-date=2021-12-23|website=sem.org}}
- SEM Frocht Award (1968){{Cite web|title=Society for Experimental Mechanics|url=https://sem.org/awardsfrocht|access-date=2021-12-23|website=sem.org}}
References
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Category:University of Michigan alumni
Category:University of Pittsburgh alumni
Category:Illinois Institute of Technology
Category:Emigrants from Congress Poland to the United States