Waloddi Weibull
{{Short description|Swedish mathematician (1887–1979)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Ernst Hjalmar Waloddi Weibull
| image = File:Waloddi Weibull SPA.jpg
| image_size =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1887|6|18}}{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=G1vPG891tBsC&q=waloddi+weibull&pg=PA141 |title= Fracture Research in Retrospect: An anniversary volume in honour of G.R. Irwin's 90th birthday |author= K.B. Broberg |editor= H.P. Rossmanith |publisher= CRC Press |year= 1997 |isbn= 9054106794 |page= 142}}
| birth_place = Vittskövle, Sweden
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1979|10|12|1887|6|18}}{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=G1vPG891tBsC&q=waloddi+weibull&pg=PA141 |title= Fracture Research in Retrospect: An anniversary volume in honour of G.R. Irwin's 90th birthday |author= K.B. Broberg |editor= H.P. Rossmanith |publisher= CRC Press |year= 1997 |isbn= 9054106794 |page= 143}}
| death_place = Annecy, France
| field = Engineering, mathematics
| work_institution = Royal Institute of Technology
| alma_mater = Royal Institute of Technology (1924), University of Uppsala (1932)
| doctoral_advisor =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for = Weibull distribution
Fracture mechanics
| prizes = American Society of Mechanical Engineers gold medal (1972)
Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences Great Gold medal (1978).
}}
Ernst Hjalmar Waloddi Weibull (18 June 1887 – 12 October 1979) was a Swedish civil engineer, materials scientist, and applied mathematician. The Weibull distribution is named after him.
Education and career
Weibull joined the Swedish Coast Guard in 1905 as a midshipman. He moved up the ranks with promotion to sublieutenant in 1907, Captain in 1916 and Major in 1940. While in the coast guard he took courses at the Royal Institute of Technology. In 1924 he graduated and became a full professor. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Uppsala in 1932. He was employed in Swedish and German industry as a consulting engineer.
In 1914, while on expeditions to the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean on the research ship Albatross, Weibull wrote his first paper on the propagation of explosive waves. He developed the technique of using explosive charges to determine the type of ocean bottom sediments and their thickness.{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=G1vPG891tBsC&q=waloddi+weibull&pg=PA141 |title= Fracture Research in Retrospect: An anniversary volume in honour of G.R. Irwin's 90th birthday |author= K.B. Broberg |editor= H.P. Rossmanith |publisher= CRC Press |year= 1997 |isbn= 9054106794 |pages= 144–6}} The same technique is still used today in offshore oil exploration.
Research contributions
In 1939 he published his paper on the Weibull distribution in probability theory and statistics.{{cite journal| author=W. Weibull| date=1939| title=The Statistical Theory of the Strength of Materials| journal=Ingeniors Vetenskaps Academy Handlingar| issue=151| pages=1–45| publisher=Generalstabens Litografiska Anstalts Förlag| location=Stockholm| language=en}} In 1941 he received a personal research professorship in Engineering Physics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm from the arms producer Bofors.
Weibull published many papers on strength of materials, fatigue, rupture in solids, bearings, and of course, the Weibull distribution, as well as one book on fatigue analysis in 1961.{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YM4gBQAAQBAJ |title= Fatigue Testing and Analysis of Results |author= W. Weibull |publisher = Pergamon Press |year= 1961 |isbn= 1483154165}} 27 of these papers were reports to the US Air Force at Wilbur Wright Field on Weibull analysis.
In 1951 he presented his paper on the Weibull distribution to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), using seven case studies.
Legacy
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers awarded Weibull their gold medal in 1972. The Great Gold Medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences was personally presented to him by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in 1978.
Personal life
Weibull came from a family that had strong ties to Scania. He was a cousin of the historian brothers Lauritz, Carl Gustaf and Curt Weibull. Weibull died on 12 October 1979 in Annecy, France.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/WeibullDistribution.html Weibull Distribution]
- A photograph of [http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/people/weibull.gif Weibull] on the [http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/people/welcome.htm Portraits of Statisticians] page.
{{Authority control}}
{{ASME Medal|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weibull, Waloddi}}
Category:Swedish statisticians
Category:Swedish mechanical engineers
Category:Academic staff of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Category:Uppsala University alumni
Category:20th-century Swedish engineers
Category:ASME Medal recipients
Category:People from Vittskövle
Category:Swedish materials scientists
Category:Materials scientists and engineers