On September 10, 1998

The Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Celebrated it's 100-th Anniversary

and the Ukrainian Postal Service (UkrPoshta) honored

Stephen P. Timoshenko (1878-1972)

Civil and Mechanical Engineer, Educator, Author, Historian
and Luminary in the Fields of Solid Mechanics and Structures

Professor at Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (1907-1920),
University of Michigan (1927-1936) and
Stanford University  (1936-1960)

Date of issue: September 10, 1998 (20k. = $0.09 U.S.)

First day Cover

Stephen P. Timoshenko (1878-1972) was born in Ukraine, graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Civil Engineering (1901) before returning to Kyiv as a Professor at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (1907-1920).   He was a co-founder of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.  In 1922 he immigrated to the US and worked at the Westinghouse Research Laboratory.   In 1927 he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan College of Engineering where he taught until 1936.  In 1936, Timoshenko moved to Stanford University where he stayed until his retirement in 1960.    Timoshenko made numerous theoretical and experimental contributions to applied mechanics and revolutionized the teaching of mechanics.  His twelve pioneering textbooks, translated into as many as 35 languages, remain definitive sources on Elasticity, Mechanics of Materials, Vibrations, Structural Theory, Stability and Plates and Shells.

sources:

Encyclopedia of Ukraine, (1993) Danylo Husar Struk, ed. University of Toronto Press Inc. Vol. 5 p. 222.   Contribution by  L. Onyshkevych

Historical Notes in:   Gere and Timoshenko (1997) Mechanics of Materials 4th ed., PWS Publishing Co., Boston, MA.

Related Link:

On-Line Ukrainian Philatelic Resource

September 25, 1998

Roman D. Hryciw, Professor
Unviversity of Michigan