Zdenek P. Bažant, 2017 ASME Medal

Zdenek P. Baant, 2017 ASME Medal Zdenek P. Baant, 2017 ASME Medal Zdenek P. Baant, 2017 ASME MedalThe ASME Medal was established in 1920 and is awarded for eminently distinguished engineering achievement.Zdenek P. Baant, Ph.D., S.E., the 2017 recipient, is McCormick Institute professor and W.P. Murphy professor of civil and mechanical engineering, and materials science at Northwestern University. He is honored for developing a statistical theory of the strength and lifetime of quasibrittle structures of random material properties, verifying it with experimental evidence and demonstrating its relevance to structural safety and for formulating a kinetic energy release theory for material comminution into particles of random sizes under extreme strain rates.Dr. Baant is a world leader in the mechanics of materials and structures. His studies on quasibrittle fracture, damage and creep, size effects and scaling, structural stability, finite strain and failure probability have led to the d evelopment of computational models to assess the safety of structures such as bridges, dams, buildings, aircraft, cars, ships and nuclear containments.Dr. Baants seven books and numerous journals articles have received approximately 58,000 citations his h-index is 115 and i10-index is 567 (Google Scholar, July 2017).An ASME Fellow, Dr. Baant has also received these Society awards the Worcester Reed Warner Medal in 1997, the Nadai Medal in 2008, the Timoshenko Medal in 2009 and Honorary Membership in 2012.Dr. Baant is a member of numerous academies and societies, including the Royal Society of London. Among his extensive list of honors is the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class in 2016.Educated in Prague, Dr. Baant received his civil engineering degree from Czech Technical University (CTU), his Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, a postgraduate diploma in theoretical physics from Charles University and docent habilitatis in c oncrete structures from CTU. He holds seven honorary doctorates.Video profile produced and written by Roger Torda, ASME Public Information. The copyright of this program is owned by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers.