Fluid Mechanics and the Environment: Dynamical Approaches

The papers in this volume were written by his students and colleagues to honor Sidney Leibovich, Samuel B. Eckert Professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University, in commemoration of his 60th birthday, 2 April 1999. They were presented at a symposium held at Cornell, 23 and 24 August 1999. Sid obtained his Bachelor of Science degree with honors from The California Institute of Technology in 1961, graduating first in his class. He came to Cornell to work with Geoffrey Ludford on Magnetohydrodynamics, and obtained his Ph.D. in 1965 in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He spent a year at University College, London as a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow, and returned to Cornell as an Assistant Professor. He has been here ever since, and is currently Director of the Sibley School. Since returning to Cornell, Sid has concentrated on rotating fluids and n- linear waves, in various combinations and applications, producing some 3.2 - pers a year with an applied-mathematical bent. In particular this interest led to both Langmuir circulation and vortex breakdown, two areas in which Sid has had enormous influence, and both, of course, examples of rotating fluids interacting with waves. It was impossible to work in this area without being distracted by the study of the nonlinear dispersive and dissipative waves themselves, and Sid has made substantial contributions in this area.