Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Prandtl and the Boundary Layer

Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Prandtl and the Boundary Layer

2005 marked the 100th year celebration of Albert Einstein's noted publications on light quanta, Brownian motion and special theory of relativity. 1905 also marked another momentous publication that is often overlooked, one which fundamentally revolutionized our perspective on how fluids behave in numerous practical applications ranging from aircraft to automobiles.

Noted historian and curator of aerodynamics at the Smithsonian Instituition's National Air and Space Museum, John D. Anderson, has published an article in Physics Today to commemorate the seminal contributions of Ludwig Prandtl to the field of fluid mechanics. Some say that Prandtl deserved a Nobel Prize for his work - please enjoy the article and decide for yourself:

For more information, read "Ludwig Prandtl's Boundary Layer" by John D. Anderson, Physics Today, 58 (12), p. 42-48, 2005 (PDF).