ASME Medal to TÜBA Member Prof. Bejan
TÜBA Honorary Member Prof. Adrian Bejan has been awarded the ASME Medal for 2024 by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
The medal will be presented to Prof. Bejan at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE) in Portland, Ore. in November 2024 for the originality of his work and its lasting impact on the field of engineering; advances in the new science of energy, motion, form and evolution; and bridging biological, geophysical and sociological systems.
ASME was founded to help the global engineering community develop solutions to real-world problems. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a nonprofit professional organization that fosters collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines while promoting the engineer's vital role in society. ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world. In 2020, ASME established a new non-profit subsidiary, the International Society of Interdisciplinary Engineers (ISIE) II & III LLC, to host business ventures that will bring new and innovative products, services and technologies to the engineering community.
Who is Prof. Adrian Bejan?
He received his B.S. in 1971, M.S. in 1972 and Ph.D. in 1975 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Prof. Bejan made many groundbreaking advances; combined thermodynamics with heat transfer, fluid dynamics and the science of form (e.g. flow configuration, image, design as a counterweight to the doctrine of reductionism); discovered, taught and applied the Structural Law of evolution in nature; and brought together biologists, physicists, engineers, sociologists, philosophers, economists, managers and athletes in original books for the general public, such as “Design in Nature” (2012), “The Physics of Life” (2016), “Freedom and Evolution” (2020) and “Time and Beauty” (2022). His influential work and prolific publication record have earned him 18 honorary doctorates from 11 countries. According to the citation impact database in PLOS Biology, Bejan is among the top 0.01% of the most cited and most influential scientists, ranking sixth most influential in mechanical engineering worldwide and 11th among all engineering disciplines.
For his work in thermodynamics and the structural law of natural design and its evolution in nature, engineering, science and social systems, he received the Benjamin Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, the Humboldt Research Award in 2019, the Nautilus Books Award for his book “Time and Beauty”, the Kimberly-Clark Distinguished Lecture Award from Interpore, the Lifetime Achievement Award from IAGE, the Ralph Coats Roe Medal from ASME, the Edward F. Obert Award from ASME and the Max Jakob Memorial Award in association with AIChE. In 2020, he was named a Knight of the French Order of the Academic Palm. Finally, in 2024, he received the Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching and Research from Duke University.