4/9/2013 Written by AE Prof. Emeritus Harry Hilton
Written by Written by AE Prof. Emeritus Harry Hilton
AE Prof. Emeritus Harry Hilton wrote this tribute to the late AE Prof. Emeritus Adam R. Zak, who died Dec. 10, 2008, at his home in Florida.
I first met Adam when he was a graduate student at Purdue University in the late 1950s and was instantly drawn to him due to his zest for life, his honest outspoken vision for things personal and professional and for his loyalty to the principles and people he believed in so passionately.
I followed his career at California Institute of Technology and eventually starting in 1964 at the then Aeronautical Engineering Department of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). His research and teaching achievements were soon recognized by the profession. Among his many professional accomplishments, an outstanding research contribution to remember is his 1968 defining paper on finite element analysis in viscoelastic media, the first ever to be published on the subject. A number of results from his cutting edge research in aerospace structural dynamics were adopted by the industry. He was an active AIAA associate fellow, a member of the AIAA Structural Dynamics Technical Committee, chair of the AIAA Illinois Section and a member of Sigma Xi, the national research honor society.
He was known for his clear and incisive teaching and as the creator of a number of new courses at UIUC. Students would seek him out during their campus stay and when they returned after graduation.
Before and after retirement, he was and he continued a consultant to a host of aerospace companies and government laboratories, where his sage advice was sought out and much appreciated. Yet during his busy and productive professional career, he found ample time and energy to devote to his family and to the community.
In 1939, when the Nazi and Soviet invaded his native Poland, he escaped to New Zealand. There he attended public and high schools and the University of New Zealand, where he obtained a BS degree in mechanical engineering in 1957. He then studied at Purdue where he was awarded MS (59) and PhD (61) degrees in aeronautical engineering.
Adam died unexpectedly of natural causes on December 10, 2008, in Winter Park, FL, where he was a consultant to Coleman Aerospace L3 Communications.
His raucous voice in the corridors first heard on the UIUC campus in the Transportation Building and later in Talbot Laboratory has been stilled and it will reverberate no more there, but he will never be forgotten. He will be sorely missed by all.
Harry H. Hilton